How to Use a Frabill Pro-Thermal Tip-up

Instructions

1

After you have drilled a hole in the ice, take the Frabill Pro-Thermal Tip-Up and remove the flag arm from its holder. The flag arm is a metal rod with a colored flag attached. It tucks into a slot on the upper disc body of the tip-up. Gently remove the arm and pull the flag all the way up to the top of it.

2

Lower the reel arm. The Frabill Pro-Thermal Tip-Up has another arm that tucks into a cut-out space on the bottom of the disc. It must be lowered for the tip-up to be deployed.

3

Let some line out from the reel, then hook a shiner onto your hook. Depending on how deep you are going to set your shiner, allow the line to go down into the hole and the water. If you are going to set your shiner shallow, you need to hold onto the reel once you are at the selected depth so no more line goes out. There is a metal guide piece that slides up and down the reel arm. Make sure the line is going through this piece. It allows the line to come off the reel evenly and keeps it from tangling around the reel.

4

Hold the Frabill Pro-Thermal Tip-Up by its side with the reel against your body so line cannot run out of it. Take the flag arm and place it under the catch mechanism that is attached to the top of the reel arm. This mechanism is nothing more than a rectangular piece of plastic that spins when line comes off the reel. Once it spins, the flag arm is released from under it and goes up, alerting the ice fishermen to a biting fish. You can set the flag arm under either side, but most people set it under the one that is obviously longer, to prevent it from slipping up due to the wind and vibrations on the ice.

5

Carefully set the Frabill Pro-Thermal Tip-Up over the hole in the ice, being sure to not tangle any line as it lowers. The tip-up must be placed so the catch mechanism is facing into the wind. This will cut down on "wind flags," false alarms caused by the wind blowing the flag out from under the catch. One of the benefits of the Frabill Pro-Thermal Tip-Up is that if you do this, you will rarely get a wind flag.

6

Know that the Frabill Pro-Thermal Tip-Up is shaped to cover the hole, keeping the hole from freezing. If there is lots of snow on the ice, you must clear it away from the hole so the flag can be seen if it goes up. One of the disadvantages of the Frabill Pro-Thermal Tip-Up is that the flag arm is shorter than on most standard tip-ups. You must make a mental note of where you have placed it if there is snow cover, so as not to miss any flags.

7

When the flag goes up, remove the Frabill Pro-Thermal Tip-Up from the hole, grabbing it by the side of the disc. Hook the fish with a hard yank and then bring it in. Once you have either caught the fish or failed to do so, you can use the catch mechanism to reel up the line, making sure that it distributes evenly over the reel to avoid tangles.