Setting tip ups for northern

[otter300]

Just cuirous how deep you set your minnow rig on your tip ups? Just below the ice or only a foot or so off the bottom? Just curious because I just don't seem to have much luck getting flags, while people around me seem to be doing fine. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

[BSandBoykin]

It depends on the bottom type, depth, and clarity of the waters you fish.  Most people fish about a foot off the bottom or above the weeds.  I personally prefer to set up about 3-4 feet off the bottom with a 6' flor leader to a large shiner on treble hook (where legal).  Pike typically look up for prey so you want your bait above where they cruise.  Some of the largest pike I have caught have been just a few feet under the ice.  I catch largemouth bass on this set up too.  For eyes right off the bottom is better.

Here is a great article I found helpful http://www.icefishingchat.com/pike-ice-fishing-tips.php

[coboy]

I've been doing really well setting my dead bait two feet below the ice in five feet of water. I don't fish in heavy weeded areas only because I'm doing well with the present methods.

[Whopper Stopper]

I always keep my bait just above the weeds. If I am on the edge of a weed line I keep it a couple feet off the bottom. If it is late season and I am using dead bait, I switch between just under the ice and laying on the bottom.

I also use a few feet of Flouro as a leader.

             WS

[MRC2572]

I usually fish in the weeds and hang my bait just slightly above them.

[buffalo24]

been fishing big pike here in MI for a while, i like to set my minnows at least 4' of the bottom 30 lb tip up line a small barrel swivel 8' of 20lb floro carbon leader attached to a homade fine wire leader and a short but very stout treble hook.  and i like big minnows for big pike

[Neil McCauley]

Here is a great article I found helpful http://www.icefishingchat.com/pike-ice-fishing-tips.php

From the article:

Once his holes are drilled, Brumbaugh reaches into his aerated Frabill Aqua-Life Bait Station for only the liveliest of minnows to be nipped onto his treble hook. “Because a tip-up is a hands-off device, I want only the healthiest bait finning below. The bait must wiggle… a lot. And it needs to stay alive a long time so I don’t have to spook fish by checking tip-ups too often.”

Interesting... don't know about that. Lot of people seem to recommend dead baits or at least struggling baits.

[thomasthepikehunter]

A very lively minnow will bring in more fish than a dead one, there is no arguing that. I personally like big lively minnows, then cut their tail off so they struggle like hell. There is no best pike bait, they all work. Where you put them is what counts.

[SpartySturg]

From mid-January on I use the 50% rule.  I set the sucker or other minnow 50% of the depth the hole is over.
Sounds strange, but it I learned it from a well known ice guide, and it works.
So 44 feet of water and I set 22 feet down.  I tend to fish deeper in the later part of the ice season.
Early ice I do not do this and fish a lot shallower and if it is 12 feet I go to about 8 to 10 feet down.
Have only set tip ups once this year so far, but will be setting more as the season goes.
I want some blackened Pike taco's!!!   

[Kobey]

If there are a lot of weeds, make sure you get above them.  Some places they grow a lot higher than in others.  Pike don't seem to like seaweed rolls.  Must be why I never see any eating at Sushi restaurants.

[deadsmelthead]

From mid-January on I use the 50% rule.  I set the sucker or other minnow 50% of the depth the hole is over.
Sounds strange, but it I learned it from a well known ice guide, and it works.
So 44 feet of water and I set 22 feet down.  I tend to fish deeper in the later part of the ice season.
Early ice I do not do this and fish a lot shallower and if it is 12 feet I go to about 8 to 10 feet down.
Have only set tip ups once this year so far, but will be setting more as the season goes.
I want some blackened Pike taco's!!!   

Yupper split the difference, you just cover more pike cruising water that way..

[Neil McCauley]

From mid-January on I use the 50% rule.  I set the sucker or other minnow 50% of the depth the hole is over.
Sounds strange, but it I learned it from a well known ice guide, and it works.
So 44 feet of water and I set 22 feet down.  I tend to fish deeper in the later part of the ice season.
Early ice I do not do this and fish a lot shallower and if it is 12 feet I go to about 8 to 10 feet down.
Have only set tip ups once this year so far, but will be setting more as the season goes.
I want some blackened Pike taco's!!!   

What exactly is the reason pike go deeper later in the winter? I know in the summer it has to do with water temps, the thermocline depth, baitfish growth, weed height, and other things possibly. But why change depths in winter?

[esox_xtm]

What exactly is the reason pike go deeper later in the winter? I know in the summer it has to do with water temps, the thermocline depth, baitfish growth, weed height, and other things possibly. But why change depths in winter?

Usually following the food. Lots of stuff moves deeper mid-season. As things warm and ice/snow melt away they'll move back shallower.