Seeking some basic advice. I have used tip ups for Pike many years but have never fished for lakers through the ice. what type of hooks do you use?

I like smelt hooks (swedish hooks) for pike and the work great, they kind of look like minature coat hangers but seem to set well on every strike.

Any advice on depth, structure you like to use/look for would be great as well.

Hooks dont matter use what you want. The techniqes you use for pike will work for lakers.

I like suckers and rainbows for bait alive. Dead ciscos and smelt work also.

They will be relative to structure like you would see in open cold water. Oxygen can be an important factor and also bait fish they feed on like ciscos.

The bait fish may be suspended at say 40ft in 60ft of water. Target them there if you know this,if not start deep working up.

Jigging will usually outfish tip-ups for lakers, sometimes by 5 to 1 or more. Before you get too comfortable and set tip ups keep moving and jigging. You might have to try 3 or 4 spots before you find a spot worth fishing for the day. Then you can set your cisco down there with some confidence that the flag will go up.

Some days it seems like no matter what you do each spot is good for only one fish and only while jigging. On those days your success will depend directly on how much effort you put into fishing.

I know this doesn't really answer your tip up question but on most days I think I could catch more fish with one jigging rod and a doctor spoon than with 10 tip ups on the ice.

I appreciate the advice guys. I am definately a novice ice fishing for lakers. I have never used a spoon for jigging. Is there any special technique for that and are there any other spoons used other than doctor spoons?

Try a tipup that jigs your bait- wind activated, etc. If I find a link to what I'm talking about I'll post it. Also, try jigging a big airplane jig- I like blue and white with some bucktail and tipped with a shiner. I'm drooling just thinking about it...

found one

Sorry vikinfan for not respondimg sooner. I can give you some ideas for jigging winter LT.

First is to use white tube baits. The trick with them is to have a vexilar and be aggressive with the fish. Jig the bait and when a fish is interested, reel up quickly a few feet. They will chase hopefully hitting your bait.

Second is jig and live bait or cutbait. Again be aggressive. I look at it as a cat and mouse game with LT.

As With all fishing theres always exceptions to the rule. You may want to slow down your aproach. This does not seem to be the case as much with LT. With that being said trying smaller jigs and smaller baits like waxies can produce fish.