Hardwater Pike Tips???????

[Reelinrolly]

Hey, Im fairly new to hardwater fishing....and I was wondering if anyone had any great techniques for icing pike?

[BlackIce]

when shiners aren't working consider using smelt (with a smelt hook) or dead shiners...seems they like the easy meal sometimes.  I personally have very limited experience pike fishing but this is what the boys at work tell me.

[JT]

Don't concentrate all your efforts up shallow,most of the larger fish cruise the deeper breaks ,weeds,structure etc.  go big with bait,check your terminal tackle often as problems will come up . Always sharpen hooks and have a good pair of jaw spreaders and cutters as it's better for fisherman and fish alike to be fast and efficient with your releases.
Get them back in the drink asap if you are not keeping as the cold temps do a number on gills,eyes,skin.

[trapperjon]

First ice is generally better than any other time, fish outlets or inlets if possible and yup bigger is sometimes better

[whitey]

Adding a gold spoon about 18 inches up from your bait works wonders. That added flash brings them in. Personally, I prefer 8-10 inch sucker minnows just because they stay alive all day long. They don't have as much flash as shiners, but that's what the spoon is for. If fishing dead bait, smelt is definitely the way to go. Pike can't resist the stink. Using a spoon even with dead bait works wonders.