How tip-ups are spread out
Setting out is the first of this method's two acts. It's what decides where, and at what depths, the rigs will wait for fish — the rig itself doesn't change after that.
Along an edge or across the depths
Not bunched together, not in a circle around you, but along a line crossing the fish's likely route: from the shallows into a deep hole, from shore toward deep water, across the mouth of a bay. A predator follows edges — the edge of reeds, an underwater slope, a ledge — and a row laid along that same edge sits in its path, rig after rig. Laid across it, the row covers every depth at once.
Why the depths are made different
Because the depth the fish is holding at isn't known in advance. A row of rigs all set to one depth checks a single layer over and over; a row with mixed depths checks several layers at once. The first rig that fires shows the working depth, and the rest get reset to match it.
The spacing between them isn't set by the gear
It's set by two human things: whether the signal is visible from where the angler stands, and how long it takes to walk over. A spread-out row covers more water, but takes longer to reach each rig; a tight one is the opposite.
Tied to the bottom, not to the neighbouring rig
Rigs are placed off a feature of the bottom: a drop-off, a snag, a shallow shelf. A neat row of holes at even spacing looks tidy and means nothing — the bottom is rarely even. So the gap between neighbouring rigs can vary a lot, and that's the same rule at work: set relative to the bottom, not to the rig next door. An even row only means nobody read the bottom.
What happens with the first rig that fires
It isn't moved right away — first you look at what it shares with the others: depth, closeness to a drop-off, distance from shore. The neighbouring rigs are then adjusted to match, and the row gradually pulls in toward the working zone. What gets moved is not all the rigs at once but the farthest ones: if the guess about what they share turns out wrong, the row still has something left to show that with.
How many are set
As many as the rules in force allow — and that's not a passing remark, it's the boundary of the method. How many rigs may be set is regulated differently by region and country, and we don't state a number: we describe how they're set out, not how many.
What isn't done when setting out
A rig isn't set somewhere the angler has no intention of walking to, and a hole isn't left unmarked — and the marker goes down before the rig, not after. Why a rig with no signal gets lost under snow faster than the rest is covered in the gear root.