Author Topic: best for pike?  (Read 6677 times)

Offline archbishop

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best for pike?
« on: Feb 16, 2005, 10:59 AM »
im targeting pike through the ice for the first time and really have no clue how to go about it  ???

any help would be appreciated from leaders to bait to depth anything im really a virgin in this territory :tipup:


                              thanks jason

hali-man

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #1 on: Feb 16, 2005, 11:01 AM »
Spend some time reading through all the different Pike threads.
You will learn all you need to know...
 8)

Offline archbishop

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #2 on: Feb 16, 2005, 11:03 AM »
yeah thats what im doing now just figured id try a short cut :tipup:

Offline Water Wolf

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #3 on: Feb 16, 2005, 02:21 PM »
Hi archbishop,
  I have found the web site Fish Ontario to have good info on ice fishing and Pike. There are many articles there but the ones intitled "passive/aggressiv pike, "pike", and "run and gun for pike". These articles have handy info for anyone who wants to try for pike. They can be found by going to  www.fishontario.com/ice-fishing/   
 I think you will enjoy pike fishing they are some of the most atcive fish in the winter, and are great fighters when hooked, nothing like jigging for one and have them slam your lure. Good luck and have fun.   :tipup:

Water Wolf
Looking for that BIG BITE!


Offline archbishop

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #4 on: Feb 16, 2005, 02:23 PM »
thanks water wolf ill check that out :tipup:

Offline iceintheveins

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #5 on: Feb 16, 2005, 06:30 PM »
I would start fishing medium livebaits if legal. If not legal use deadbaits. I like anchovies, smelt, herring, and suckers in the 4 - 8" range. For live baits, if legal, small perch or bluegill are awesome baits. Tip up fishing is best usually, but jigging can work too.
I would place tip ups in shallower water, say 10 - 15', mostly in early winter. Good places are bays where flowing water are coming in, near weedbeds, off points, and on flats adjacent to deeper water.
During mid winter, fish deeper flats or rocky areas in 20 - 40'.
As for rigging, I use a quick strike rig with heavy fluorocarbon. It's possible though not likely to get bit off with this rig. A quick strike rig is simply pair of treble hooks, one tied on the end of the line, the other one sliding. For baits in the size range I suggested, #8 or number 6 gamakatsu trebles are best. Small hooks equal better sets.
When a pike trips a flag, make sure he's running line and has the bait before you set. If you don't see him taking line within say 30 seconds after you get to the tip up, feel the line to see if he's there. If he is, set the hook with a small, short jerk. If he isn't, try dancing the bait on your line a little bit. Often he will come back and grab it again.

Tyler
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Offline fishboy899

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #6 on: Feb 22, 2005, 03:57 PM »
I usually fish from 8-15 fow.  I like to fish over a flaat weedbed.  I fish with tip ups anywhere from 6" off bottom to 3 feet of bottom and if I get several bites at one certain depth I will set all the tip ups at that depth.  For pike I like to use 4-8" suckers or shiners.  I believe that the pike will hit a dead bait just as they would a live bait so that doesnt really matter in my opinion.  One thing that I found last year was a red treble hook caught more fish than the regular hooks.  Hope this helps :)

Offline R.J.

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #7 on: Feb 25, 2005, 11:14 AM »
I have fished pike extensively in MN, WI, CO, and NE both open and hard water.  I have always done best in fairly shallow water (anywhere from 2-10'), in areas where panfish hang out.  Suckers, shiners, perch, bluegills, nightcrawlers have all been great baits for me on tip ups.  But my newest great bait is hot dogs!  When I read the hot dog thread in the Northern Pike forum, I actually thought it was a great big joke, but when I went out last weekend I thought, what the hell, why not?  After all, Northerns are pigs and will attack damn near anything!  We caught five MONSTERS on hot dogs, the largest being 35" and around 16-18 lbs.  It was actually a mountable fish because it was so fat.  If it had been 40" I would have mounted it.  I will ALWAYS take hot dogs from now on when I pike fish--IT WORKS!!!   :clap: :thumbsup:

Also, quick set hook rigs work great.  You always get a good hookset without them getting it down intheir gills or guts.  When I don't have them, I use a big treble hook with a two foot steel leader.  I have been bit off on 12" leaders before--they are not long enough!

