Sunday tip-ups

Had a nice amount of Northern action on tip-ups yesterday(Sunday), right around 20 flags .. the guys took ten nice fish home… We fished the outside weed edges and on top of a spring in goose island area. Large and medium shiners worked equally well, the 65 lb braid with non colored hook,(no leader) and the lighter line with leaders and red hook worked about the same with only a 3-5 flag advantage to the leaderless line.

Still get most of the fish with the shiner about 8 inches below the spool. The longer drops seemed to just set there. 10:00 to 1:30 is still by far the busiest time this past week, with a spurt at daybreak and a spurt some nights.

As was mentioned on another post it is best to set the hook with them running out line. Sometimes they take a ton of line and just sit there so the second poster that mentioned work the slack up and lightly feel for the fish seems to work if the T just doesn’t spin for a while of patient watching. It almost seems like they lurch when they feel the pressure and set the hook themselves. But you still stand the chance of ripping it away from them. Happy Hook-ups Lawrence

so your saying that your shiner is just 8″ below the ice…

For me anywhere from just under the ice to 10 inches from the bottom. It is deadly for pike. They cruise the ice looking for dead fish floating and also the it is easy for them to see the bait!

Yes… wish I could take credit for that one but I was taught to do it that way by asking others, watching others and by comments by guide customers over the years. Also if your going to use a single hook on your rig like you mentioned in your other post…people use to recommend circle hooks.. I used them for a while,(about three weeks), but frankly, I have used a treble for so long I don’t even remember what they look like. As I remember the justification was a better hook set than a regular hook and less damage to the fish than a treble. Maybe some of the other guys here use the circle hook and can explain it better. Almost without exception when I went to clean ice from holes and check set ups yesterday the ones that were setting there with no bite, one of us had accidentally let the spool slip and the shiner was in some cases several feet below the ice. I heard it again last week and I have heard several times over the last few years that Northern feed up and that numerous times people have jumped back as they saw a northern glide across the bottom of the hole as they were about to set the tip -up.

But like everything else experiment for yourself and see what you see and then tell us. Right now I aim for some tips up set right under the surface of the ice and try to make sure the rest are in the next 5 – 8 inches. Just remember to adjust as the ice gets thicker. Happy Hook-Ups Lawrence

Running for 20 flags, doesn’t sound like you guys had a chance to get cold

Thanks for the report, sounds like a blast

Had one triple and one double so Joey and the boys had some time to jig for the very difficult Gills. I’m only guessing but I imagine the Northern and Large bass were keeping then very very spooked. We also had the Packer game on????????? the radio and a buffet,(lol), of burgers, brats and BBQ Pulled Pork.
Happy Hook-ups Lawrence

Glad to hear somebody’s down there jerkin out the 5 lb largemouth again!