Ice Fishing Trial and Error

Well I finally made it ice fishing on Sunday. I didn't know what I was doing, but I found a nice guy working at the bait shop. He set me up with a dozen northern shiners, treble hooks, and leaders. I setup 2 tip-ups out in front of the cabin on a weed bed along a drop-off from 5 to 15 feet.

From G.A.T. Guns Sporting Goods shop I had my minnows in a bubble box (aerated insulated bucket); I was using 2 Frabill (sp?) tip-ups (8 inch, insulated to cover the hole and eliminate freeze-over) with 100 feet of 20 pound tip-up line (50 feet on each tip-up; I had a 6 inch ice auger which worked very slick; an extendable handle ice skimmer; and some waterproof cold-weather gloves.

Everything worked well, except I never got a bite all afternoon. I moved the tip-ups a couple of times, and a few of the times the minnows came up with weeds on them so I reduced the amount of line I put them out with. Still no bites. Oh well, I learned a lot and hopefully I can get out a couple more times before the fishing season is over or the ice melts, whichever comes first.