What is the Best Bait for Ice Fishing Tip Ups?
What the best bait is for ice fishing with tip-ups is totally debatable. It obviously depends on the species that you are trying to catch. A good medium sized bait that will catch most species would probably be smelt.
I personally prefer anchovies as I’ve had exceptional luck with them with both walleye and Pike.
One of the reasons for this I’m sure is anchovies are an extremely oily fish so they produce a lot of scent in the water. I’ve used these dead sticking, jigging and presented underneath a tip up and they all seem to do very well.
Ice Fishing with Herring Bait and Quick strike Rigs
Quick strike and herring are an ideal size for large predators such as northern pike and muskie. Herring can be great when your target fish is the 10 lb plus range. If you are using a smaller smelt when trying to target these large fish, you may end up getting many small or undesirable fish. Or just end up having your line robbed all the time.
Quick strike rigs are comprised of a monofilament leader with two to three sets of treble hooks on them. Choosing slightly smaller trebles can increase your hook up rate. Choose your hook size based on how big the local fish are. With a quick strike the herring is hooked up by the head the dorsal fin and tail with three hook rigs. This will have the herring hang horizontal, you can adjust the length of fishing line so the bait hangs head down.
With two hook quick strikes the dorsal and the tail to hang down so the bait be presented head first. The vast majority of fish swallow other fish head first. So this makes it much easier for them to get the full bait in their mouth.
I have noticed using quick strike rigs on tip-ups that my hookup rate has increased and a lot of the time I get very nice jaw hooks. This makes it much easier to get the fish back in the water without a ton of over handling when you are doing catch and release.
Last season I think I only got a single gut hook using a quick strike this is opposed to using a Jake and anchovy where I got multiple fish swallow the bait. This is obviously a concern if you’re doing catch and release a lip hook is much more preferable .
Smelt the Go to Bait for Ice Fishing
Smelt are very common and effective bait when using ice fishing tip ups. They’re available in natural and dyed varieties such as yellow and green. Some people swear by the dyed varieties. As with anything else than angling it’s all a matter of experimentation to figure out what your local fish are attracted to.
Smell can be presented on a smaller quick-strike rig as with the herring this can lead to a much better landing rate. Another popular choice is using them in conjunction with a jig head, I have also used smelt on pickerel rakes or jack fish rigs. It really seems like the red beads on these rigs just adds to the attractiveness of the presentation.
The final way to use smelt is with tipping various lures. Such as taking an ice fishing slender spoon and adding a head or part of the belly flesh to the hook. This tipping method can also be used for other types of lures.
I have found that many super markets carry large bags of smelt. This works out a lot cheaper than buying small packs at bait shops.
Attract More Fish with Anchovies
Another Frozen bait that’s readily available are anchovies, which are also similar in size to smelt.
Anchovies can be rigged like smelt or herring usually presented on a jig. They can also be rigged up on a quick-strike for your tip up. There’s nothing like having a cruising pike hammer one of your anchovy quick strikes and the resultant mad dash for the flag hoping you can set the hook .
As I mentioned in the introduction anchovies are extremely oily so they have a very good scent. When you are ice fishing you have less chances to attract the fish than you would with open water fishing as light levels are lower. So this means that your shiny lures are less visible to the fish. So we need to rely on other ways to attract the fish. This includes increasing vibrations in the water which they pick up on their lateral line and maximizing baits that use the sense of smell.
Small Minnows and Shiners
When using smaller minnows or shiners to ice fish they’re normally presented differently from the larger baits. Putting them on a jig head is always an option or use the same as smelt tipping a smaller lure. I would use smaller minnows to target something like perch or other panfish.
Perch typically will be in larger schools. So once you catch one on a tip up chances are you want to switch to a regular fishing rod either dead stick or jigging. The action when you find a school of perch can often be fast and furious. This makes using something like a windlass tip up to find a school of perch ideal. If you are looking for more information try my article on dead bait rigs for pike.
Maggots aka Spikes
Maggots also known as spikes are great bait for perch, bluegills, sunfish and other panfish. A pair of maggots are usually presented on a very small jig head such as a marmooska. Other types of lures can be tipped with maggots for perch .They last fairly well in the water and stay on the hook quite well. Maggots can also be used on a yellow or gold coloured wireworm to target Whitefish.
Obviously when ice fishing it’s a good idea to keep your maggots warm or they’ll become lethargic or die. It’s important to note that maggots need to be kept cool or refrigerated. If not they will “turn” into what is known as casters. So basically they pupate and prepare to become flies. If refrigerated maggots can last for up to four weeks so this makes it a handy bait to have around in case you have to rush out and go fishing when the stores are closed.
As with other baits you can get dyed versions of maggots. Common colors are red, blue, yellow or orange. Some people swear by certain colours to catch more fish. The best bet to experiment is to buy a tub of mixed colors on your next ice fishing trip.
Wax worms
Waxworms aren’t an actual worm but the larvae of Wax moths .You can catch a wide assortment of fish with wax worms. Bluegill, crappie, perch, bass and other panfish . They’re presented the same way as maggots on a very small jig usually threaded length ways along the body so they don’t break off. Which they’re notorious for.
You can get wax worms at bait shops as well as pet stores as they are popular for feeding reptiles.
Types of Tip Ups for Bait Fishing
For the larger baits like herring and smelt your best bet is to present them on a standard tip up or one of the insulated tip ups. If you’re wanting to jig smelt or minnows on a tip up obviously you’re going to want to use a windlass tip up. These can be adjusted to increase the frequency of jigging. Wax worms and maggots are best presented on a windlass tip up also. If you are new to ice fishing, see my guide on what you need to get started ice fishing.
I haven’t covered live bait fish at all because in a lot of jurisdictions they are illegal. Where they are legal I question the potential for invasive species getting into the water. Hopefully I have given you a good overview on what baits to use with tip ups. I wish you luck this ice fishing season. Tight lines!