Tip Up Advice For Beginner – Help!

I am very new to ice fishing but I have all of the gear needed for this season. Right now, my tip ups are rigged with 50lb braid to a wire leader and a treble hook with a small Colorado blade attached. The braid is dark green and leftover from my top water setup. Being in SouthEast Michigan I expect Pike to hit the rig, hence the heavy duty line and leader. I’ll be using ~4 inch live Shiners from a local gas station because that’s all that’s available. Given the amount of Spinner Baits I have lost to Pike using straight Fluorocarbon in the Summer, why does everyone recommend a Fluoro leader? Does line color/presence of a wire leader matter to a fish like Pike? Is 50lb excessive?

Is this whole set up wrong?

Any advice is appreciated.

I have always found that Pike don’t mind gaudy setups, and I actually make my own steel leaders that have added flash/colors/weights. I generally never go larger than a #6 treble, but I know many people use larger. I have used flourocarbon a time or two, but I didn’t see a difference between steel on the days I tried it. I think it’s one of those things that only makes a difference in special situations and is otherwise one of those things that simply makes sense in theory. 50lb braid is not too heavy, what I have found that does make a difference is the line diameter. I do not prefer 50lb beaver dam tip up line over 20lb or 30lb, but regular braid should be fine.

Sounds like you’re set to give it a try! I’m sure you’ll find your own little preferences along the way.

Don’t forget that pike love a good hotdog.

On a tip up I don’t think a steel leader vs a Fluor leader makes much if any difference. Is add something that will mark your depth setting. We use a small button. The button will slide with pressure but stays in play without. It’s really handy to have the depth marked so you don’t need to keep setting it after each fish or missed flag trip. I also lock down the little spring looking thing that the line passes thru.If you dont’t sometimes when a big minnow swims the thing will spin and your depth setting changes and the minnow ends up on the bottom or in the weeds. One last thing I do is to often cut off part of the minnow tails. Some days the pike prefer a little less lively minnow and you end up with far less minnow tipped flags.

Pike don’t really seem to care about the rig. If what is in front of them looks somewhat interesting, they’ll bite.

Pike fishing is my favorite form of ice fishing, and I have fished in my Ice Castle for pike and using underwater cameras to watch reactions and strikes. I have also fished lakes in WI with cribs and watch fish all day, including panfish, pike, walleye, bass and muskies. I have learned a lot, one is, many fish do not bite, and are dependent on time of day, pressure and time of the year.

Since I used to make flouro leaders for soft water musky fishing, I used to make flouro leaders for ice fishing. I started with the 80lb, then went to 40lb. I don’t know what it is, but I started getting less pike to grab and run with the minnow. You would be surprised at the number of pike that strike from underneath, then drop the minnow, and the rattle reel never spins or tipup never trips. I think they can feel flouro leaders, so they drop the bait, but I also get less hits, especially with the 80lb. So, I switched to 40lb and had a northern bite me off when I went to set the hook and there was very little pressure applied. Also, the smaller pike have sharper teeth, so it doesn’t take much for them to bite you off.

I have since gone to AFW 7-strand (26lb) for pike and my bite3 rate has gone up. I pre-tie my leaders with a small swivel and hook/lure of choice ahead of time. If I get one that ends up kinked really bad, I just switch to another one. I like this leader material since you can use a figure eight knot, or some others and doesn’t require crimping sleeves.

Lastly, avoid buying those pre-made leaders with hooks on them. IMO, the hooks are way too large, especially since most shiners and suckers in bait stores nowadays are the small to medium sized. It’s up to you if you want to make quick strike rigs or not, but I’ve also gone back to using a single hook or treble hook in the back. IMO, the minnow doesn’t hang or swim as natural with having two hooks in it. The metal leader material also provides weight, whereas the flouro leaders are more buoyant, so a good sized minnow can swim up and get tangled with the main line at times.

Now, this is just a theory, but a single hook in the back of the minnow allows the hook to maneuver in a horizontal position while the minnow is the fishes mouth, so they likely don’t feel it, whereas a large treble hook they can. This is why the smaller pike tend to drop the bait, e.g. false flags, and the bigger ones tend to hang onto it. So, you have to take into consideration the size of pike you’re targeting, as well as the size of bait you’re using. If you want to increase your hooking chances for medium to large pike, then use a treble, but if you want to increase your rate of smaller fish still holding onto the bait by the time you get to your tip-up, then use a single hook. If you happen to be fishing when the pike are hot, then it doesn’t seem to matter what you use.

Best leader material for pike American Fishing Wire Surflon Micro… Like RynO said get the 26 pound.

Your set up sounds spot on. Hot dogs to work as well.

I have found that you really need to vary your sets and cover the entire water column.

Catching pike on Ifish Pro or Finicky Fooler is a ton of fun with pike!

Good luck this season.

Test your tip ups to make sure they turn smoothly, for me I’ve noticed one side will trip smoother than the other, also put them outside for a while and see if the bail turns smoothly. The cold weather can really mess up those bails-Beaver Dam makes a tippie that turns great, not saying you have to run out and buy BD, but you could look into adding grease or replacing grease, check online to see what stuff is highly rated. As Ryno said a lot of these details do not matter if the fish are hot, but its surprising how often in the winter ol’ greenie is touchy.