Here comes the ice.

[gdn443]

Weather forcasts say low around 5 degrees on thursday. You boys should be back on the ice up north in no time. Sure beats last year. I'll keep the rain down here on the coast.[]
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[davetclown]

tonight we are calling for a whole 3* with a wind chill of -10*

then rain and hot air sat sun mon tues and wens. 50* [pirate]
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[gdn443]

Thats exactly what they have instore for us. Jan. thaw.[unsure]
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[tomc]

right now its -3,i dont know what the wind chill is.next week they are saying mid 50-low 60 [crazy]
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[davetclown]

at the time of this post it is cool -10* not counting the factor for the five mile an hour winds...

after having two school days in the last two weeks, kids are stick walking to the bus stop... Ouch, them tender noses... It is so cold I swear I can see snow flakes falling out of their little breaths...[shocked]
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[Tarpon4me]

It's 20 degrees here and a wind chill of 11 degrees. It really sucks. I don't want to go outside at all. [unsure]
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[tomc]

lol,you guys arent use to it.i heard datona beach was suppose to get snow flurries
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[Tarpon4me]

You know if daytona gets snow, it's definately time to have a look at our planet. Maybe this global warming thing is for real. LOL This year daytona, next year it could be an ice age. LOL Could you imagine how high the electric bill would be with an ice age? That's just not going to work. I hope our countries F.L.I.C. is paying attention. []
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[gdn443]

Ya all need to buy some longjohns down there. Them 20 degree stuff is pretty nasty.[] Even I'm amazed at the folks near the Canadian border for putting up with this cold.[shocked]
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[davetclown]

its been a balmy 65 degrees rain and sun... we aint got no more ice... [][unsure][unimpressed]

I just finished building my new tipup today, maybe I will start one the gas auger since we dont have no more ice.... I havent had it running in a few years now.... should be a job and a half... But when its running it makes me a nice 12 inch hole[cool]
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[gdn443]

We hit 60+ and our ice has gone by as well. Colder next week, but not enough for ice.[]
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[davetclown]

Here is my first attempt at building a Slammer style tipup.. "used for salmon and walleye in the great lakes"

"sorry, I did not follow the directions. you can order a kit or one pre-assembled"
[center][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/8690/cat/574"][/url] [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/8689/cat/574"][/url][/center] [center]Click to enlarge photos[/center] [center] [/center] [center]In the center is an aluminum yard stick I cut down to 30 inches..[/center]
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[gdn443]

Looks like the Mother of all tipups. LOL [cool]
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[Tarpon4me]

Tip up? OK< you guys will have to let me in on this one. What exactly is a tip up? I'm going to take a stab at this and say it's something that prevents you from having to hold your pole when you ice fish? In other words, when a fish hits, the rod is released and stands up, in return i'm thinking it would set the hook?

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No Ice fishing down here> LOL
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[davetclown]

In this particular set up you are right,

there are a number of types of tipups, the most common one is similar to the one below but made of wood 1/2x1/2 inch wood stock... [center][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/8691/cat/574"][/url][/center] [center] [/center] [center]your spool in this type sits below the water, when the pike or trout grabs the live bait and runs it turns the release and the spring loaded flag pops up to let you know you posibly have a fish on the line.[/center]

On my previous post if you look closely at the photos, the largest enhancement, click on photo when the new photo opens click on it again for the largest veiw.

the bar that sticks up has a catch at the vary top that holds the rod in a loaded position, when the fish tugs on the line, the rod releases, the bar slams in to the base alearting every that you have a strike. I could put a flag on it, but it is not nessisary if you are fishing any where near it...

when the rod releases it sets the hook and holds tention on the walleye, walleye have hard mouths to the extent that if you dont hold tention the walleye will release it self.

the drag is set just tight enough to set the hook, but light enough to allow the fish to run. thus allowing me to land a 30 pund salmon...

