Tip-Up Ice Fishing Tips

Video Transcript

"Okay, so we're going to be watching this line of tip ups which are spread apart maybe twenty yards in real life. We're going to be looking through the shanty window or perhaps sitting on our pickle bucket and jigging for perch while we're waiting for something to go up. We know that we've got it set up across a cross current where salmon are going to be chasing smelt up into the river. Now when this flag goes up, we're going to run to the flag quickly, we're going to pull this up and we're going to start pulling on the line. We're going to try to set the hook quickly, but not too quick so that we're jerking it because we don't want to pull it out of his mouth. And we want to pull that line gently in. You're going to get some friction and burn against your fingers. If the fish is particularly tough and fighting hard, you may actually have to let a little bit of that line run back out and let him run, let him run. Don't let him get slack, but might have to let him run a little bit if he's pulling too hard. Then you're going to pull him gradually and slowly in. Sometimes this can be a five or ten minute process. Sometimes even longer. There was a gentleman not too long ago up here in Vermont, a gentleman by the name of Shawn Dutil, that pulled in a thirty-six and three quarter pound lake trout through the ice. And that thing took him a good hour and a half or two to pull in. So keep in mind that it's a long, gradual fight and it's perseverance that wins."