I am sorry if it offended you but, I see nothing wrong with posting pics of a tip-up or 2. One was home made and one was purchased. Basically I am telling mallard stalker that you do not need to go all out to try ice fishing. Here we use a lot of different types as I currently have 8 different types for my style of fishing. Sometime we use an alder bush we call a withe. We freeze one end in the ice with the tip hanging over the hole. There a line is attached with hook and sinker, and set at the desired depth. Halfway from the tip of bush to the ice we like to tie half a playing card to keep the line moving a little bit. When a fish is on the bush bounces up and down. Also we like to use tip-ups as we like to have some nice fires on shore to cook our lunches over. So ice fishing doesn't need to be costly and on a first try I would go cheap for a while. Good Luck!