My name is Jim Legacy. I work for MassWildlife and coordinate the Angler Education Program, and today we’re going to set a tip-up.
This is a very basic operation. There are just a couple of critical steps you need to know to put the bait in the right location and make sure you can actually catch fish.
The first thing we do—here’s your standard tip-up. There’s not much to it: three bars of wood, a little spool, a trip mechanism, and a spring steel flag. We’re going to open that up to start with, then secure the set screws so it forms a cross. Then take the flag out just like that.
The most critical step in the entire procedure is sounding the hole. “Sounding” just means figuring out the depth at each individual hole when you’re ice fishing.
It’s simple—you use what we call a sounder. We’re going to clip that onto the hook and drop it down into the water column slowly. There are different kinds of sounders; some have springs, but this one just has a clip.
We’ll drop it down and let it slowly sink. We’re in fairly deep water here. I think we’re just about on the bottom now—and we know that because we can feel the sounder thudding on the bottom.
Now we’re going to set our depth. You can use an ice bobber or just a small button—you can even get these at a craft store. Slide the button onto your line and bring it down to the surface of the water so you have a straight line to the sounder.
Then, pick it up and slide that button about two feet toward the bottom. That simple adjustment keeps your bait just off the bottom, instead of buried in weeds or rocks.
After that, bring the entire setup back up onto your spool. Most tip-ups are pretty inexpensive—maybe $12 to $15—though there are more elaborate versions out there. These simple ones work just fine.
Next, take the sounder off—away from the hole so you don’t accidentally drop it in—and get your bait. We’re using a shiner, which you can buy at bait and tackle shops. These are golden shiners, common in New England ponds.
I like to hook the shiner under the dorsal fin, just above the spine—right where the darker back meets the lighter sides. That keeps the bait lively and swimming naturally. Another method is hooking through the lips, but I don’t prefer that because it can interfere with how the fish breathes and cause it to die more quickly.
We also add a small split-shot weight to help the shiner get down into the water column.
Now we lower the bait back into the hole. It should sink slowly—especially with a light weight—so the shiner moves naturally. Let it drop until the button reaches the top of the spool. We’re probably fishing in about 20 feet of water here, so it may take a little time.
This process changes with each hole—you could be in 5 feet of water or 50. That’s why finding the bottom and setting your depth correctly is so important.
Now that the line is set, we just need to set the flag. This is your trigger mechanism. Bring the flag down and hook it onto the trigger so that if a fish bites, it releases and pops the flag up.
Finally, consider the wind. Today, it’s coming from the north-northwest, so we want to position the tip-up so the wind doesn’t accidentally trip the flag. If you set it the wrong way, the wind might blow it off.
Face it into the wind, lower it into position, make sure your depth marker is set—and just like that, you’ve set a tip-up.