Ice fishing reels

[niwrek]

What type of reels do some of you guys use for ice fishing??

[Geezle]

Depends on what I'm fishing for.

For larger fish like walleye, pike, burbot etc I have a couple rods set up with 2 of my round baitcasters, and a couple more rods set up with spinning reels that I use in the summer.

For the smaller stuff like stocked trout and perch I have a couple light rods rigged up with 1000 size Diawa Sweepfire reels. Decent little reel that's a couple steps up from the average reels that come with ice combos...and I just looked and they're on sale for $20 right now :)

[BeeGuy]

I use my summer spinning reels.

Quantum Optix. $24 dollars of glory.

If I were to get reels for icefishing, I would get the smallest size Optix.

I hate the spinning reels that have that casting trigger. Designed to fail imo.

[AppleJax]

All my reels have a rod for the summer, and a rod for the winter. Shimano 1500 and 2500 reels. Like Geezle says 1000 series reels are better than the reels you buy on ice combos.

[Cal]

Depends on what I'm fishing for.

For larger fish like walleye, pike, burbot etc I have a couple rods set up with 2 of my round baitcasters, and a couple more rods set up with spinning reels that I use in the summer.

For the smaller stuff like stocked trout and perch I have a couple light rods rigged up with 1000 size Diawa Sweepfire reels. Decent little reel that's a couple steps up from the average reels that come with ice combos...and I just looked and they're on sale for $20 right now :)

Sweepfires are good but for about 10 bucks more you can get the Crossfire and IMO its worth it. I've got one of these and I'd say its as good as anything I've payed twice as much for... Pfluger Trion, Shimano Sidestab and Solstace, probably a few others. I'm using it on my ice fishing combos but honestly, they work so well I'll if I broke any of my more expecive open water reels I'd probably just replace them with a Crossfire.

[Pikebreath]

Old cheap flyfishing reels get "recyled" as ice fishing reels for me.

[nightcrawler]

Old cheap flyfishing reels get "recyled" as ice fishing reels for me.

How does that work? I am prety new to this, but was thinking the same thing a couple nights ago while going through my gear. I was concerned that the reel has no drag and if I was making a coffee thefish would just take the line and i would be none the wiser....

[wetchimo]

Old cheap flyfishing reels get "recyled" as ice fishing reels for me.

Speaking of which, if anyone finds a quantum smoke baitcaster reel on a ice rod in star lake I'll give them $100 bucks. Went down the hole right near the access area:mad3:
Use a reel that your not afraid to lose.

[Wild&Free]

I use the smallest spinning reels I can find. I have a shiman Crossfire that I swap between summer and winter, can't remember what the reel is on my other Ice rod but it's either a Shimano or Diawa that cost me 40-60$ in one of the 2 smallest series.

[azn_rice_man]

Rapala F2's are my new fav. They're good for walleye jigging and at a good price, too! Picked one up at TFH for $22. Plus they look beautiful! My new pike setup with a St.Croix MedHeavy 36" rod uses a Shimano Syncopate 2500, which was also on sale for about $24.

[BeeGuy]

Speaking of which, if anyone finds a quantum smoke baitcaster reel on a ice rod in star lake I'll give them $100 bucks. Went down the hole right near the access area:mad3:
Use a reel that your not afraid to lose.

Use a rod locker and any reel you want.

I learned the hard way too. Fortunately my gear is only ever 1 step above a Spiderman Combo.

[Pikebreath]

How does that work? I am prety new to this, but was thinking the same thing a couple nights ago while going through my gear. I was concerned that the reel has no drag and if I was making a coffee thefish would just take the line and i would be none the wiser....

Yes, there are some flyfishing reels that do not have any setable drag, you "palm the spool" to increase drag tension,,,, and most flyfishing reels do have a clicker which makes an audible noise on the outgoing line and prevents spool over run.

[Jbone]

I thought about using my nice reel on the ice rod but was concerned with it freezing

[TROLLER]

I use the Shimano 500 on a 32" St. Croix rod, also Browning 500 and bass pro 500 all on St. Croix 32" rods.

Just cause it's winter does not mean that you have to use your summer gear.

Way more fun hooking the big ones with a great little rod and reel. Just make sure you spool the small reels with braid, then you can get some line on there for the big ones that take long runs.

[Lefty-Canuck]

I do like Geezle does....use a baitcaster on an ice stick. Works really well for pike, can use a "clicker alarm" on them too.

