How to Ice Fish With a Polar Thermal Tip-up

Instructions

1

The polar thermal tip-up is comprised of a large and round hard plastic disc with a reel attached to a metal arm. The metal arm folds up so that it is parallel to the disc for easy storage. Once you get out on the ice and have drilled your hole, take the polar thermal tip-up and straighten out the arm so that it is now perpendicular to the disc. There is a small wing nut type device on the side that locks the arm in this position on many polar thermal tip-ups. Screw this nut in snugly so that the arm holding the reel will not swing back and forth.

2

After you have secured the metal arm you want to pull some line out of the reel so that you can put your shiner onto the hook. Remove enough line to make this possible; when you have hooked the shiner make sure the line is then run through the metal piece adjacent to the reel. This insures the line will come off the reel easily, as it is placed in such a position that the line comes off the reel outward and then straight down. Always be sure that your line is spooled tightly and evenly, as this will prevent tangles and the possibility of losing a fish.

3

The polar tip-up has a telescoping arm attached to it on its top near one edge. This arm holds the bright orange flag that, when it goes up, indicates that a fish has bitten the bait and is off and running with it. Pull the flag arm out to the desired length, longer if there is much snow on the ice so it can be easily spotted and shorter if there is a brisk wind.

4

The end opposite the reel on the metal arm has two small trip mechanisms near the very top that give the entire metal arm the shape of a small t. You must hold onto this tightly to avoid the line, now weighed down with your shiner on the other end, from running out of the reel. As the reel spins, this trip mechanism will rotate. Place the telescoping flag arm under the trip mechanism. The polar thermal tip-up is designed in such a way that when a fish takes your shiner, the spinning action of the reel will cause the metal arm to spin, tripping the flag and allowing it to go up.

5

With the flag arm in place under the trip mechanism, put the polar thermal tip-up into the hole, being sure to cover the entire hole with the disc. These tip-ups are large enough to fully cover a hole up to ten inches in diameter and stop them from freezing, as they keep the waters heat in the hole. Always make sure that you set the trip mechanism and the flag arm into the wind. A breeze will blow the flag arm out from under the trip if you have it facing in the direction the wind is coming from. You dont want to be chasing false alarms all day.

6

When the flag goes up, indicating a fish has bitten the shiner and is possibly on the hook, walk quickly to your polar thermal tip-up. As you near it, if there is a fish running with your line, you will see the trip mechanism spinning. If it is really going fast increase your pace, as a fish is tearing off line from the reel at a good clip. Grab the polar thermal tip-up by the edge of the disc, and not by the metal arm with the trip and reel, as this will alert the fish that something is amiss. Take it out of the water and put it a few feet from the hole, being careful not to let the line get tangled on anything. Then grab the line and set the hook hard with a strong yank. Hopefully you have hooked the fish, in which case you will pull the line up by hand until it comes out of the hole.