I HATE when the line from a regular tipup is laying on the ice and freezes into a big, tangled mess! With the rod, you have the reel with a drag and can fight the fish without your line freezing to the ice and getting all tangled. The reason I like using tipups with a regular rod is line management. I have hole covers for the Arctic Warriors as well, but the spool on the reel is above water, so the line can freeze to the spool if its really cold outside. Mine are older ones that were black, so they generally do a good job of keeping your holes open during the day, especially if the sun is out. For pike, I almost always use HT Polar Therm tipups. I use this strategy throughout all of ice season and tweak it on a lake by lake basis.I use both.I prefer to use the Arctic Warrior tipups from Clam for trout and walleye. Rigging a minnow and letting it swim in front of their faces can often do the trick.īy having these presentations rigged up and ready to go, I am confident that I will be able to quickly work through an area and catch any walleyes that may be present. The most effective sizes range from 1/16 oz to 1/4 oz. ![]() During these times I rely on lures the T-Flasher and Soft Lock. Sometimes they want a bait that just hangs in front of their face so they can be lazy and bite finicky. The final presentation I use is a similar to dead stick approach, as it doesn’t involve a lot of movement. Sometimes you need to downsize to get the bites. I will use both the 1/16 and 3/8 oz sizes depending on the lake and situation. My favorite spoon for this presentation is an Eurotackle Live Spoon. Often the walleyes will see that spoon fluttering down and will come up and smack it on the drop. I personally like to send down a spoon that has a bit of flutter. This style of bait has a bit more finesse than the first style of lures. When fish are showing up but wont commit to super aggressive presentation, I move on to my second rod setup. Some of the lures I like to use in this category include the 1/8 oz and 3/8 oz Eurotackle Z-Viber, as well as other jigging minnow and rattling style baits. This lets me know if I am on them or not. I find that I generate more marks on negative fish with the aggressive baits even if they are not in the mood to bite an aggressive lure. I start each day with my most aggressive lure and adjust from there. The first rod I have rigged up is my most aggressive lure. I always start each day with the same three rod system. I run a Marcum Lithium Shuttle, which is super lightweight and allows me to carry extra rods. Simply take a minnow out, pinch it in half, and store the puck back in your pocket. This allows me to not have to haul around a minnow bucket and not have to go back to the bucket when I need a new minnow head. I always carry a bait puck with me that has a scoop of minnows in it. When it comes to actually fishing, I have a specific method I like to follow in order to be the most effective. A plain red hook and a minnow is always a good choice.įor targeting more active fish, I deploy run and gun methods. This allows me to fight those fish on a rod and reel over the hand to hand combat of a tip up. ![]() This could be a dead stick, tip up or my personal favorite, a Finicky Fooler. The first thing I do is to set up my set line. I have a specific plan I like to follow for targeting walleyes. This allows me to drill a series of holes and hop around in search of active fish. Whenever possible, I ditch the shack and stay mobile. Nothing quite like getting back on the ice with good friends and a hot bite! The entire drive up, I am playing out the scenarios through my head on how I would like to target the fish. In most years, my first ice trip of the year is generally to Upper Red Lake. Growing up in Minnesota, early ice is something I am always looking forward to. Hole hopping for walleyes is undoubtably one of my favorite ways to target them through the ice.
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