just a thought

[puhwhatdaheck]

Hello fellow pike chasers!I'm new to this site.Well this is whats on my mind. I always seem to catch more pike first ice. Yes i know fishing is better then but I'm still getting a lot of flags like first ice. But my flag to fish ratio is way down So my thought is with thin ice my tip-up real is under the ice.And now the ice is two feet or more could the fishing line be rubbing on the bottom of the ice and causing unwanted drag the fish are feeling?So i been pondering lengthening the shaft on my tip-up and get it below the ice.Any thoughts on this?

[Whopper Stopper]

If you are using a good trap, I don't think it should matter if the ice was 4 feet. When feeding out, my Beaver Dams offer 0 resistance. My opinion YMMV

              WS

Welcome to the site!  nice having you here.

[coboy]

 I also have Beaver Dams and with the ice over two feet thick now I haven't noticed any significant change in drops. I also think any quality tip-up work fine regardless of ice thickness.

[puhwhatdaheck]

im using some HT polar and HT husky not the best but they are smooth.And keep em well lubed.Thanks for the imput guys. i was just thinking when the fish run if the line rubbing on the ice would effect it. i planned on upgrading to some american made tip ups anyway. i hear good things about the beaver dams 

[bearbgone]

try switching up your bait. I was in 3' of water the other day and the pike were just nibbling on the tail end of my suckers. I had like 7 flags with no hook ups. The reason I know what they were doing is because I also had a rod set up inside my popup and I seen it happen twice with my own eyes right under my hole.  I went to smaller shiners instead of big suckers and had better success.

[mr tip up]

i use heritage lakers they work great in thick ice you can try going with a longer shaft and see if it works better for you

[puhwhatdaheck]

Thanks for the info   guys! I too now think it was light biting fish .I was out two weeks ago and out of five flags i caught three  fish! one 3# one 6# and a 10#  This will be the last weekend pike hunting for me so I'm going to bring everthing i can throw at them! Good luck fellas!