LC

[WayneChristie]

How does that work? I am prety new to this, but was thinking the same thing a couple nights ago while going through my gear. I was concerned that the reel has no drag and if I was making a coffee thefish would just take the line and i would be none the wiser....

got a 22 1/2 pound pike on a little icerod with an old cheap flyreel, had to use my hand on the rim for drag, took me 20 minutes to get her through the ice, then the reel fell apart. was only using a 1/4 ounce jig so the lack of drag is what kept the jig from straightening out. just remember with a big fish to keep your thumb away from the handle it can hurt just a bit at 100 miles an hour :bad_boys_20:

[niwrek]

Lol I grew up ice fishing with a wooden pole, 25lb test. Every fish when I was a kid was hand over hand........ that was 30 years ago though

[BeeGuy]

We did the same thing.

A line and a hook. That was ice fishing.

I just use my summer spinning reels. Drag works fine.

I was looking at some 1000 series cheapo reels and they'd be great for ice fishing, but I just cant justify it seeing as how what I have works fine the way it is.

[Cal]

Lol I grew up ice fishing with a wooden pole, 25lb test. Every fish when I was a kid was hand over hand........ that was 30 years ago though

I just rigged up my work truck with a few of these today, never made one with an angle grinder before. I even scrapped togeather a tipup. I drive past a few decent lakes on a daily basis so I it wouldnt suprize me if my retro gear gets a better workout than my decent stuff. I'll post some pictures of the tipup in action, its briliant in its simplicity.

[calgarygringo]

My thinking is I go for and catch the same types and size of fish summer and winter so why not use the same gear. I use the baitcast reels for Pike.baitcast and spincast for walleyes, and the ultralight for trout. Just change rods over for winter as the long ones are a little tough to use in the tent. I do use one on my outside line. I do make sure my 300 buck reels are tied down good so they don't go down the hole and then no worrys and never lose a nice fish due to a crappy reel. By a half decent ice rod too and they will last for years. Go good or go fishless as I like to say.

[Mike_W]

I use 500 or 1000's for all my ice fishing.
My go to for years has been Mitchell avocet reels great reel that I can usually pick up on sale for $30.
Just yesterday I stopped into the new fishin hole and they had the rapala f2 on for $22 .....seems pretty decent and will have to see how it performs here soon!!

[BPman]

For jigging I use inexpensive ultralite spin reels ( Diawa, Quantum, Shimano, etc)with 8 or 10 lb flourocarbon. Don't like baitcasters as they seem to ice up badly and want to hang upside down in a rod holder. I had to learn the hard way about rod holders but now use "Rod Lockers" - same as Beeman. For my pike tip-up it is a moderately stiff 30" ice rod with old fly reel filled with 25 lb mono taped onto it and set in a Rod Locker. The clicker prevents over-runs but lets out the line smoothly so drag isn't noticed. One thing I have done that nobody has mentioned is I clean all the grease out of the drag system of the spin reels and the axle of the fly reel and replace it with light oil to reduce friction from the thick, cold grease.

[Lornce]

My ice fishing reels are those that I picked up at garage sales. Rods are made from old rod tips that I found and put on handles. My wife is threatening to buy me one for xmas.

Now Fly fishing is a different story...

[Cal]

My thinking is I go for and catch the same types and size of fish summer and winter so why not use the same gear[/B]. I use the baitcast reels for Pike.baitcast and spincast for walleyes, and the ultralight for trout. Just change rods over for winter as the long ones are a little tough to use in the tent. I do use one on my outside line. I do make sure my 300 buck reels are tied down good so they don't go down the hole and then no worrys and never lose a nice fish due to a crappy reel. By a half decent ice rod too and they will last for years. Go good or go fishless as I like to say.

My own reason is that, being a mono guy, I like big reels in the open water season as the wider diameter spools make heavyer mono more managable. A couple 4000 size spinning reels in a 5 gallon pail (a requirement of all my ice gear is that it fit in a 5 gallon pail nicely) is usualy a jumbled mess. Since all my trout fishing is done with a fly rod the only smaller reels I have are my ice fishing reels.

I strongly dissagree with your last statement, the minuit the quality of your gear matters more than enjoying the actual activity one has completely lost sight of what matters in life.

[foxracing_23]

All depends on the target species. For small trout/perch I use a 25$ combo rod reel. For walleye I like a spin cast. For big Saskatchewan trout I like to use a fly reel, with 20' of appropriate weighted line blood knotted to some
Old fly line. The fly line takes the sharp corners of the hole a lot better when the fish decides to really take off. And fishing deep 40+ I use one of my line counters.

I'll also add, I use different rods for each. Personally I like to make my own from full size rods.

[bobalong]

I use my summer reels (1000) and bait casters. Usually fishing in a tent with heater now, so the bait casters work great.