Windlass tipups

[indeeptreble]

I bought a couple of these tipups on a recent trip to Bismark got them a Scheels for 11.00, cheaper than here in Saskatchewan. took them out fishing on Boxing day used 5" smelts with a quick set rig and weather here was about -20 Celsius with a wind it felt like -40 C took a little bit to get them setup but boy do they work had one set to jig up and down about 3" and the other about 1" used the line that they come with and yes it did freeze about every 15-20min I had to go open the hole and every 2nd time I had to break the ice off the line got to be a pain in the rearend. Now has anybody used the hole cover and small hose idea from the in fisherman ice guide show and how does it work? what happens to everthing when a fish hits will the whole tipup assembly go down the hole.

[Woodsman]

what happens to everthing when a fish hits will the whole tipup assembly go down the hole.

Pack the base with slush from the hole. It will freeze securing your tip-up. Loosen the wingnut on the spool until it's just tight enough that it will not spin on it's own. When a fish hits the spool will let out line and also trip the flag.

Good Luck: Rick

[indeeptreble]

Thanks Woodman I went out today and packed it with slush, got it set just right and the darn thing never went off, in other words I got skunked with the tipups today.

[BCice]

I haven't seen the In Fisherman Guide show, but I've used a piece of black foam cut to the size of my auger hole and slotted it so I can slip a short piece of fuel line in. Works great for running your windlass line through to prevent freezing. When I get a hit I just remove the foam & let the fuel line slide down the line.
And I use the coated tip up line to help keep the line from absorbing water and freezing up (on the spool, too).
 Plus like mentioned, always a good idea to anchor them down, too. Snow, slush, ice auger, spud, minnow bucket, ..... whatever. Hope this helps, if I'm understanding your Q. correctly.

[kb]

How well do these work?  Ive thought about picking some up, but at $20 a piece its a little pricey just to check out and find out that they are not worth it.

Thanks,

Kb

[Woodsman]

Here's a picture of mine set up on the lake.

As for "How well do these work?" at times there great & other times less so. The trick is to set them so that the jigging matches what the fish want that day. One day they may respond to aggressive jigging & the next day want almost no movement. I have good luck using them for pike with dead bait. Set to only give a slight wiggle seems to work most times.

Rick

[hamj]

 This past weekend we took the kids out for stocked brookies in northen quebec, we had 5 windlass tipups and had 10 tip downs. I mixed in the windlass between the tip downs. The windlass tip ups had salted minnows and little color jiggs. Saturday was windy and the windless caught all 7 fish that day. On sunday there was very little wind and caught 6 on the windlass and 2 on the tip downs. On both day we had problem with icing up but we used mineral oil and we checked them often. I'm now a big believer in this things and going to try the hole cover next time out for pike.

[TrekJeff]

So these are pretty much a tip down with a wind plan on them for jigging?  I assume there's a limiter setting for the pivot movement, so not actually a full tilt tip down be name....looks like a new work shop project

[splash]

woodsman-have been unsuccessfully using a windless tipup for 4 yrs and gave it up.Looking at your photo it appears you are catching breeze from under (rather than over how i setup)am i correct?Have not seen anyone in my area using to talk to for pointers.
thx splash

[Woodsman]

Under/over/both & front/back or even from a 45 deg angle are all options. Also adjusting the paddle height with the spring makes a difference. Catching the wind from under the paddle will jig up. Sometimes if the wind is too strong the arm may not come back down especially if the wind is coming from the paddle side. Catching the wind on the top side will jig down on the gust. It usually takes some time to play around to find the action the fish like that day.

Rick

[Captain]

How do you mark your depth when using your Windlass?  On a regular tip-up I have a button on the line that I leave at spool level and obviously you can't do this with the Windlass.  I am new to the Windlass, but what I tried was setting the button just a couple of inches below the surface of the water with the arm raised as high as it goes.  I figured this way the button does not have to be pulled through any skim of ice that has formed.  What does anyone else do to keep thier depth setting marked?

[FishinHardWater]

How do you mark your depth when using your Windlass?  On a regular tip-up I have a button on the line that I leave at spool level and obviously you can't do this with the Windlass.  I am new to the Windlass, but what I tried was setting the button just a couple of inches below the surface of the water with the arm raised as high as it goes.  I figured this way the button does not have to be pulled through any skim of ice that has formed.  What does anyone else do to keep thier depth setting marked?

i put the button here where the blue arrow is, but i like your idea of under the ice incase skim ice forms on the water

[FishinHardWater]

build a snowman on the base to prevent the paddle from standing up and staying up when the wind changes 

when the arm hits the top of the snowman it goes back down, never fails, until the snow melts 

[Wiener]

You want the wind going over the top of the paddle, this will push it down.
The spring stretches and when the wind dies down, will pull the bait back to the starting position.

I like to set the tipup with the wind blowing from the back. (spool side)

Wind from the side, or at an angle from the rear will have less jigging action.

To Keep the line from freezing in the hole,  I use a large slip float, but I don't have it secured to the line.

The slip float may freeze in your hole, but the line will be able to move through the slip float.

On really cold days, I use a foam hole cover that has a slit in the center for the line to go through.


Hope this helps,

Wiener