What the best brand/model of tip ups to buy?

[thomasthepikehunter]

I disagree, a tip up is more than just an indicator. It has to hold baits of various sizes, while still working reliably in the harshest of conditions. It has to maintain contact with a fish for many minutes, depending on the person. During that time, it has to feed line smoothly, or the fish will drop the bait. It has to be easy to see from a distance, and let the fisherman see what is happening.

A tip up is essentially a fishing rod, and your hands are the reel. I am disappointed in a majority of tip ups, they are in the stone age. I have plenty of ideas on how to improve them, but all manufaturers claim they can't sell the high dollar models. Everyone is only interested in the $10 plastic garbage, and I don't understand why. How about some seals to keep the tip up grease from running out, and turning smoothly? How about some good bait clips? Hole heaters? Rig storage? Better tip up line?

Yes the HT polar's work, but so do fiberglass rods, and spincast reels. With how fishing technology is advancing, tip ups are by far the least advanced, and I would like that to change.

[315stickbow]

What makes beaver dams worth the price?

[dcso3009]

What makes beaver dams worth the price?

Smooth and durable.  I had issues with all other kinds I have tried. They either broke, froze up, or the spool would not turn smooth after a few uses. 

[Icer1]

Indian Hill Out of Worcester, MA.  Hands down.

[1moslab]

my fishing rod bends as I am fighting a fish and keeps my line from breaking I cant find those bending tip ups anywere my tip ups are bite indicators with a spool that lets line off as they run.as long as they do that smoothly I think they work.my problem with BD is they are heavy and have a small spool,but they are well made and smooth.i have had problems with the round polars not tripping.i know that does not seem to be a problem with others but it was with me just too many times.the thermals seem to be smooth but sometimes the flag just is not high enough for me to see well.i use the cheap stick style with the metal spool.grease up the shaft, tune them a little ,tall flag light weight ,big spool,compact,and cheap.i am sure none of my fellow ice brethren will disagree with me.

[JeBa]

Heritage Lakers...........but after a few seasons, check all the mounting hardware.

Jeff

[Pindrifter]

Received New Laker Today, They now screw hardware in, also Reel pins are screwed in, I have two old and two new, The old had Reel pins pressed in, and hardware pined in,  I removed Reel pins in all and Gorilla glued them. I love the Heritage Lakers, But they are improving them. And you can get parts if you need them.

[Phil30817]

I agree with Eric, Pro thermal tip ups that cover the hole are going to be your best bet for walleyes. Small hooks with the baitfish through the back and the flourocarbon leader 10 to 20 pound test should do it. Caught plenty of walleyes & Pike on that set up but the walleyes certainly preferred my round tip ups over the beaver dams… May need to oil the thermals more often but I have been out on days when the eyes would only hit bait under a hole that wasn't letting light through.  More natural.  All the best, -phil

[egriffin70]

I have heritage lakers muskies,  plastic spool.  Great traps

[HaliDave]

I use BIG REEL TIP UPS all my family and friends use them. I have been using the same ones for at least 25 years they work flawlessly every year. They work for any fish you want to set them for they work in wind and deep snow and will hold a lot of line. There is a photo at
http://www.suttonsbaytoday.com/tipups.html

[danny boyce]

i like the moosehead design  i used the three sticks  for years but as i got older the fish got bigger    so did my tipups

[GooseBay Hippie]

The only thing that make Beaver damns worth the money is bragging right's in the P***ing contest. At $35-$50 a piece X at least 5 tip ups= way to much money!
Any tip up over $20 is mostly over spending.
For perch and crappie $5 palstic spool traps are all you need.
Pike and large fish spend $20 and get big metal spool cross tip ups. Polar if you really like them.
Classic Paw-paw fold flats and cross-styles never freeze up. Get one with the metal notch for the flag and they will never wind pop.
25+ years experience.

[thomasthepikehunter]

If you look, beaver dam's can be had for $35. I'm not sure why you would get 5, but thats $175. Really, thats too much for a great product that will last longer than you do? I'm not a huge fan of beaver dam, but come on. There are guys who pay that much for just one rod/reel combo.

[1moslab]

I use 5 tip ups cause I'm aloud.i also think BD are a bit pricey kinda heavy and have a small spool.i have green sticks I have been using for 25 yrs.actually I am trying to remember a tip up that didn't last .but here in pa we don't have snowmobiles running them over.but what do you have happen to your tip ups ?what brakes on them?

[kpd145]

You can get frabil tip ups from our sponsor fleet farm for 11.50 and they are a 3 pack, plus 7 dollars for shipping. Just add dacron and leader. I use about 100 yards of old dacron for backing and about 50 yards or so of orange or white dacron.

