IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! => Tipups => Topic started by: Fishinut on Dec 04, 2002, 04:28 PM
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What in your opinion are the best tip ups. i personally use the polar pop up and the thermals but i am not sure if they are the all around best kind. Which one's are and why? in your opionion
:'( :'( :'( :'( :'(..................... FLAG!!!!!!
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Gotta go with the Beaver dam! They're like an old fancy car without the plastic. :'(
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It depends where you are fishing. I love my Heritage (Maine trap style) tipups. They are great when the snow gets deep and when you are useing big baits. You also don't get wind flags. A friend of mine from a state south of me, uses polars. He tried them the last time we were fishing in VT (my home), and had major problems with the blowing snow and slush on the ice. If you can get away with using the polars, it will save you a few bucks. If you have deep snow and high winds where you are I would suggest ones like the Heritage.
JMHO
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I used the 10" Frabill thermal tip ups for one winter and I swear I will never use them again. Once they are set, they are only 2 inches high or so and blowing snow covers them pretty easily. Once they get clogged with snow, forget it. They won't go off when you get a hit. Stick with simple "X" style traps like the Heritage (they are pricey, but they will last forever) or HT's Fisherman traps (haven't had a second's problem with them and are only $5.50 apiece!). If you are worried about your hole freezing up, HT sells foam hole covers for 4 bucks apiece (includes freeze proof tube for windlasses).
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I agree with Esox. I have a bunch of the Polars but I only set out my full spread(8 here in VT) a couple times a year. Most of the time I jig. The few times when I've had all 8 Polars out at once for more than an hour or two, the blowing snow has just about buried them. I'd say if you use tipups exclusively or rely on them a majority of the time that the Heritage tipups are the way to go. They're expensive but they're solid as anything, and no wind flags or problems getting buried beneath slush or snow.
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Thanks. ill give the other kinds a try :'( :'( :'(
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I like my beaver dams. also i bought orange cones . ( the type you use for football ). I can see them easily so can snowmobilers!!!
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Frabill makes a tip up that is close to the same quality of a beaver dam but at half the price. I'm a cheap stinker sometimes but my friend uses the beaver dam and i have the frabill copy and i swear its the same.
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I vote for Beaver Dam #1 and Polar close #2. I have about 10 differant types of tip ups and these are the only two I would recommend. Got a couple Frabil's that are round and cover the hole for X-mas this year and I would say they are the worst I have ever tried. Flags don't go off all the time. They are hard to set and then the minnow sets them off easily. It is a pain to use the extended flag feature.Only good feature is the little tackle box built in.
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Depends on the conditions that you are fishing.Essox and the boys up north where deep snow prevails,hertiage are the way to go, us flatlanders can get by with our polars,etc. By the way, once had 6" of drifted snow on top of polars on Big Squam in NH and the flag popped through, but I usually check my traps often enough to prevent snow overs plus to keep moving to keep warm.
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I use the heritage tipups because of the deep snow here in NH.I have also painted about 10" of the end of my heritage with bright flouresent chartruese paint to make them stand out better against the snow backdrop.This also lets me know when my traps go off as my friends also have heritages.I buy my heritages at the end of the season at wally world when they clearence them out at $5 a piece.I also bought some of that grey 1/2" thick foam that wally world sells for camping and made a bunch of insulated covers for my holes.No more frozen holes at a cost of about .35 per hole! ;)
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I'm a Thompson fan. The Heritage are nice, but they are quite a bit bulkier in the pack basket than the Thompsons. Saves a bit more room for the thermos & extra clothes...
Interesting that the Heritage & BeaverDam keep popping up as the favorites. Must say something about their quality & marketing.
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i like the ones some old man made in the 40's
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I say th best ones are the ones that are catching fish. I have some Polar ones and I have a couple of the older magnetic up-shoot kind. Polar and frabile have both came out with copies of them in the last few years I think HT has too. I personally like them for where I fish. The polars are pretty good but everyon has them and I like to be different. pluss if they are working right they are freeze proof.
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i like the polar tip up by ht had mine for 8 years with out any problems. :'(
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hello hard water fans,
i got 2 frabill 10 inch for christmas, opend 1. sounds like i might take 1 back. does any one no of a web site for the hertiage? would like to look at them. or did someone say wally world carrys them? never really used tip ups ,but would like to try them out.yep i am a rookey . something about this hard water fishing is a blast. i dig it! going to michigan to lake mitchell 1-19-22 this month. so i need to get a couple good tip ups. thanks for all your info!
