Have you heard of

[podunk]

I have been fishing for perch and the likes. I am fishing for these other fish while waiting for a pike to come in. But latley i have notice that pike dont come into the decoy. in fact they shy away from it. but they will come into a tear drop tip with a minnow. i have talked to other fishermen and they say the same thing. that the pike are not decoying. has anyone heard of this and is that typical or normal for pike to do. do they usualy come into a tear drop. I am new to this pike spearing. i have been out pike spearing many times before but never got one, and i did the normal thing. decoys and sucker minnow, but no pike. but soon as i quit using the decoy and use a tear drop or a dare devel i have speared three pike this season. is there something to this, or is it just me and my luck.

[stephensonswille]

this weekend when i went out to the shack to spear i didn't have a single fish smack the decoy. but was having good luck on the tipups where i had a dead sucker instead of a shiner. so i thru one on the decoy line and sure enough that did it i got one that was 28" so i thru a live sucker minnow on and nothing so i pulled it up and killed it dropped it back down there and a little while later another pike came in and swiped it but thats all i could get them to hit. a couple of my buddies that were out there only had luck on DEAD sucker minnows or smelt

[rezeye]

I have had the same problem this year absolutely no pike to the decoy but i havent tried dead bait for a decoy will try this weekend thanks for the tip

[spearchucker]

I have been fishing for perch and the likes. I am fishing for these other fish while waiting for a pike to come in. But latley i have notice that pike dont come into the decoy. in fact they shy away from it. but they will come into a tear drop tip with a minnow. i have talked to other fishermen and they say the same thing. that the pike are not decoying. has anyone heard of this and is that typical or normal for pike to do. do they usualy come into a tear drop. I am new to this pike spearing. i have been out pike spearing many times before but never got one, and i did the normal thing. decoys and sucker minnow, but no pike. but soon as i quit using the decoy and use a tear drop or a dare devel i have speared three pike this season. is there something to this, or is it just me and my luck.

I have heard that later in the winter the pikes gums swell or something, making their teeth less effective, so they feed less aggressively. I'm not sure if it's true or not, but that's what people have told me. I'm sure others will offer their opinion.

[spearchucker]

Hmm, Swollen gums
Late season pike are usually on the feed heavily to load up for pre spawn.

This is what I mean.

http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=65849.0

[darkhousefisher]

OOOHHHH NNNOOOO here We go again.

Beat me to it, I was gonna post the exact same thing.  I guess simple minds seldom differ.

[BuschWhacker]

Spent a day on a popular pike "infested" lake in Dec. 08.  I in the darkhouse, my partner using tip-ups with dead herring ( He got  7, I saw 3 and stuck 2 in the darkhouse.)  Normally, this lake has been too murky to spear ( visibility less than 3')  but we have slayed 'em on tip-ups (9-20+ fish a day). 
  This year, vis 7-8 feet, but still, only 3 to the deke.  I can only think the pike have adapted to scent hunting in the usually murky water, and the decoy freaks out all but the most aggressive fish in the pond. 
   I guess I'm too old and stuck in my ways to just hang a dead bait in the hole( at least with the deke the "Norwegian TV" is turned on )  I believe, tho I don't practice it, that you must be willing to adapt to the situation by trying everything and anything 'till you find something that works at that particular time.  Don't be like my brother, a tournament bass fisherman, who says any jig will work, as long as it's black & blue, or me, any decoy will work long as it's flourescent orange and white. Sometimes, you have to leave your confidence baits, and start fishin!!

[BuschWhacker]

  We were back on the same lake, mentioned in the previous post, yesterday, with much the same result.  Two of us were spearing, one watching flags.  Total for the day, 5 to the decoy and spear, 11 on dead herring on tip-up.  I saw one, got him, other spearman got 4 on the decoy, don't think color, size made much difference, I tried every one in my box ( got mine on a Flo. Orange/White  )
  All the fish that decoyed were very aggresive.  Mine hit the deke 3 times, making a U-turn just outside the hole, before coming in "dead" slow the fourth time.  The other spearer, pulled one back into the hole that refused to let go of the deke, and even missed one that came back as he was pulling up the spear, and got him on the second shot!  We both had a herring hanging in the hole too, along with the decoy, so maybe the decoy is scaring off all but the meanest buggers in the area.
  I don't know, with a >2:1 ratio, dead herring over decoy,  I may have to resign my self to staring at dead bait in the hole, ZZZzzzz...