Losing flat traps in the drifting snow.

[Grumpyoldman]

I have just switched over to all flat polar tip-ups. Was out fishing in some serious wind with drifting couple days ago. I pointed out to my buddy how bad the drifting was, "I can barely see my tip-ups" I said. Fifteen minutes later, I couldn't find three of them. Had to do a grid search and it took a half hour to find them all. Learned that its a good idea to build a snow mound near the traps to show where they are. I switched to the flat traps cause of the spinning thing on top and also because I found that the wind was pulling my upright tip-ups right out of the hole last year and blowing them across the ice (no snow that day to put on tip up outriggers to hold them down).

[Raquettedacker]

  I bought some cheep  driveway reflector posts to put next to them, but that was to stop the snowmobiles from running them over.

[KrappieSlayer]

  I bought some cheep  driveway reflector posts to put next to them, but that was to stop the snowmobiles from running them over.

lmao

[edmonds]

I have a hard time seeing my polar tip ups even when the snow is not drifting.  I guess the snow mound is one of the best ways to make them visible.  Visibility is one of the cons of the flat style tip ups IMO.  I am looking into getting the Heritage Lakers.  No problem seeing them monsters from a distance.

[saranacjoe]

My nephew lost a polar tip-up about 3 years ago so i went out and bought some small cones then put some of the reflective tape on them so at night you can see the cones and so does the snowmobilers.

[Icecracka46]

i experienced the same issue once. I now have blk magic tilts for those days. 

[Wellsy]

You can bring a snow shovel with you and clear around your traps better, nothing is permanent in blowing snow but it will keep them visible a lot longer.
And on bare ice for your "uprights" when you set them use your slush and cover the outside of the  legs with small mounds and clear the tops, makes a nice cradle.

[Fishful Thinking]

I use the fiberglass driveway markers with the reflective tape at the top, light weight and inexpensive. They really help to keep them from getting run over.

[1TIGGER]

When the snow is blowing I always make a little snow drift on the windy side of the tip up so the snow blows around it . It don't take much , maybe six inches high and a little better than the length of the tip up .
NEVER lost a tip up doing this .

[Buck762]

I lost two frabill thermals in a snowstorm.  found one really quick after the flag suddenly went up, and the other was found doing a grid style search.  Its crazy how fast the snow can cover things up.   

[AirManCam]

I was sick of searching for my polars in the snow, and snowmobiles almost running them over every 2 seconds, so I went and bought HT polar arctic bays, and I'm NEVER looking back.

[Ice Dog 67]

I bought some cheap decorative bamboo sticks at Goodwill and cut them into 3 foot sections.  When I drill my holes I pile some of the shavings and surrounding snow up and stick the bamboo in.  These can be spray painted any color it just so happens the ones I bought were already colored magenta, they are light, fit easily in the sled.  Makes finding my frabills EXTREMELY easy in any condition.

[Grumpyoldman]

My nephew lost a polar tip-up about 3 years ago so i went out and bought some small cones then put some of the reflective tape on them so at night you can see the cones and so does the snowmobilers.

Woulda lost a small cone in these drifts. And the tip-up. Clean it up and it piled right back up. Had to make the snow mounds bigger and bigger. Great day. I love the crappie weather.

[Grumpyoldman]

You can bring a snow shovel with you and clear around your traps better, nothing is permanent in blowing snow but it will keep them visible a lot longer.
And on bare ice for your "uprights" when you set them use your slush and cover the outside of the  legs with small mounds and clear the tops, makes a nice cradle.

Even if you clear off the tops, don't they still sometimes freeze in?

[Grumpyoldman]

I lost two frabill thermals in a snowstorm.  found one really quick after the flag suddenly went up, and the other was found doing a grid style search.  Its crazy how fast the snow can cover things up.   

You hadda love that flag!

[Buck762]

You hadda love that flag!

Ya I even rember what tripped it, A tiny brown catfish!! I usually hat when the cats take my pike bait but it was a blessing that time.  What kinda catfish are they? they are brown and around 12" or longer??

[Carp1]

I must have been crazy, but I just bought one of the new Yellow ones....What the heck were they thinking making them light yellow.  I can't find the dang thing when the snow is not drifting...This yellow model comes with a light for the flag, but if the light doesn't go off, it can be tough to find the tip-up in the dark.  At least the Blaze Orange stands out a bit if not covered by snow, but yellow...

[jiml]

I used flat polar tip ups for many years and got tired of looking for them!  I picked up a set of heritage lakers for this season and have used them three times!  Worth every cent.  One of my trips with these was in a 40 mph wind at 10 degrees with blowing snow.  Can't lose these and the snow that builds up does not bother the mechanism at all.  The flag arms are so long when it trips it actally draws your attention to the trap.  I do miss seeing the top spin with a running fish but I spooled the lakers with white dacron with blue and red threads woven in.  I can't see a running fish when I aproach the hole, but when I get to the trap I can look into the hole and see the spool spinning.

[jascpa099]

I used flat polar tip ups for many years and got tired of looking for them!  I picked up a set of heritage lakers for this season and have used them three times!  Worth every cent.  One of my trips with these was in a 40 mph wind at 10 degrees with blowing snow.  Can't lose these and the snow that builds up does not bother the mechanism at all.  The flag arms are so long when it trips it actally draws your attention to the trap.  I do miss seeing the top spin with a running fish but I spooled the lakers with white dacron with blue and red threads woven in.  I can't see a running fish when I aproach the hole, but when I get to the trap I can look into the hole and see the spool spinning.

Another thing to try is white dabs of paint arounf the black spool...you will see that running pretty good too

[Ice Freek]

If it is blowing that hard out i usually just go in the shanty and drink.......er I mean jig!

[BaitWrangler]

I too miss the 'runner flags' from my 30 year old tip-up's.  I had to get new ones because you can't fish big bait with such light weight traps.

Anyways, someone said they bought the flat traps because they have the runner flag... I don't know if I would go that far.  The mechanism that did that on my old traps was a simple spring.  When the knob on the spool hits the tripper arm and sets the flag off the spring puts the tripper arm back in to the set position and then everytime the spool makes a complete turn after that, the tripper arm keeps getting hit and the small flag on the arm flips back and forth.   (I know 90% of you know that but it may come in useful for the 10% of people who don't know and stumble across this post.)

Before I bought flat traps that may potentially be hard to see I'd at least try to add the spring to one of my other tip-up's / see if I could affix a spring on to a more visable tip-up. (Not knocking the flat traps.. I've never seen them fail and it's awesome to see the bar whipping on someones tip-up.)

I've also heard of people using rubber bands.