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.