Homemade Ice Fishing Gear

Instructions

1

Use your fishing tackle and short rod to set up an automatic hook setter tip-up called a "slammer." The basic concept is to build a rig that will keep the tension on the rod until the bait is struck by a fish. Most tip-ups have almost no tension whatsoever and smart or lucky fish can often clean the hook without triggering the flag. The idea of a slammer is to make a cradle or rigging for the rod that keeps it in the arched position until a strike forces it to spring into action, literally. This makes sure the fish doesn't have to swallow the hook to get caught. For rigging ideas and design ideas that work, see Resources.

2

Take your eyehooks and find some small, thin wood strips about a foot long to make a simple, easy to use tip up. Make a perfect T with the two strips using a small bolt loosely secured with a small wing nut so the T works like a seesaw. Screw an eyehook on the end of the left side of the T. Fasten a spool of line to the lower portion of the vertical wood strip with a long bolt running through the back of the board and through the spool. Keep the spool in place with a tightly wound wing nut. Screw a long bolt through the right end of the T and use another wing nut to secure a series of washers onto the bolt to keep the left side of the T high up in the air until you get a bite. Attach a flag to the end with the bolt and washers on it or use reflective tape to make it easier to notice when you have a fish on. Use more pieces of wood for a balanced, heavy base to keep the whole rig from being dragged into the hole. For more intricate and complicated tip-up designs, see the second Resources link.

3

Remove the label from an old empty coffee can for a neat open-air heater solution. Jam a whole roll of toilet paper into the can so it fits snugly and begin pouring the isopropyl alcohol into it. Stop when the entire roll is fully saturated and the liquid level is less than a half inch from the top of the wet roll. Set the top of the roll on fire like a wick, and you will have a nice, inexpensive, fairly low-odor heat source. Just be sure to use the mixture in a well-ventilated area since it produces small amounts of carbon monoxide. If you feel really inventive, you can even make a cook stove application out of your coffee can with a tiered grating system set high enough above the flame for ideal simmering and boiling.

4

Look at products in the store and think of what you have at home that you could use to duplicate them. You might just end up with something you can later patent as your own invention if you can vastly improve on the standard design with your own version. There are plans and tips online for making everything from bait to fish finders to full-size ice fishing shacks, so there is no excuse. Just embrace your inner MacGyver and get to work.