Spinning Reel Tip Down Design – Need Feedback

I didn’t see a tip down out there for a spinning setup that I liked so I thought I’d take a crack at it. I contacted icenutz and he was kind enough to give me some pointers.

There is still some work to do, but it’s far enough a long to get some feedback.

Basic idea is to get the same action as a true tip down, where a very light bite triggers the setup to tip forward to a point of true weightlessness.

In my mind the only sure way to achieve this for a spinning setup requires some adjustability of the “table” so that you can slide the spinning setup forward/backward to achieve the correct balance point. I also wanted it to be usable for left or right hand reeling.

Anyway, I came up with the idea of a table as the tipping mechanism, added some adjustable stops and a base that will fold up and secure everything. Still some work to do on the base.

I can set this to trigger with less than 1/32oz weight, and probably less but that’s the smallest weight I have right now.

Currently this is designed to be able to use rods as long as 36”, but I think up to 42” would work when it’s tipping into an ice hole.

There will be a line that runs through the center hole in the table so that a rod doesn’t go down a hole. Also, working on a line release to use this same setup for walleye/pike fishing or anytime you want to have a line release and free spool.

Would appreciate any thoughts you may have. What am I missing? Anything that you think will not work?

Thanks
Ryan

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Is this going to be used outside? The table may act like a sail and crate false triggers. Using a wire cradle would solve that. Make your wire cradle and spinning combo as light as possible. Less weight will make the tip drop with less effort.

Dave maze wrote:

Is this going to be used outside? The table may act like a sail and crate false triggers. Using a wire cradle would solve that. Make your wire cradle and spinning combo as light as possible. Less weight will make the tip drop with less effort.

I prefer to fish outside as much as possible so I have thought about the wind some. If it is real windy then no I wouldn’t be using these outside.

But to your point, I really need to test this in the wind to see what happens. Thanks.

I seen a few good tip downs using spinning gear on YouTube. Take a look the ones I seen were pretty nice ideas.
I do like the idea with spinning gear

Bearcat89 wrote:

I seen a few good tip downs using spinning gear on YouTube. Take a look the ones I seen were pretty nice ideas.
I do like the idea with spinning gear

Thanks, I’ll do some more looking around.

Dangler is a company out of Birchwood WI already makes this.

buck-slayer wrote:

Dangler is a company out of Birchwood WI already makes this.

Thanks, I’ll take another look at that one because I remember liking the simplicity and compactness of the dangler.

I think the only box this didn’t check for me was achieving the true weightlessness of the original tip downs.

Why “Tip Down”
Why not use a balancing rod holder?

Rod balancer detects bites in both directions, accepts rods of all kinds, and the rod is easily removed from the balancer to set hook/fight fish.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

Why “Tip Down”
Why not use a balancing rod holder?

Rod balancer detects bites in both directions, accepts rods of all kinds, and the rod is easily removed from the balancer to set hook/fight fish.

I prefer the action of the tip down going to weightless, but with what I have in my mind it would theoretically be possible to achieve what you have mentioned.

Thinking about this more last night, I will be tearing this version apart and starting over. Keeping the things that I like about it and changing what I don’t like.

For all the MN fish I’ve caught, the rod balancer seemed to be more than adequate. It really shined on winter ice fishing catfish – and them some light biting suckers!!

But don’t let me slow you down Ryan!

That’s a pretty big unit to be carrying around.

3rdtryguy wrote:

That’s a pretty big unit to be carrying around.

Yeah, too bulky is on my list of negatives. The next attempt will be narrower and not as long.

keep it simple

BackwaterICE wrote:

keep it simple

I believe that is the same concept as the dangler, close to what I’m trying to achieve but not exactly since this would not ever really go to weightless. Thanks for the diagram.

Actually it is truly weightless….you attach the velcro and D ring to the rod handle so that it is at a perfect neutral balance, any bite/run will trigger the rod to fall – the fish feels nothing. You can attach a string with optional weight to the butt of the handle to help counterbalance and control the fall. They pack down easy and you can fit a decent amount of them into a tidy cat bucket for simple transport

BackwaterICE wrote:

Actually it is truly weightless….you attach the velcro and D ring to the rod handle so that it is at a perfect neutral balance, any bite/run will trigger the rod to fall – the fish feels nothing. You can attach a string with optional weight to the butt of the handle to help counterbalance and control the fall. They pack down easy and you can fit a decent amount of them into a tidy cat bucket for simple transport

Hmm, I haven’t seen one like that is truly weightless but I see how the d ring could make that possible versus the fixed point on the dangler style. Could possibly make it so an up bite would trigger up as well. I’ll try that out, thanks for the feedback.

yep it will show an up bite with a D ring

Here’s another common design – my buddy’s build

works the same as my drawing just a different method of construction

Because a rod balancer/dangler is not a true tip down.

A tip down fee falls when it hits horizontal, thus zero pressure to the fish.

A Dangler has constant pressure.

The only way you will feel excessive resistance with this setup is if you are using a short rod….longer rod = less resistance. I have to build a couple of long handled rods to get the swing point where I want it. Even a true tip down puts resistance on the fish, you have to pull the rod to hit the tip down point. Simple physics

BackwaterICE wrote:

The only way you will feel excessive resistance with this setup is if you are using a short rod….longer rod = less resistance. I have to build a couple of long handled rods to get the swing point where I want it. Even a true tip down puts resistance on the fish, you have to pull the rod to hit the tip down point. Simple physics

A true Tip Down puts way less pressure than any Dangler type setup. A tip Down will feed the fish up to 2 feet or more of line with the last foot or more being totally resistance free. A Dangler type has constant pressure because it does not free fall, simple physics

BackwaterICE wrote:

yep it will show an up bite with a D ring

Here’s another common design – my buddy’s build

works the same as my drawing just a different method of construction

If your buddy would turn the upright portion 180 degrees so the pole tips the other direction, and move the upright closer to the end it would fold flat. Good copy of my design but in reverse.