Offline baune13

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #8 on: Feb 25, 2005, 04:01 PM »
How do you guys hook smelt or other dead bait when you use it?  I've always used live bait (shiners or suckers), but thinking about trying smelt.  just curious.

Offline R.J.

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #9 on: Feb 25, 2005, 04:26 PM »
How do you guys hook smelt or other dead bait when you use it?  I've always used live bait (shiners or suckers), but thinking about trying smelt.  just curious.

Take a treble hook that has a shank as long as the smelt girth.  Push the eyelet of the hook up through the belly of the smelt, so the eyelet comes right out by the dorsal fin, then hook it to your leader (2 footer recommended).  You might have to put a couple of split shots on your leader, as the smelt usually want to float.  The smelt will suspend in the water just as if it is sitting around waiting to be eaten!

OR

Use a quick-strike rig.  These are great and almost always easier to unhook than a treble, and you won't miss as many hits, either.  Instructions should be on the package.  If not, PM me and I'll tell you how I do it.

RJ

Offline baune13

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #10 on: Feb 25, 2005, 04:56 PM »
Thanks R.J., appreciate the advice.  I'll try it tomorrow.

Offline Lobes

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #11 on: Feb 26, 2005, 08:06 AM »
RJ has got the basics down the best.
After you get into catching some fish they will start to show patterns for specific lakes. That being some lakes support pike shallower and some lakes you'll find them deeper. Rigging of baits will follow suit also as to what he said. On some lakes pike like larger baits than others. On new water use his basic rules of thumb.

Mecosta County / Lakeview, Michigan

Offline R.J.

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #12 on: Feb 28, 2005, 04:26 PM »
Thanks R.J., appreciate the advice.  I'll try it tomorrow.

Tell us how it went!

Offline baune13

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #13 on: Mar 01, 2005, 09:52 AM »
went out on Sat., used smelt on 2 tip-ups and live bait on 2.   Got 2 flags on the smelt, they both peeled quite a bit of line off but missed both fish.  Is there a trick to hooking these fish when using dead bait?   It seems that by pushing the eyelet of the hook through the bait as R.J. suggested the trebles are pretty tight against the body of the smelt.  Seems like it would be a little tougher to hook the fish.  Or maybe I just need a bigger treble.  I'm definitely going to experiment with this a llittle more.  Thanks for the advise guys.

hali-man

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #14 on: Mar 01, 2005, 03:41 PM »
I don't consider myself a pike expert by any means, but I have found that if they're there and hungry they will bite anything.
Today I caught one on a Hali while jigging for perch!

Offline TroutFishingBear

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #15 on: Mar 02, 2005, 09:59 PM »
Well, in CO pike are very inactive through the ice, but I have struck through and caught some this year, usually 2-3 per trip, which is an insanely high number for colorado. (most anglers get 1 or skunked). I have actually had the most hits while jigging for perch with ratsos, shrimpos, or small jigging spoons. I have got bit off a lot though since I use light line on my perch setup. Since we can only use 1 tipup/person here (if we pay extra money), it makes the percentages lower, but I have got most of them on tipups this year. I like a dead anchovie or perch in the 4-6" range. Everytime I saw a pike on my sonar (could tell if I caught it or got bit off) it came in at EXACTLY 1 ft. off the bottom. When I set the bait on the bottom on the tipup I never got hits, If I set it 3-5 feet off the bottom, I never got hits. 1 foot off the bottom has been the best for me definitely. I like deeper water (because I never used to get any in the 2-10 ft. range), 15-20 ft. seems best around a rocky dropoff. Hit the pike when it is running line off of your tipup, you hook them much better. Use SMALL hooks on quickstrike rigs, #6-#8 trebels are my favorite. Pike have a tendancy to pick up the bait, run 10 yards of line, then drop it, and maybe even be idle for up to 2 minutes, and then pick it up again. Get him then!

As for leader, this is the great debate. Our pike here in CO, since we are plagued with extremely, extremely clear water, are VERY leader shy. I used to never get them with wire leader, not a one. This year I use a fairly heavy florocarbon, or the p-floroclear line, and I have got A BUNCH more flags than I used to. (Before this year I got only 1 or 2 flags, this year I have got many). I did have one bite me off near the hole this year, a smaller 24", but if you don't horse them you have a much better chance. I have landed them this year on 1 and 2 lb. test, so it can be done.

