Most everyone who has spent time fishing through the ice has used or at least seen tip-ups at work. These are the heavy-duty rigs for ice fishermen, using heavy line, usually a large live bait, and a flag that pops up and signals a fish is dining. The angler trots over and hand-lines the fish up through the hole.


Whip-ups, relative newcomers on the ice scene, work altogether differently. They are akin to a snare trap one might see in a jungle movie, where the mighty Bwana steps into a noose and triggers a bent-over tree that whips him up in the air and leaves him hanging upside down, held by the ankle. Follow the link to read more Ice Fishing with Whip-ups

Almost 25 years ago, Lowrance brought back a limited edition of its Green Box Flasher sonar, the world’s first sonar unit for recreational anglers, and I had to have one. As a child, I’d seen a guy on the ice with one of the original Green Boxes and held him in same awe I’d have held a time traveler from the future.



In my own first experiment with a Green Box, I drilled a hole near concrete pier pilings in the swimming area of a summer camp, put the transducer in and watched, enthralled, as the teardrop baited with a mousie appeared as a red bar and sank lower on the screen. When a thicker red bar appeared on the sonar’s dial below the lure, a shot of adrenalin got my heart beating faster. Excitement built as the thicker red bar merged with the thin one. Anticipation of a big crappie flopping on the ice turned to frustration as the big bar faded, reappeared and faded again, this time for good. After another fruitless hour, I returned fishless and disappointed. Read the rest of the article here How Many Electronic Gizmos Do We Really Need?