Hooking big minnows

[rambo51]

How does everyone hook big minnows for monster pike? By big I mean 12" to 14" or even bigger sucker minnows, I know people use two hooks with two leaders but I personally don't like them, I was going to have a bigger treble hook sliding on the  leader with a smaller hook at the end. But what do you guys use?

[JonPerry]

quik strike rig thru the skin shallow hooked behind the head & in front of the tail. balance is the key. If using a single/treble I hook toward the back of the dorsal fin so the bait swims down & away. There seems to be more action with a single treble, I mostly use quick strikes in the spring on L.O.W.
 

[Kentd71]

How about a mooching rig that is used for salmon? 2 hooks on one line. The upper hook is either fixed or slides to change the distance between hooks.

[Kobey]

I like the English hooks, at least I think that's what they're called.  It's a double hook with a wire leader that comes with a needle you use to thread it under the skin.  Takes a little longer to rig a minnow on it, but they stay on forever and if done carefully it doesn't affect movement much and gives me the "head tilted down" presentation I prefer.  If the minnow is constantly looking at the weeds below, I think it's more likely it will actively try to get there.

[Knife2sharp]

I use a singe hook on a spoon or large pimple, which is crimped onto a flourocarbon leader.  Then I have another leader with a red treble hook that is attached to the main leader line, secured by either a split ring or closed ring.  The single hook is secured under the dorsal fin or just in front of it and on of the treble hooks throught the mouth and upper lip.  The secondary leader should be long enough for your big suckers, but since it slides up it easily attaches to smaller suckers or shiners as well. 

Last Sunday I caught 4 northerns on the same sucker, I just kept finding new meat to secure the hooks.   This was about a 12" sucker, caught a 27", 25", 30" and another 27". I released the 30" and second 27" in hopes for another smallish northern for eating, plus I had another hour and a half of fishing.  I still had the sucker on after the fourth one, but I replaced him with another fresh one when a friend came out to meet me who had the larger suckers.  I only had medium sized shiners and pike suckers, and they weren't biting on the shiners.  I was alone and didn't have anyone else around me, which I think made a difference.  Sometimes when you get a group of guys with tipups, there always seems to be a couple that are the most popular, either by location or presentation.  I ended up catching a 18" - 19" at last light that was too small for me to keep. 

[rambo51]

Thanks guys for the replies, I will probably never use fluorocarbon for big pike maybe smaller ones but never true monsters. What I think I will do is get one or two smaller trebles (maybe 4's or 6's) to hook in the gill plate or side of the mouth, then have a bigger hook (1/0 or so)that will be under the dorsal fin. The lake I'll be fishing has some monster fish in it, also you are allowed 6 lines with up to 6 hooks per line.

[Knife2sharp]

Why not flouro, fear of them cutting it? I use 80lb flouro, same as my musky leaders.  I've never had a bite off.  Now, that is with lures, but I also made a quick strike rig for fishing smelt in the BWCA. I caught multiple 30+" pike and one 40" on the same rig.  I'm talking 12-16 fish through the course of five days.

[rambo51]

The possibility of losing a once in a lifetime fish because maybe getting a few more fish isn't really worth the risk. I'm sure you have caught many 30" fish on fluorocarbon, the fish in this lake get huge were talking 30 pounds and bigger. I have tried fluorocarbon on my walleye rigs and have caught a lot of northerns and they definatly get more hits but its just one of those things you don't go skimpy on.