Advice for Ice gear

[Beats]

hey there, I am in need of some advice for some new ice fishing rods/reels. I currently have 2 ultralight rods/reels that I use for perch but I am now looking to get atleast one rod/reel for lakers/whitefish/pike. I fish a local pond that has mostly 1-5 lb pike in it and currently only have a tipup that has appropriate line on it for fishing there. Im hoping someone can recommend a good pole and reel , either an exact model or a general idea is fine. The other day I saw 2 ppl catching pike at this location and they were using approx. 4 foot long poles that were bright orange and while the poles appeared to be thick from a distance, they bent over quite a bit with a 2-3 lb pike on. Are long poles better? Thanks in advance.

[raysfish2005]

Well i have to recon with Clampet, but i do own 14 ice rods for each typre of fish i hunt for, but i dont use them to reel in the fish, i hand line them, its easy"er and you can feel when you have to back off or pull up quick, for the big fish like pike or lakers i use a wooden jigging stick to set the hook, one lift on the line and the hooks into the back of his head.Look at it this way if you use a reel with line on the spool and you manage to get a fish to bite and you reel in the sucker all the water goes onto the spool, Guess what happens next if its a realy cold day......................line freeze, spool freeze and you just lost a fish..........Been there done that.......but only the shadow knows!!!!!!

[Northhunter]

I stay away from shorter rods unless they're ultralites - most of the short ones made for something other than panfish are quite stiff or they would snap under load, and kinda defeat the purpose of a rod, IMO. They can also make using a reel awkward.

 

One of the current ones I have is a Bass Pro Shops model (Extreme Ice??). It's a medium action that extends from 27" to 32". It's a very good rod - good sensitivity and strong. I caught a few 'bows on it last year in the 3-4lb range and they were probably about as big and as hard a fighting fish as I would target with it. I wouldn't use it for larger pike or lakers.

Maybe go to a heavier action in the same length.

 

For reels I'm not terribly picky. I pay attention to size and weight and go with what feels comfortable on the rod. Smooth is nice but you're not using it to cast and retrieve like in open water. I don't like the cheapos with plastic housing because they don't react well to cold weather - they tend to seize up and the drags on them start to stick.

[Beats]

Thx for the replies everyone. I'll look into it in more detail on the weekend.