Question for the pike guys

[Vandy81]

Okay here's the scenario.   I have a small, 14 acre lake with almost zero structure.   It's basicly a bowl with a 28' hole.   The only fish in the lake are crappies, bass, and pike.   I've caught a few nice pike out there mostly in the 7-15' range.    My question is, should I focus my efforts in deeper waters since that's where their food source is?     All the crappies are in 24-28' suspended at 20'
Any advice?

[Martian]

If you have a topo, and can find pan fish, I might target them thee , by the food source. If there is any kind of structure near there great, but if a lake does not offer any I would go for the bait pile, good luck

[esox_xtm]

Follow the food. I've caught pike, belly to the bottom in nearly 30 FOW underneath suspended crappies. Dead bait for neutral to negative fish and more active presentations (live bait or jigging) for when they are really bangin'.

I wouldn't expect anything huge. In a lake that size a 3 footer might be King of the Hill and unless there's primo spawning habitat it could be fished down pretty quickly. Top of the line predators will help keep your panfish population more balanced.

[Kevin23]

How many tip ups can you run? Start right by shore and work deeper. Try down by bottom then work up in the water column. Move them every hour until you figure out where they are hiding. Once you get hit, move the unproductive ones closer to where you got bit.

[dmilla]

Dead bait for neutral to negative fish and more active presentations (live bait or jigging) for when they are really bangin'.

I'm going on my 1st pike trip this weekend. What type of dead bait? Do you pin it to the bottom with weight or suspend up a few feet? Any other tips you might want to share?

Dave

[montanapiker]

frozen smelt work great, lay it right on the bottom.  pike will eat dead fish off the bottom no problem, but suspending them a foot or two isn't out of the question either.

[Captain1978]

My suggestion is to add some structure. Gotta have structure. Then I would keep a fish here and there as to lwt the vigger stronger fiah eat more and get bigger and stronger. It will take time vut you can make it a productive lake of some big fish or you can have it as a fun lake to chase flags. With a small chance of a giant.

[slabzilla73]

Find the panfish & you will find the pike. When it comes to tip-ups, I run dead smelt 2' off the bottom & make sure air bladder is popped so it doesn't float up. If I'm using sucker chubs I will set those about 1\3 off the way down ice column, if after a couple of hours with no bites I will lower half of tip-ups to halfway down water column. If u have a lot of ice there,, drag somemdead trees or Xmas tress to the lake & let them fall through the ice in spring for structure....hope this helps. Good luck.

[Lobes]

If you're catching pike in the 7' - 15' range, you're going to need a tow truck to winch them out of there! Those are some HUGE fish!!!

                                                       
Lobes