BIG-MEAN
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Big-Mean,
Where are you from? Here is one site that sells them...but the price is a little high ($22). http://www.fish307.com/ I have pics on my site in the Vermont 2002 photo section if you want to take a look. If you want pics with more detail, let me know and I'll add some.
There is a shop here in VT that sells them for $17 each. I'm sure he would ship them if you want some. Let me know if you want the contact information.
They are a good quality product, and are very easy to use. So much in fact, my wife is making me buy more to replace my older style tip-ups. Hard to beat that for an endorsment , huh? ;) ;D
Let me know if you need more info.
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One suggestion if you buy the heritage traps.They come with a 10-32 wing nut on the outside of the drag adjustment,do yourself a favor and replace it with a nylon lock nut.I was'nt paying attention to mine and dropped it down the hole when it loosened up.The lock nut won't back off. ;)I'm allways trying to make a better mouse trap. ;D
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I like my frabill thermals.Work excellent here.I just build a little wall of snow on the windy side if its blowing to hard.Never had to clean out the holes even after 4hrs at -40.They even float and keep on working when the water gets high in the hole. ;D
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ESOX,YOUR SITE LOOKS & SOUNDS LIKE A NICE PLACE. I SHOULD COME UP AND TRY FISHING VT.LOL I LIVE 10 MILE FROM CEDAR POINT, SANDUSKY- OHIO.I HAVE THE SANDUSKY BAY IN MY FRONT YARD, LOTS OF PEOPLE COME FOR THE YELLOW PERCH. LAKE ERIE ABOUT20 MIN AWAY,JUST OVER THE THOMAS EDISON BRIDGE. I WILL TRY THE FRABILL IN MICHIGAN,AND GET A HOLD OF YOU WHEN I GET BACK. I CAN
REACH YOU AT FISH307- CORRECT? I THINK SHE PAID AROUND 20.$EACH, FOR THE FRABILLS.I GUESS I SHOULD PLAY WITH THIS ONE AND FIGURE OUT A LITTLE BIT ABOUT TIP-UPS IN GENERAL.WOULD LIKE TO GET ONE ANYWAY TO COMPAIR. OHYA SMELT1 I THOUGHT THAT KINDA STUFF ONLY HAPPEND TO ME?LOL THANKS PEOPLE BIG-MEAN
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Big_Mean, the frabill is fine for Mitchell, you are only going to fish four foot down. The Heritage has a much larger reel for deeper water, and sticks up higher, but the frabill seals the hole so you dont have to scoop ice. Try it out and see what you think, you can never have too many (like guns) anyways. In Mich you can only use two. I still like the old polars, they all work, and have differnt advantages. Is Erie icing yet?
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I haven't been impressed with the round frabils. You have more options for the trip adjustment with the polars, and they are more fool proof. They are also only about 10 1/2" in diameter. Have you ever measured a 10" hole? It ain't 10"! By the time the auger's jumped around a bit, the frabil is sitting in the water and freezing around the edges. I made some 12" discs with 1/4" plywood and 1" insulation, and cut 3/8" slots from the edge to the middle. The polar shaft slides right in, and you drop the whole thing on the hole. When I am done fishing for the day, the covers go over the holes in my permanent. This goes a long way towards keeping your holes open! Last night I put a cover on one hole and left the other one open as a test. This morning the covered hole had no ice, but it took three good hits with the spud to get through the uncovered one.
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Wables; I use the same trick myself ie. plywood and insulation but I'm trying to get away from carrying more rigging especially in the back lakes we fish. No sense in carrying rigging to keep the rigging working if I don't have to.
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KENELZ, NO ICE ON ERIE AS OF 01-08-03 , SUPPOSE TO START GETTING SOME COLD. THATS WHY I AM GOING TO MICHIGAN. GOT A COUPLE LIMITS OF PERCH ON THE SANDUSKY BAY THIS YEAR,WHITES LANDING AREA. THERE ARE NATURAL SPRINGS THAT WE FISH OVER. ALSO FISH LOCAL RESIVOIRS. I WILL TRY OUT FRABILL IN MICH. ANY GOOD NAME JIGS I SHOULD GET, OR WAIT AND ASK STEVE AT BAIT SHOP? I WILL KEEP YOU POSTED ON ERIE ,BUT WE NEED GOOD DEEP FREEZE FOR COUPLE WEEKS. THANK-YOU GUYS BIG-MEAN.
