Securing rigs and hooks on tip-ups, especially classic “underwater” styles like HT’s Polar, can be challenging. While no method is perfect, I’ve found stretching a heavy duty rubber band around the frame opposite the spool does the trick.
Provided the overall length of your leader material is shorter than the length of the frame, simply grasp the braided Dacron tip-up line backing just above your leader, slip a couple wraps around the spool handle, then pull your leader tight by extending your hook to the rubber band.
As a bonus, this practice also keeps your leader material straight and prevents wire leaders from kinking.
Tom Gruenwald
Tom Gruenwald is truly passionate about the outdoors and is recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities on the sport of ice fishing. Throughout the years, his expertise has been sought for in-depth ice fishing presentations, seminars and advanced contributions to various outdoor periodicals throughout the world. He’s appeared as a guest on numerous radio and TV shows, authored four ice fishing books and now hosts his own TV show, “Tom Gruenwald Outdoors,”. TGO is the first program of its kind dedicated solely to ice fishing. View all posts by Tom Gruenwald