Me and my pal and my girlare taking up ice fishing this year. I am new to it and was just curious what I should expect. We have 4 tip ups and a hand auger so far. What else do we need. the overflows we will fish have Northern Pike in them somewhere which is what I am interested in. Anyway where will they be located, what lb. test do I need and any other tips?

Thanks
Jim

Oh yea we dont have a shelter yet, I think we will just build a fire on shore and drink beerswhat yall think

Aight theres gonna be alot on line for tipups..I been using 6lb fireline on 2 frabill 10" thermals but alota people use this heavey like braided stuff wich is a good idea. a good thing to do, If your shallow drill a hole clear it out lay down look at bottom and if theres weeds try it out

Pike can be anywhere in the water. A good place to start is if you can find a drop off near some form of cover (weeds or rocks). Drill holes at top, half way down & bottom. Fish at or near bottom or just under the ice. Large dead baits( herring, creak chub ect.) seem to produce best. Fish on a quick strike rig below your tip-up.
I have heard of some having good luck using hotdogs for bait. I am going to give it a try this winter when fishing is slow. Figure it can't hurt to try.

Good Luck

We have had our best luck with tip ups spooled with braided line for Northern pike. The bait we use is Herring. This bait works very well in our area. When fishing and the flag goes up. and the fish takes the bait let him run until the fish stops. Then start pulling the line back SLOWLY by hand until you’ve taken the slack out of the line. Once you feel the fish, give the line a good tug and start pulling in the line and don't stop. When the fish reaches the hole, be careful and keep the line tight until your fish is out of the hole. Takes a little getting used to it without tangling the line but it easy. Good luck...

Another thing you could use instead of tip-ups is a bush rod. If your not sure what a bush rod is its a really small rod and its very strong and it can bend alot. You use that and it is easier to retrieve the fish with. To tell when you have a bite you can put a bell on the tip of the rod and it will start to dingle when you have a bite or another way to tell if you have a bite is to let out line and you have it go around a bottle such as a rum bottle(empty) but it has to be glass so its heavy enough and then the line goes into the hole. So when you see your bottle tip over you got a good bite and it will give the fish time to really take the bait in. Oh and dont forget to wrap the bottle in something like black tape so you can really notice it.