I'm considering trying a 4 or 5 pack of the reel weeds. If using them near tip ups is there a general idea of how to set them up close enough to the tip up, but not too close to get a hooked fish tangled up..any set up patterns that seem to work best.

Thanks

Any idea how long it takes for fish to relate to Reel Weeds? Not sure if they immediatly hang around right after you drop them down

I've seen fish come to them right away, and other times I've had them down and not had them draw in any fish.

I have 5 or 6 weeds, I usually put them in a straight line or in a curved shape. Fish beside the line or the curve, or fish at the end of the line.

For panfish you can get away with being only a few feet from the weeds --- bigger and stronger fish would be more of a problem of course. I've had fish get tangled in the weeds on occasion and it's not too much fun to sort it out.

In my experience the pattern isn't as important as the lake itself. They work very well in shallow bowl shaped lakes with little natural weed growth like upper red, for lakes with a lot of naturally growing weeds they have little effect during early ice and only nominal success as the season wains.

Whats everyones overall opinion on this product so far? I thought about picking some up but didnt want to spend the money on them...

At times they're great, as was noted especially in basin areas that don't have a lot of other stuff to sttract and hold fish that would otherwise be roaming.

If I'm running and gunning and hole hoping I don't usually put them out, but if I'm going to be staying in an area for a while then I'll usually put them down. When I go with my kids we almost always drop down the weeds and an underwater camera, it's fun to watch what goes on down there.

I've used them a number of times and they work at times and other times not. I have lost a bite, put down the weeds and hammered fish again for two hours. I use the "Flying V". I make a v pattern from the front of my house to the sides using five of them and that seems to work.

I use them and am confident they work.
Have a look Here

LaDredge makes a product called the Teaser Leader. I think it used to be called the Weed Line. Anyway, it is a leader with skirts on it that mimic structure or a stack of bait fish. They come in a lot of colors, some of which glow. I use the predator version of the Teaser leader (steel leader) on my tip-ups for northerns and they absolutely love it. Using the Teaser Leader kind of takes the place of putting the Reel Weeds out when I tip-up fish so I don't have to worry about tangling up. They also make a mono version for walleyes and pannies that I'm looking forward to experimenting with this year.

Reelweeds will definitely bring in northerns and make sure you also try the teaser leaders, they are amazing. We used them this last weekend with great success. The show that starts to air this weekend we use them for our tipups. If you have any questions about them drop me an email, I would be more than happy to answer any questions for you.

how long can these things be in a hole before it freezes shut and you have to ice chip them out? say you wanted to put some around your permanent or wheelhouse do you go out there every so often and try to clean the holes?

The Structure on a String has a closed cell float that allows you to adjust the depth of your Reel Weeds. Sometimes during the evening crappie bite I have the Reel Weeds suspended just below the ice. But to answer your question, this float can be completely frozen in the hole and at the end of the day, just squeeze the float and lift up to reveal a circle of open water the size of the float. The Reel Weeds lift right up through that hole - it's really slick. I've left them in all day without any problems. A few times on over night trips I've left them in overnight, but did go out during the night and chip the hole open.

that does sound pretty slick...anyone ever put out a bunch like a dozen?

The most I have ever set out was 8.

I use the weedez.You can get 5 of them for $20.Also they are 5 foot tall.I took 3/4 insulation board and cut them out the size of a dinner plate.I then tied 30 foot of mason line on them with a hole through the center.Just like a polar tip up.The extra line i just wrap around the insulation board.One nice thing is winding them up you can use heavy gloves and keep your hands warm and dry.I have a total of 12 weeds.Here`s a picture of them in the ice.The insulation keeps the holes open under them for a long time.