Don’t be fooled into thinking that ice-fishing tip-ups are an old-school type of tackle, or that one size fits all, the company Frabill says.

Tip-ups have become sophisticated,
so that a design is available for every situation, it says.

Here’s a look.

Round Tip-Ups

Some anglers believe that fish sometimes shy away from light coming through the hole in the ice, especially when snow covers the ice.

Some anglers scoop ice shavings, from the drilled hole, or snow into the hole to reduce the light.

Some just use a round tip-up, like in the photo above.

Round tip-ups can also have other advantages, including preventing the tip-up from freezing better than other designs, particularly in especially cold weather or double-digits below freezing.

These tip-ups can also be convenient to transport, stacking well in a
5-gallon bucket, with no tangles that other types can cause.

Spider Tip-Up

Sometimes fish are on the move,
so anglers want to be, too.

Spider tip-ups are a sleek and
compact design with legs that
fold up quickly.

They can be packed up and
re-deployed with speed

Snow Shoe Tip-Up

You’re ice fishing.

There can be snow.

Deep snow.

You could dig out the snow
for a hole, but then the flag
becomes difficult to see.

So this tip-up is designed like
a snow shoe to stay on top of snow.

It has a long shaft to reach the spool down to the waters and a long flag.

The Calibrator Tip-Up

The Calibrator tip-up looks the same as a snow shoe tip-up, but comes with a small, digital device, in the photo below, that records depth of bait, time of bite, time since the bite and length of line that a fish takes.

The ease in fishing baits at the same depth is a main advantage.

But the other readings can be handy for info like how long ago the fish grabbed the bait, if you missed the flag.




Old School

Of course, the original stick tip-ups are still on the market, and so are rail tip-ups, the simple, functional design that many ice anglers use for most fishing situations.

Today

For tip-ups, a well-suited design is now available for every situation, Frabill says.

For more info, visit Frabill’s website.