Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! > Northern Pike

Pike lures

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FreshwaterPhil:
Live minnows by far the best for targeting pike, provided they are big enough. I switched to frozen mackerels a few years back, as Quebec no longer allows the use of live bait anywhere in the province since a few years. Bite not as good...

While I don't target pike on ice using lures, I've caught them on small jigging raps, mini kastmaster spoons, and even drop shotting live worms on ice. Most often while playing a school of panfish, they suddenly all disappear and you see a big mark on flasher. Same for bass and lakers, though I've done significantly better jigging rattlebaits suspended for those.

river_scum:
thats a bummer about your live bait law.  you would think theyd let ya use native to lake young at least.  maybe put your mackerel on a windless, for jigging action.  a rattle added to that mite help call them too.  i have used a rattle bait around my tip ups to call fish from farther away to the area.  seems to help at time from my experience.

FreshwaterPhil:

--- Quote from: river_scum on Oct 30, 2021, 07:30 AM ---thats a bummer about your live bait law.  you would think theyd let ya use native to lake young at least.  maybe put your mackerel on a windless, for jigging action.  a rattle added to that mite help call them too.  i have used a rattle bait around my tip ups to call fish from farther away to the area.  seems to help at time from my experience.

--- End quote ---

Not the end of the world. In general, I find that setting up a spread of tip ups keeps me stuck to a single area for too long. I prefer to run a gun jigging lures with one rod, giving each hole no longer than 5 minutes without a fish.

Also, while numbers have gone down versus live minnows, the frozen mackerels did help weed out smaller fish. Managed better sizes on 6-8 inch mackerels, including the musky in my avatar.

river_scum:
Never tried them but will this season. Well if we very ice.lol

Thx phil

stripernut:
I always keep this one in the mix, but I have not caught a pike on it so far, all I have caught is some smallmouth bass on the "Giant" Chubby Darter...My pike waters are limited and I spend more time looking for walleye, so it/me is not a great gauge.

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