Trout are an absolute blast to catch through the ice, but they are notoriously picky fish. Using tip-ups for these fish is a great way to have extra lines in the water and increase the chances of hooking up, however, since they are so picky, a subtle presentation is often essential. The leader is one of the most important parts of the setup. Using light mono or flouro will work; try to avoid anything over 12lb test. For the hook, I use a size 6 or 8 octopus hook with a crappi

Do you ever find that your leaders end up getting kinked, twisted, or twirled from storage? Whether they end up in a box, buried in a bucket, or spun around the tip-up spool, leaders usually wind up unorganized and usually kinked or bent up. Here is our simple and inexpensive solution to keeping tip-up leaders straight and ready to rock. What You'll Need The materials are very simple and can be substituted for larger or smaller components as you see fit for your needs. As an

Bobber fishing is probably one of the most simple ways to fish, period. That said on these dog days of summer it can also be a deadly tactic for getting lazy walleyes to eat on the Madison Chain. Slip bobbering deep structure and weeds is one of my favorite ways to keep a bite going when another dies, especially when a trolling or casting bite slows down. Your choice of live bait, a jig head, and a bobber is all it takes. This Lake Mendota walleye couldn't resist half a night

Trolling with lead core line is a pretty old school tactic that few anglers seem to really know much about. The name itself, "Lead Core" is fairly self explanatory. It is just that, braided line with a lead wire core which results in the line sinking and taking with it whatever lure you put on the end of it. That said lead core is specifically used to get lures that do not dive very deep to run much deeper without adding in line or clip on weights. Makes sense, right? As far