Sweet deal and the tip ups work well. Fold nice and flat, and you can bend the trigger mechanism with some needle nose pliers to make sure you do not get wind flags. Traps will blow out of the hole before the flag trips.

Best bang for the buck IMO. Sure you can spend 5 times as much and get lakers or Beaver dams but in the end it is a tip up. If you need a drag, just pop a rubber band on it and run your one through it for bigger baits. Running your line through the band may add 5-10 seconds extra to set it up. If I have a really lively shiner, I double the line back under it again, I have only had to do this twice the entire season with a few goldies that were cranked up for some reason. I have also baited them with 8-10" white perch I have jigged up and it has worked as well.

in the end it is all up to personal preference, guys like the flat tip ups, guys like the round tip ups. I have tried those and have found I like the old cross style the best. I have also used these traps to bait HUGE goldies for pike, they have held the bait (with rubber band) and have landed big pike.

[thomasthepikehunter]

As to what actually breaks tip ups, the answer is not much. Snowmobiles and cars/trucks will break any tip up. I've only lost one that way. The HT polar, while I do like them, are really weak. I've broken two if I remember right. Once was just trying to pick it up off the ice. I'm guessing it had frozen in just a bit, but it broke really easy. After 5-10 years, the plastic becomes very brittle. I actually had a fish break one. It was the second to the last time I put down a "200 foot" spool for pike. The fish took all the line, and snapped the thing. As I was walking up to it, the thing all of a sudden slammed against the side of the hole, and broke in two. I was sprinting at that point, but the fish took the pieces down the hole. I kind of take a "collector" approach to fishing if that makes sense. I never make a list of things to buy, other than basic tackle and lures I want. I see a cool tip up, I get it. Maybe buying 5 of the best tip ups at once is a good hit to the pocket, but one at $35 is good. I'm not arguing for beaverdams though, I really don't like them. One disadvantage to expensive gear is they become targets. My dad had a a beaver dam tip up once, it got stolen at a fishing contest when he took me (about 4 years old) to get some food. That reminds me, he has a tip up that only says "Visual Mark" on it. No brand, zero reference on google about it. He says he got it at a bait shop years ago. It looks fairly new (newer than 10 years), and its different because it has a dowel marker on it, hence, visual mark. I've been really surprised by the frabill straightline tip up this year. It is kind of a mold between the beaver dam style, and jack trap style. The thing is, they all have advantages, they are just tools. I would not put that tip up out with 6" of ice in 4' of water. The thing would tangle and fail all the time because of how its designed. It works great in the same situation with over a foot of ice however. It also does great when I want as little resistance as possible. My other go-to is a homemade tip up like a beaver dam, but with a big spool. It is at home in super shallow water, and thin ice. For the first month of ice fishing, being able to see the fish moving from a distance is huge. Its drawback is that it has slightly more resistance. Walleye will sometimes drop the bait on that one, and it can be harder to use in deeper water.

[DR.SPECKLER]

well I like my beaver dams id rather buy quality gear that will outlast me than get nickel and dimed the rest of my life by buying cheap tipups like ht polars they freeze up and rust after a few years.i will be able to pass down my tipups to my family .i guarantee that cant be said for a 5 to 10 dollar tipup I guess I live by you get what you pay for.

[Nightbird]

Can't understand why people wring their hands over + $30 for a tipup. Try and get a decent open water rod and reel combo for less than a hundred bucks. I'm extremely frugal and make my own gear, but arguing over the price of ice gear versus quality astounds me. It's all very cheap, relative to summer fishing, which I assume most here also do.

[Open-Handed Fish Slap]

Indian Hills        You don't want to buy cheap equipment, things warp, spools miss hits, drag systems suck.  Spend the money for quality, you wouldn't by a house made out of twigs or a truck made out of aluminum foil.

[52isntbigenough]

I agree with Eric, Pro thermal tip ups that cover the hole are going to be your best bet for walleyes. Small hooks with the baitfish through the back and the flourocarbon leader 10 to 20 pound test should do it. Caught plenty of walleyes & Pike on that set up but the walleyes certainly preferred my round tip ups over the beaver dams… May need to oil the thermals more often but I have been out on days when the eyes would only hit bait under a hole that wasn't letting light through.  More natural.  All the best, -phil

I have to disagree. The Pro Therms have a nasty tendency of freezing when the hole is deep due to the shaft length not being long enough to hit the water in some cases. The flag springs are sub par and many times, I've had snow melt on them and freeze the flag down, allowing the spindle to spin free without letting me know a fish was there or not tripping when I add a tip-up light for night fishing. I've also had the same issue with the bait holder on the spool. The clip freezes with line in it, not allow the flag to trip. Let's not talk about the flag not being long enough to see in deep snow

If you're worried about light in the hole or it freezing, but covers. I have to give the nod to the Arctic Fisherman from Beaver Dam. Smooth, doesn't freeze, great line capacity, flag is long enough to see in deep snow and strong springs that trip when a light is applied to them. I have about 13-14 BD's and won't fish without them. I let friends and kids use my Pro Therms.