enough weight is needed to hold the live bait in place but not so much that it weight the rod down restricting it from setting the hook when it is released, it is on a 1-2 foot lead from the main line and can be placed under or over the weight...

if the bait can reach any plant life it can rap it self around and false release the tip up..
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[davetclown]

it weights about 3 pounds too.. LOL,

but I wanted something bigenough to hold the particular rod in the photo, that solid glass rod should man handle a 30 pound salmon... [laugh]

with the 15 inch cross bar I wont have to wory about it falling though my 12 inch hole.... I hope [crazy]

the cross bar sits near the edge of the hole and the rubber flap sits over the center... now all I need is a fish to test it on,,, so now I can fish my hundred foot hole for some pesky trout too...[shocked]

now all I need is ice, I sure was hoppin for a decent winter... if the boat wasnt put away I could pull that out and go out fishing... no ice any where....
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[Tarpon4me]

Sounds like a lot of fun. So ice fishing is pretty much lazy mans fishing. But, I suppose it'd have to be. It's so freaking cold, your response time is really bad and the motivation level is probably down. You could be doing more important things while you're waiting for the fish to bite, like sip on a nice cup of coffee (or scotch), and put your hands in your pockets to keep warm. LOL [cool]
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[davetclown]

Ice fishing is a party, some times a party of one, but a party still the same, even if the fish dont bite we have a great time...

ya know all your beer drinking buddies that are to loud to invite to a house party and your wife dosnt want ya hanging around with at the bar? they fit right in on the ice...[laugh]

we only had ice for a couple weeks yet we have gotten one broken rib on our ice... "slip and fall" need to wear them cleets on bare ice, or at least a ton of padding... I like a little snow on my ice thankyou...[]

noise dosnt seem to bother the fish. and we have our anual get togethers... cirtain goups meet on cirtain lakes on cittain dates to comemorate cirtain people who are no longer with us on them dates..

in the last 3 years we lost 3 ice fishing buds, last year we lost two on the same week, from the same family, Jim and Jim jr. I went to school with Jim jr.

he was the first guy to ever knock out a couple of my teet [sly][laugh] no, we werent never mad at each other, just a couple good ol boys scrappin... was my fault any ways... twas a school yard fight, we were playin on the same kick ball team one mornin back in the third grade, we were playing with one of them big red bouncy balls... I am sure some of the older kids remember those things... any way he was the pitcher and I was gaurding third base..

Jim had a pretty good arm, he pitched a roll, the ball got kicked right to him, he threw the ball to me, and it came in just a little faster than I was ready for, and then WAM! RIGHT SQUARE IN THE FACE, well, I was ready for a fight, he was willing to accomidate...

well we went from kick ball to a bit of a scuffle just before school bell... "no, no one got in to any trouble, sent to the office or got detention" Just a release of testosterone all over the play groud... LOL after the fight, we werent mad at each other...

we spent many a year out on the ice fishing..

ya, we get loud, as for reflexes being slow, I dont know about that, you should see some us when we drop a fish off the hook at the top of the hole ram their arms down pulling up a lost fish.. The reflexes are pretty good, its the brain that gets a little slow....[laugh] dont know if its from the beer or the cold or the bottle that is being passed aroud, Theres always a bottle, ya dont have to drink from it but ya do have to pass it down the line...[]

we haul out grills and have cook outs, as long as we got ice we aint got no cabin feaver around here...[shocked] when it gets to cold to sit out on the ice we pull out shanties..

and then there the fish, when they show up for the party, its a bonus....[laugh]

ya dont have to get waisted to have a good time out there, just dress for sucess...
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[tubeN2]

It's funny how the terminology changes from one style of fishing to the other.

I used to ice fish a few years back. We didn't use shantys or nothig like they have today.

On the West Coast, a "Tip up" is when you add a morsel to a small jig to get it to bite better. In the ocean, Tip up is then called "Chunking"

What a difference between types of fishing. Hard water, soft water and salt water.[cool]
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[davetclown]

there is something to be said about being able to walk on water...[]
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