Stagecoach conditions

[addicted2fishin]

Planning my first trip to stagecoach next week an taking a friend that's never been ice fishing. Wanted to target some of those pike in there anyone have any tips threw the ice there? Baits , depth of water , or particular structure I should keep my eyes peeled for there would be deeply appreciated thanks

[TimK]

Lots of pike in stagecoach, I live right next to the res., but always target trout when i fish there but at least every other trip I get into a few pike jigging, always a fun ride when I dont get broke off.   I dont realy have any first hand pike tips for you but if I were to target them Id set up near the inlets in any of the bays, less than 10FOW.  If you stop by montgomerys in yampa they have a pretty nice topo map of the lake made by fishnmaps, the maps have a lot of suggestions for where to fish and very accurate contour lines, in addition the map shows weeds, river channels, and sumberged brush.

[addicted2fishin]

Good to know thanks so much timk for the information! I'll keep you posted on what happens . If they break ur off ur line alot then a steel leader might be a good choice? I've fished for muskie before but never pike so similar baits an rigs for pike? Or are they finicky when it comes to line an lure size/color/baits? An is there a particular time of day that they become more active there? Thanks again

[Booppr]

Me and a buddy just got into pike fishing under the ice. We used tip ups last year and an automatic fisherman. I really liked the automatic fisherman because you get to use a rod and reel to fight the fish but hand lining is a rush too. We started with whole suckers in the 4 to 8 inch range with a quick strike rig which is 2 treble hooks on a steel leader and didn't get any bites. Then we wnt to a fluorocarbon leader and go a few flags. After that we tried a single circle hook, I forget what size and that has worked great so far, we caught 4 pike this year that were all over 28 inches and 9 plus pounds. When we were getting the most bites it was early in the morning or later afternoon. I haven't fished stagecoach, but tarryall and rifle gap are the only places I have tried for them. Haven't tried targeting them by jigging yet but would love to try it. Every time we go pike fishing I learn something new and get better and better. Weed lines seem to be a great place to start, if you can see bottom, we put the bait half way between the ice and bottom, it seems to cover the whole water colum that way

[kamala]

I am curious what size of circle hook you use and did you stick with 4 to 8 inch suckers with this rig?  Good info people, Thanks!