[upnortfishing]

Frabil Arctic Fires are the best value in my eyes, that being said the 3 I have are backups to my 3 Beaver Dams. Clearly this is a regional preference thing, in Wisconsin it is pretty rare to see cross style tip-ups, I've seen 1 guy using them in the past few years, my dad had some that I threw away recently.

I have all newer model Beaver Dams but the old ones are a bit nicer besides being more difficult to repack grease. I will use my Arctic Fires on days when I'm fishing for northern and am planning on switching lakes to target walleye at night. If I use the Arctic Fires a lot I will normally re-lube them mid season, I normally wait for the Beaver Dams to tell me when they need grease which has been about average every other year. Bucket storage makes this probably occur more often as they should be stored horizontally to avoid the grease pooling or running out.

[mjk67]

I've used Beaver Dams since the 80s.  They are good tip ups. The only one I have remaining is a 1991 model.  I've heard the quality has really gone down hill in the last decade.

However, I have also used the Pro Therms, since their release. I don't have any of the issues outlined above.  A flag extension will solve visibility issues.

In fact, a snowmobile ran over my original Pro Therm the first year I got it; I fished 10 more years, and eventually got rid of it.

The Frabill Arctic Fires seem to have the most sensitive spool action of any tip up I've used.

[Svengalli]

I have used Pro-therms for a long time now.  Never had a problem with the smoothness of the spool and only fail to trip once.  It was -30 and the flag material actually froze in some slush around the hole.

My only beef is the flag height.  But that was very easily remedied by a trip to an electronics recycling depot.  I grabbed a half dozen telescopic radio antennae and no issues now.  Even in over 2 feet of snow.

[52isntbigenough]

Have you used tipup lights on the extended flags?

[Svengalli]

Have you used tipup lights on the extended flags?

Can't say as I have.  Fishing in Southern Manitoba, with the exception of burbot, shuts down after sunset.  Typically we use two rods (one jigging, one dead stick) and tip ups are a rare sight.  Only allowed two lines in the winter but most times that's more than enough up here.  I only use tipups anymore for pike with an 8 - 12" ciscoe for bait although the odd walleye will still take one.

I assume you're asking to see if the added weight will prevent the flag from tripping?  How much do they weigh?

[52isntbigenough]

Lights vary in weight, 1-4 oz depending. frabill makes a couple that turn into the opening on the pro-therm flag, which to me is already heavy beacuse its made from plastic. When the pro-therms get older the springs get weak and eventually wont trip with a light on the end.

[Svengalli]

Lights vary in weight, 1-4 oz depending. frabill makes a couple that turn into the opening on the pro-therm flag, which to me is already heavy beacuse its made from plastic. When the pro-therms get older the springs get weak and eventually wont trip with a light on the end.

A quarter pound?  that's not a tipup light, that's heavier than my Maglite  haha.

I ditched the flag that came with the pro-therm like I have for the flag of any tipup I ever owned.  Back before I used pro-therms (used to only have the H-styles up here) we added alligator clips to the end of the arm and then clipped whatever we wanted for flags based on conditions.  Black if background was the lake and infinite white, blaze if into the bush but it ended up being about customizing for looks  between us.  Jolly Rogers, Maple Leaf, Sports Logo's etc.  So when I switched to pro-therms it was only natural to do the same.

[subtlehustle76]

I made a set of pike tip-ups. I'll post a pic of the set someday.

[Nightbird]

I made a set of pike tip-ups. I'll post a pic of the set someday.

I'd like to see them. I'm tinkering with mine again this year and am always interested in what others are doing.

[curtrein]

Beaverdams are the best and most widely used in my circle. I started out with plastic polar-type tipups but graduated to the beaverdams once I knew I was going to get serious. Had problems with lesser models falling apart and not having smooth retrieval in cold conditions. Like many have said you get what you pay for. Beaverdams are relatively expensive but they are the best. Going rate for used is 25-30. New are around 40-45. Keep checking  on Craigslist and EBay for them. That's how I found mine for the lowest price.