how far?

[dakids]

How far do you set your baits off of the bottom when tip up fishing?  I used to set mine only a foot off the bottom with limited success.  Today we were in 11 to 13 feet of water and most baits were only down 5 feet and the largest fish hit the one that was set a foot under the ice.

[nontypicalhunter]

When I used to ice fish, we would set our shiners only a foot to three feet under the ice. If it was a sunny day we would shovle the snow from around the hole so the sunlight would reflect off the shiner just under the ice. Caught a lot of pike that way. If we tip up fished for walleye we would set the fathead a foot off the bottom then. We rarely set a tip up more than 5-6 deep fishing durring the day.

[beeker]

depends on how many tip ups I would set. if I had all the kids with I would set them at various depths to see which ones had the best luck and then adjust from there.. and if just me.. I would go 3 feet off the bottom and go from there depending on the action.

[Boar]

I vary the water colum, it depends on live bait or dead bait as i primarily on use tip ups when gator fishing in late march. dead bait i put one about a foot offf the bottom an on about a foot under the ice, pick on LOW like to cruse right under the ice an pick up small fish that get the bends from being pulled outa 30 pluse ft of water to quick. sure they might swim away but eventually die an float back up to the ice where pike like to cruse to pick up an buffet of easy meals. Larget pike Ive eve seen was outa long point 5 yras ago. kids were screaming at a hole an i went over to investigate an hear was a head of  northern not much smaller than the ten inch hole i drilled just looking at the jig the kids were get him to bite. I saw its length as it was got board an swam away an was easy over 45 inches. was awsome to witness

[whiteoakbuck]

I always start about 6 inches to a foot off the bottom and work my way up till its about a foot below the ice and then if im still not catching anything i will do it all over again but i have caught fish just below the ice and also right on the bottom

[DDSBYDAY]

   I think pike are opportunistic.  I fish the Lake of "No Fish".  It gets very little pressure.  If I was in an area where there was a potential for a lot of released fish (due to a slot) I would set the tip up right under the ice where the released fish that don't make it would be.  Where I am the pike cruise at the middle of the water column.  I know this because they show up on the vex and I have been able to on occasion  reel my jigging lure up to them and put em on ice.  I also have dropped down on them when I have the consistent  bar on the vex and had them chase a jig down.   I fish a small sunken island that tops out about 10 ft.  I am on the secondary break at about 26 ft.  From there it drops into the abyss.  I think the pike come off the top of that  island and cruise the secondary break without changing there depth unless something catches their attention.  For my situation the walleye bite is a  very small window in the morning and evening.  I will put out tip ups if I am early and will put them on the edge of the first break set at a depth that would be on the bottom if I was on top of the island.  I  set them at 10 ft .  One will be in 15ft of water and the other in about 20ft.  That's theory in a nut shell.

[FireRanger]

I agree the pike are opportunistic/scavengers. I agree that you should cover the water column to a certain degree as well. I've had more luck setting my baits from the middle to the top of the column though. It seems as though the nords that are cruising/ more active, tend to come into the area at those depths and not lurking on the bottom. With this being said, a piece of fish laying in the wide open is very easy to see contrasted against the bottom. This also depends on cover. If the bottom is void of cover, then I feel it is too wide open for bait fish to gather. If there are weeds present, I believe that baiting just above them is a good idea. Same goes for rock piles, brush piles etc. I've had my best luck fishing tip ups between 3 and 5 feet under the ice on most lakes. However...on lakes that have depths over 20', I'll place them between 5' and 10'. Just one man's opinion.