To Tip-up or Not

So in NY, you can have 7 lines in the water when ice fishing. This can be 7 tip-ups (which i never do, i always jig), 6 tip-ups + a jigging rod, 5 tip-ups + a jigging rod + a dead stick (my favorite set-up), etc. Thats a lot of lines in the water, which can be good on a slow day. My question is, when you guys are on a multispecies lake, how many lines do you use? When targeting walleye, how many of you take advantage and max out your lines by adding tip-ups while jigging? I like having a spread; but if I want to move, I need to take down and reset 5 or 6 tip-ups. Thats a lot of extra holes to drill and a lot of extra time spend tending and moving all of them. They really limit mobility. I’m torn because I like to have extra lines and utilize all my tools, but i often feel anchored by my tip-ups.

Luckily here in MN you can use 8 lines…if fishing with 3 other people.

Just use rods in rod holders instead maybe. Just set the rod, loosen the drag so you can hear it when it runs/pulls line.

In MN we can fish 2 lines through the ice, 1 in open water. I couldn’t imagine tending 7 lines. Especially if the bite is hot. When I’m trying to stay mobile, I’ll drill single holes in an area working my way around to locate active fish. If I find a spot that I want to settle in and fish for a bit, I’ll usually drill a 2nd hole for the portable. If I’m fishing with a friend we will often drill 2 holes for the shack and 2 outside for tip ups.

Get some finicky foolers. Kind of like a tip up but you use a rod and reel instead of pulling the line in manually. Here is a link to the how to video.

In ND we can have 4 lines so if I’m fishing walleye I generally have my a jigging rod and dead stick in my flip over and then two tip-ups out in deeper depths. As it gets closer to sunset I put the two tip ups in shallower than my house to get the walleye as they move up to feed. If things get too crazy at sunset some tip-ups end up laying on the ice after I get a fish on them.

For panfish and perch I tend to just have a jigging rod and a dead stick. If its a nice day and i’m not using my house I may have three dead sticks spread out a little ways while i jig with the fourth.

When I go up to the rez and ice fish there was a time I’d be super excited about having an almost unlimited number of tipups out with the guys(in reality probably 20-30). It only takes a couple times out like that to realize what a huge PIA it becomes. Always seemed if a hungry fish was in the area, even with less lines out, it would eventually find ya. More lines does not equal more fish….

Enjoy the fishing and keep it simple with 2-3 lines out, like the OP said anymore it becomes a hassle and that enjoyment factor drops bc you may or may not catch a couple more fish, just my opinion.

I’d love to jig and use two or three tip-ups or iFishPros when walleye fishing, especially if I didn’t have a good bead on what depth the fish were roaming.

When the bite is good, sometimes it’s hard to manage one tip-up and a jigging rod. I can’t imagine having 8 unless I was pike fishing Mille Lacs or Lake of the Woods with giant suckers and cheddar dogs. It wouldn’t be likely to get doubles doing that.