Hey, tried to post this on another thred but it didn't work. Anyhow, I've heard a lot of folks talking about how they have trouble with hooking fish too deep with tip-ups to release them. A easy solution to this problem is a quick strike rig. The one I usually use is a barrel swivel with two pieces of 4-6in of wire leader coming off of it attached to treble hooks. You can buy them commercially made or make your own with heavy flurocarbon leader (just make sure you use a good fluro knot as it can be unforgiving of standard mono knots). Just hook your smelt or minnow behind the gills and even with the anal fin and your set. If a fish is taking line it will have one or both hooks in it's mouth so you set right away. If they are not moving I will slowly pick up line till I feel the fish (they will occasionally readjust bait to eat it), wait too long and you risk hooking them deep. This last weekend with 3 first time pike anglers we hooked 8 of 10 flags on fish between 20 and 37in and none was hooked to deep to release. This is the only set up I use to bait fish pike and it works well on walleye too with the fluro setup.
