Favorite tip-ups

[wind burnt]

In the market to purchase a few tip ups that I would use primarily for walleys/bass mostly but may use them for smaller panfish too. (crappie/perch)
What are some good quality tip ups that are fairly well made and sensitive enough to rig for pan fish?

[pike4some]

There are so many differant brands out there now. But for what you are saying you want to use them for I would almost have to say go Polar style. They are on the cheaper side. Many buy these as there first tip ups as they can't afford the 20-50 dollar brands. I still have my polars after 15 years and they work fine yet. The sping on the flag seem lighter is why I am saying they may work well for your application as walleye are finnicky biters and perch and crappie are a lighter fish also.

Just my 2 cents

[stuck on the ice]

The ht polor tip ups are super easy and fst to pick up at the end of the day. I use nothing but polor tip ups.

[kl3377]

I love the quality of Heritage Brand for a traditional type tip-up.  Some have a drag/tension setting for the spool which should make it nice for all the species you want to target.

[wind burnt]

never used a polar style. Somewhat partial to the wooden cross-base style I used for pike fishing years ago.
I really like the looks of the smaller Jacktraps made in maine but kinda pricey ~ $41 per tip-up! (ouch)
I guess you could argue, you get what you pay for.

[Ironeagle]

Regular old poplar tip ups. Or frabil arctic fire. But if you get deep snow you need either longer flags or higher tipups.

[Frank81]

I've caught more fish from tipups that i've made on my way to the lake, then I have from store bought ones. My home made ones only consist of a piece of wood to go over the fishin hole, wrap that in fishing line, take a branch, stick it in a pile of snow beside the hole, take you're line and loop it over the branch and put a piece of orange tape on it, done. after you're done you're fishin trip, unwrap the line, put in a baggie, take line and  tape home, leave natures wood & branches there.

[MattyP123]

never used them, know nothing about them, im looking for perch mainly

[DrowningTrout]

I picked up four beaver dam tip-ups last year off of ebay and love them. They are silky smooth and simple. Brand new they are a bit spendy so check out ebay and craigslist to try and get a deal.

DT

[pike4some]

Well many are going to say the beaver dams or heritage brands ata cost of probably atleast 40 easch. These are a more expensive tip up but will last a life time. Now there is also Frabill, Polar, HT brands. Now you can get the Polars for usually under 10 bucks and these do work fine for quit a few years, Frabil has a few different ones wood and plastic, I have the yellow ones and I like them. You can get them from 10-30 and possibly higher now as they have a new one out this year. HT I dont know much abvout but are about the same as a Frabill I am thinking. All of these brands are the same type of tipup except the workmanship which seems to be you get what you pay for. If you havn't used them before and are just starting out you may want to start with a polar or a Frabill. If you like to tip up save up for the better ones down the line.

I personally enjoy tip up fishing more than jigging. Its just the rush when the flag goes up that gets me every time. You will see. Good Luck

[musky_slayer6668]

Beaver dam! Best tipups out there. Will last a lifetime!

[wind burnt]

Well many are going to say the beaver dams or heritage brands ata cost of probably atleast 40 easch. These are a more expensive tip up but will last a life time. Now there is also Frabill, Polar, HT brands. Now you can get the Polars for usually under 10 bucks and these do work fine for quit a few years, Frabil has a few different ones wood and plastic, I have the yellow ones and I like them. You can get them from 10-30 and possibly higher now as they have a new one out this year. HT I dont know much abvout but are about the same as a Frabill I am thinking. All of these brands are the same type of tipup except the workmanship which seems to be you get what you pay for. If you havn't used them before and are just starting out you may want to start with a polar or a Frabill. If you like to tip up save up for the better ones down the line.

I personally enjoy tip up fishing more than jigging. Its just the rush when the flag goes up that gets me every time. You will see. Good Luck

Thanks for all the ideas! I'm definitely buying in for the long haul and couln't agree with you more about the rush of seeing the flag FLY! I'm leaning heavily towards the jacktrap jr. but the Indian Hill 26" trap looks intriguing too. I'll continue to keep an open mind and let everyone know what I finally settle on.