In condensed format, here are some things I've done to improve my pike average from maybe .5/trip to 2-3 per trip:
1) fish deeper water. 15-20 ft. range off of rocky dropoffs.
2) put the bait EXACTLY one foot off of the bottom.
3) and the main one, switched from wire leader to florocarbon.
if anybody from michigan will help me out with the lakes and stuff up here I'd really appreciate it since I'm new to the area.

Offline Pasquatch

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #16 on: Mar 04, 2005, 03:39 PM »
Well, in CO pike are very inactive through the ice, but I have struck through and caught some this year, usually 2-3 per trip, which is an insanely high number for colorado. (most anglers get 1 or skunked). I have actually had the most hits while jigging for perch with ratsos, shrimpos, or small jigging spoons. I have got bit off a lot though since I use light line on my perch setup. Since we can only use 1 tipup/person here (if we pay extra money), it makes the percentages lower, but I have got most of them on tipups this year. I like a dead anchovie or perch in the 4-6" range. Everytime I saw a pike on my sonar (could tell if I caught it or got bit off) it came in at EXACTLY 1 ft. off the bottom. When I set the bait on the bottom on the tipup I never got hits, If I set it 3-5 feet off the bottom, I never got hits. 1 foot off the bottom has been the best for me definitely. I like deeper water (because I never used to get any in the 2-10 ft. range), 15-20 ft. seems best around a rocky dropoff. Hit the pike when it is running line off of your tipup, you hook them much better. Use SMALL hooks on quickstrike rigs, #6-#8 trebels are my favorite. Pike have a tendancy to pick up the bait, run 10 yards of line, then drop it, and maybe even be idle for up to 2 minutes, and then pick it up again. Get him then!

As for leader, this is the great debate. Our pike here in CO, since we are plagued with extremely, extremely clear water, are VERY leader shy. I used to never get them with wire leader, not a one. This year I use a fairly heavy florocarbon, or the p-floroclear line, and I have got A BUNCH more flags than I used to. (Before this year I got only 1 or 2 flags, this year I have got many). I did have one bite me off near the hole this year, a smaller 24", but if you don't horse them you have a much better chance. I have landed them this year on 1 and 2 lb. test, so it can be done.

In condensed format, here are some things I've done to improve my pike average from maybe .5/trip to 2-3 per trip:
1) fish deeper water. 15-20 ft. range off of rocky dropoffs.
2) put the bait EXACTLY one foot off of the bottom.
3) and the main one, switched from wire leader to florocarbon.


Weird, weird, fish! ;D

Offline R.J.

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #17 on: Mar 09, 2005, 03:28 PM »
Wow, I have never had any problem with Pike being so finicky.  I will admit, I have not had great success with numbers in CO (and maybe the finicky-ness is why), BUT, I have had excellent success in NE, WI, and MN, and I always fish in shallow water, generally a couple of feet under the ice...

Offline Scott Wright

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #18 on: Mar 20, 2005, 11:09 AM »
I catch sea smelt in the Kennebec River in Maine... Eat most of them... keep some of them alive for live bait... BUT some of them I put in a plastic bag and let ferment....y'know... fester... for a while, like 3-4 weeks... freezing and thawing... 'til the smell will almost knock you over... then they're ready to hook onto a trap and set just off the bottom in close to shore for big fat scavaging spawners!!!
Scott Wright

Offline MikePike

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #19 on: Mar 24, 2005, 08:24 PM »
Depending on what size pike you got over there, i would suggest 4" to 10" smelts rigged about 4" off bottom on trebles

Do the leaves of trees stay greener, in the autumn, does the colour of the sun, turn crimson white? Does a shadow come between us, in the winter?

Offline R.J.

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Re: best for pike?
« Reply #20 on: Mar 25, 2005, 11:13 AM »
I catch sea smelt in the Kennebec River in Maine... Eat most of them... keep some of them alive for live bait... BUT some of them I put in a plastic bag and let ferment....y'know... fester... for a while, like 3-4 weeks... freezing and thawing... 'til the smell will almost knock you over... then they're ready to hook onto a trap and set just off the bottom in close to shore for big fat scavaging spawners!!!

I can believe it!  I think that is why we had such good success with hot dogs--it's THE SMELL!

 



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