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Big_Mean, on Mich inland lakes you are only allowed two lines, tipups included. So if you set two traps, you cant jig. If your with a buddy, you could set two traps, and jig two lines. When I fished Mitchell I asked the local fisherman out on the ice whats up. I was told the walleyes are way down, the gills pretty good, so you might get in positon for gills. The pike seem to wonder everywhere. I jiged a bare rapalla, and picked up a real nice black crappie. The lake has a 24" min on pike, and state has a limit of two. It gets tough to keep everything sraight when you fish differnt lakes and streams, you have bass season, trout season, size limits, bag limits, artificials only areas, etc.
The dates you are comming up is when "Tip-up town" is happening at Houghton Lake, you might want to swing over there and check it out. Its more of a party than anything.
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Just figured out a way to extend height of my Polar flags without interfering with their settings and without buying the the plastic extensions. Tried them out last week and I want to try them under various conditions, if they work as well as last week I will report back.
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Big Mean,
No.no..no. ;D My site is http://www.fishingvermont.net . The fish307 is just one I found that sells the heritage. I have an add for a buddy of mine on my site. I get NOTHING for doing it, so I don't feel bad for sending folks his way. He is a good guy and his prices are good. My site is strickly non-commercial. I don't make a penny on it, and alll the cost for it come out of my pocket.
Just to say it one more time....I love my Heritage Laker tip-ups. For the conditions I fish in, they are the best I could ask for. They have never failed me, and I plan on replacing all of my remaining tip-ups by the end of the season.
Take care and good luck fishing.
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The best tip-ups are the ones I'm making for myself.
Subsurface design, won't blow over in a blizzard or freeze up, 36" tall when flag is up, will last a couple of lifetimes hand them down to the grandkids.
I'll be making plans available for next season. Shure you buy all the equipment that's on the market but you can make it cheaper and if you make your own you get braging rights and :'(will look like a old pro while fishing. Anyone interested ?
Book of Plans will include
1) Tip-ups
2) Light weight Sled with equipment box and one person wind shelter
3) Minnow Tank with Aeration and Filter, 1 for home 1 for sled
4) Accesories, Spud bar, ice scimmer, small stove
5) maybe some recipies for use with the stove
:'( ;D
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Price?
Where?
When?
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I really like my heritage tip ups thier nice and tall and hold plenty of line i painted mine blaze orange so i can see them better
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I like my strike sensor,When I'm in the shanty or the house,when my beeper goes off I know the flag is up. :'(
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don't that take the fun out of it? make sure you have fresh batteries along.
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Its alot of fun ;D when your in the shanty jigging for walleye & out of the blue your beeper goes off . :'(
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I never saw one of those work. they sound cool. how much do they cost? how many tipups do they handle?
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Well I dont like to advertise for companys,look up
strikesensor,whenever I see new stuff for ice fishing come out,if it works or not,I just add it to my collection. ;D
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the best tipups are the ones that catch fish 8)
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good call Perchbuster!! How many people get hung up on this brand versus that, and forget the rigging, depth, location, etc. You can have a Beaver Dam, Polar, Finicky Fish Factory, etc., but if it's rigged wrong, you won't catch diddly!!
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Oh, so if I dont Have the right tip up or the correct
rig.I wont catch anything,because I replaced the flag on one of my tip ups & thought that might work.hahaha
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Beaver dam is the best but, anyone know how to regrease them because I have a couple of oldies that can use it!! and has anyone ever sanded and refinished one?
WHERES THE ICE??? CANT WAIT :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
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To repack your beaver dams you need to strip off the line and with a tourch, or maybe even a heavy soldering gun or iron unsolder the spool. This allows you to remove the entire shaft through the top end of the tip-up. Once removed take some steel wool and clean any rust or debris from the shaft, straighten as nessesary, and with compressed air clean out the housing. That done all you have to do is pack the housing with a good grease (they sell some stuff at fleet farm I think it's called blue lube and it is made for tip-ups), reassemble and resolder, job done.
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cool deal thanks! Im going to have to do it one of these days soon!! How about using one of those quick strike rigs. Anyone ever give it a shot and/or what do you think? I usually just rig mine with a leader, treble hook, and a couple of beads on the line.