Tip-ups and leader lengths (walleye)

I’ve been struggling a bit with my walleye tip-ups(bites and hook-ups), one of the things I’m questioning is my leader length.
So…what do you guys like for leader material and lengths for tip-ups set for walleye? Most of my lakes are slightly stained to clear, a few just plain dark.
Thanks!

-Rev

Being your clarity isnt that great I would run * pound floro carbon leader in about 18 inches to 2ft from the tip up braid. Im not a big fan of long leaders unless the clarity requires it. What are you useing for hooks or jigs and what kinda bait?

i use tip ups for walleye a bunch. i run anywhere from an arms stretched width to 2 feet. i always use a tough florocarbon for the leader, i like seguar. if water is not so clear 2 feet is fine but mostly i use longer so the terminal tackle the leader is tied to stays off the bottom when the walleye is “running”.

The most important detail is a quality tip up, spindle. i only use beaver dams. had many other brands and all were crap compared to the beaver.

The 2nd most important detail to good hookups is an offset tip on the hook or jig being used. Also sharp as possible tip, always inspect them the next time used after unrolling.

hope this will help.

Almost always, 3 feet of 10lb Berkley Vanish Fluorcarbon Leader Material (not the regular Vanish – but comes in small pony spools and is stiffer)..

Other then I do, is I have moved almost all my tip-ups to single hooks.. Mustad Double Wides, #2 or #1.. Put the hook parallel to the dorsal fin, facing towards the head.. Great hook-ups on these wide gapped hooks. Easier to un-hook too, when releasing fish..

I prefer at least 4 feet of 6-10 lb fluoro in case the swivel wants to get stuck at the bottom of the hole, the fish isn’t right there with it. Once you get to the leader, you also know to take it easy to get the fishes head up.

I run 6′ of ten pound Flourocarbon with a #1 gamagatsu finnese wide gap hook for big shiners.

One small advantage in a six foot leader is that it is realy easy to “guestimate” 8,10,or twelve feet below your tip-up without using a depthfinder.

reverend:

I run anything from 6# mono to 20# floro for the northern pike waters. I have always been a fan of smaller hooks than most are running though. I learned from IN-Fisherman decades ago small hooks never hurt anything and have never really been let down by that thinking.

For walleyes I am generally running a small #12 treble with a fair sized split shot about 6″-8″ above the hook to anchor the minnow. For northerns, I will run #6 – #10 trebles… Again length is dependent on the clarity, but I am running 3′-5′ most of the time.

And just a brief mention, of the six walleyes we iced last Sunday, three came on a silver/glow Slender spoons in 4′ of water!!!

Mark

That was the other thing I was wondering about, weight placement. Think I’m running mine too far up and giving the bait too much running room…

I’ve fished up in your neighborhood a few times. The walleyes are pretty easy up there. They are much more active at night. We do the majority of our damage in 7 feet or less of water. When fishing shallow you want your bait to be like a foot and half max from your spool. The fish feed up. Also be prepared for the flag to come up and no spinning spindle. A lot of the time they will smoke it and then sit there and casually dine. You have to be very carefull to not spook them. Walk up very lightly and also you have to make sure you hook set is short and smart or you will knock fish off at the bottom of your hole. Find green weeds and that is where the walleyes will go at night. You need to have lights or some other device to tell you when the flag pops. When fishing shallow I use no weight at all.

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The fish feed up. Also be prepared for the flag to come up and no spinning spindle. A lot of the time they will smoke it and then sit there and casually dine. You have to be very carefull to not spook them. Walk up very lightly and also you have to make sure you hook set is short and smart or you will knock fish off at the bottom of your hole.

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Whisker:

Very true on the non-spinning flag. When we are fishing shallow, I have found it counterproductive to wear ice cleats because of the noise they make. Makes for some treacherous walking, but a necessary evil IMHO… Years ago we used to get off the ice entirely and only one guy would go to the tip-up.

The other point Kev made was in regard to the lights… Just because we are trying to keep our positions secret, we rarely use the orange flashy lights and will take an occasional shine of the light to see it the reflective tape on the flag is up or down. If you use reflective tape remember to use two to three pieces along the flag wire, so you can tell whether they are horizontal or vertical.

Mark

You guys are sneaky bstrds. I love it. We send a guy with a light a couple hundred yards over and have him trip flags all night. We’ve also hidden our tipups behind piles of snow or card board wind breaks. I have pagers on my beaver dams and I cover the light on the tipup and let the alarm go off in my pocket. Easy peasy. Mark would be welcome to come downstate sometime if you want to.

Kev:

If you want to get really sneaky, take the red flag off and then just walk to ’em (hopefully no one runs ’em over)!!! I am actually from Cambridge, cut my teeth on Koshkonong when the fishing wan’t very good…

Mark