Trouble with tipups

[Ithacafishing]

Last year my was buddy and mine first year on the ice.  We loved every aspect of it, however struggled when it came to tipups.  Im trying to read up on it as much as possible but does anyone have any recommendations anything ranging from the line i should use to the bait?

[fishermantim]

there are 2 types of line used in ice-fishing.

Mono/florocarbon for jigging rods. If you don't have one, you should look into getting one.
they are relatively inexpensive and will give you something to do when the flags aren't popping.

Braided dacron for tip-ups (you will need a mono/florocardon leader as well)
Depending on the fish you are targeting, hooks can be J-type or cirles (or whatever you like) and range from size #8-#4 J-style or #1-#4 for circle hooks. As I said it all depends on what you're after. Smaller hooks for trout and panfish, larger hooks for bass & pike.

The next question would be location: where on the pond/lake and how deep.
That you will need to research further, as every body of water is different, and how the fish in that body of water more so.

Good luck. I hope this has helped.

[Zern]

I'll take a crack at this.

 1st depends on what your fishing for with the tip-ups. For pike, I use heave braided 25lb test line with a 6inch steel leader with a treble hook.

 Get a wieghted clip on depth finder and a tiny bobber. Find the bottom with the wieght, it up 6 inches. attach the bobber. The bobber will make it easy to reset the tip-up. Also,when ya get a flag, you can tell if it's a wind hit or a fish. If the water is deep, ya may want to attach a split-shot. I like to hook the minnow in the back.

 For perch, I do the same thing with a smaller single hook, and a leader of mono line and smaller minnow.

 I am sure others with add to this. There are MANY ways to catch fish!

 GOOD LUCK
Zern

[WARRIOR_ON_ICE]

General advice is to fish 1-2 feet off the bottom for everything with the possible exception of salmon and crappie which are known to suspend. Use the braided nylon to fill most of the spool ( it handles well in cold temps. ) Use a monofilament leader attached with a barrel swivel, I like to make these 6 - 10 feet long. Use the lightest mono and terminal tackle possible for the fish you are targeting. In very clear water, the fish can see your tackle dangling there, and you will get far fewer flags if your mono, sinkers, hooks are too big and detectable by the fish. This is especially true for trout.

[Ithacafishing]

Judging by the posts it sounds like the line i was using before the monofilament wasn't the right choice.  I go to school in Ithaca, but live near the southern NYC reservoirs so i switch off periodically but the majority of the times are in CNY.  I usually fish the larger lakes in the region: Otisco, Skinny, Sodus Bay, etc.  Are there any spots you guys recommend? We usually just make our ways to the biggest group of fishermen. 

How often do you recommend changing holes? and also does anyone use small perch as tip-up bait because I have heard of this as a recommendation?