[fish on ron]

All the traps listed will do the job, I've used them all from $5.00 stickly ones  many years ago to my Beaver dams. They are my favorite and I'm from New England!! The Indian hill traps have a nice flag/tripper system and Jack traps are well made. Why not try some of each? They all will have a good risidual used value so you can sell them if you don't like them and move on to somthing else.

[bwana72]

I am with what most of the other guys have said...if you are new to tip ups...there is no need to spend a bunch of $$$. The Polar tip ups work fine and will catch you a bunch of fish. Down the road by all means buy some of the more expensive traps...but you can't go wrong with the Polars.

[WhiskyCrappie52]

I love my Beaver Dams but start off with some cheap ones. I still have a bunch of HTs and HT thermals

[Fontona19]

I have a set of Jack Jr.'s and they are deadly on panfish.

[Whopper Stopper]

I have 6 Beaver Dams. 2, I bought in the early 70's. They work as good now as when they were new. Average out the cost per year for something you can hand down to the kids and the price isn't much of an issue.

               WS

[jethro]

I'm a Heritage Laker kind of guy. You wouldn't think these are good panfish traps being big as they are, but they are great, especially with the oversize plastic reels. Love how perfectly you can set the drag. Durable flags and nice and tall for making sure the snowmobiles can see them. If I were doing it again I would get all Indian Hill traps though. Maybe in 150 years when these wear out. 

[dogfish]

Loaded question everyone has their favs, me I love em all!

One big question is how will you be getting out on the ice?  If you are walking and pulling a sled the HT polars are nice because they are light and compact, you can fit about 10 in a 5 gal bucket.  They have the T on top out of the water so you can see if the fish is making a run when you walk up to them.  Really the only down side to them is a lot of snow, the flag is only about a foot high.  You can buy aftermarket teloscoping flags but I find that they are a bit wimpy and get trashed kind of easy.

The other end of the spectrum is the heritiage Laker you can fish them is lots of snow they are well built and sturdy.  Down side is they are big and heavy.

The inbetweens (jack traps , beaver dams etc) all good companys and good tip-ups.  The 40 up high fliers are fine tip-ups I used them for years and still have a few kicking around that are 30 years old or so, a little tweeking and they still work.  Heack they are a 8 dollar tip-up.  Depending on how you set them up they can all be used for panfish or Tiger musky.

[rbellamy68]

Frabill hardwood classics.......about 15 to 20 a piece
 

[jerrife]

I bought a set of Jack traps a few years back. They are a little expensive, but  they are a good quality tip-up.
 

[Douger]

Eight years ago I bought Jacks Traps, 5-26" cross and 1-31" standard not knowing what I was doing.  I have been extremely happy with them, perch, crappie, pike, trout, they cover it all.  I have been given a number of others and used a number of others over the past eight years but really like my traps.  They are pricey and they are heavier than most but great quality and I like the way the flag arms and holds in the wind.  If I were to purchase again I would do traps again but probably the 26" standards, I like the way they store or the Jr.s, both are smaller and lighter.

[Bennettc]

Beaver Dams now but I started with Frabill Classics.

[Poot]

Indian Hills #1 for me. I don't believe you can match the quality.

[petrgill]

Chepiguy homemade specials.

[winnisquam guy]

I love the quality of Heritage Brand for a traditional type tip-up.  Some have a drag/tension setting for the spool which should make it nice for all the species you want to target.

X2

[CHEPIGUY]

Nice home made tipups chepi
;

[rsellers]

If u have the money get ones that cover the hole

[on_point]

Have always had tip-ups similar to the indian hill type tip-up.   Had a few polars but hard to find at night due to low profile they get buried with snow pretty easily.    The other thing that always bothered me was how small the spools were.   If your fishing deep for lake trout or walleye it takes damn near all day to wind the things up and for me when packing lines I want to be in and out of the cold as soon as possible.   All the spools on my tip-ups have a 1 foot per wind.   

If you ever fish deep trust me on this you are going to want a tip-up with a large diameter spool. 

[ckashner]

40-up Seniors made in Westfield MA. USA