smelts for pike?

[rickie72]

  i fish for pike with smelts thay seem to work well ,  is there some other bait that would do better?

[ochocenko]

smelts are good, i use sardines from superstore and always have luck with them. i would like to try more of their smaller sea fish. they have some cool red ones that might be a little bigger than I'd like.

[rickie72]

 i got a bag of smelts for there , there kind of small ,  i try geting the bigger ones from the fishing hole but thay dont allways have them in

[spoxick]

dont know if they still have em but at pokeys they had suckers about 5-6 inch in the freezer a week or so ago

[rickie72]

where,s is pokeys?

[2fastwalleye]

I like large ciscos.

[MYATUK]

I like to use small and large smelts. I let them thaw a little then dump them all in a ziplock bag with salt and refreeze them. My salted ones get more hits then unsalted I find.

[buzzbomb]

dont know if they still have em but at pokeys they had suckers about 5-6 inch in the freezer a week or so ago

That could of been their lunch....   Ricky72 Pokey's is on Osler just south of Ross Ave. in Regina.  I don't bother much with big deadbaits these days but I used to save the odd tiny perch for that.  Smelts could be bought at a little convenience stors on Sunday mornings by weight back before stores were open constantly and we'd get 2 or 3 for 25c and just use chunks for perch at Condie.  The gas station at RB used to sell a piece of beef the size of a pack of gum for two bits and ..... but I digress; I had luck with untreated smelts but a little red food colouring on a few sounds like fun.  Herrings, (seemed really oily) never produced for me so I'd be more inclined to fool with the flavouring on ocean fish like that instead of great lakes smelts.  My best success was using tullibees, (cisco).

[Sploosh]

I usually just buy the Safeway or Superstore smelts.  And/or ciscos at the PA Coop gas station.

As far as scents on deadbait go, I have read articles that Pike aren't as sensitive to smells as say walleye are.  Pike like the flashes, movement.  I have even read that pike normally look up at their prey, which is why I sometimes present my deadbait a few feet higher than normal if they aren't biting near bottom. 

I'm not saying that different scents don't make a difference, but that's what I've read.

Also, a few years ago, on Waterhen, I brought some ciscos along, and I had more strikes from the big gals on those than my typical smelt.  The smelts caught, but my 15lb +'s were on the ciscos.  So for large pike, I can see bigger baits working if you're fishing big gators.  (I use Quick-strikes with the big baits).

[emt]

hey buzzbomb,
just a head's up but I would not be admitting to using small perch for bait for pike-it is illegal-as well, catching tulibees and using them for bait is illegal also

EMT

[fishinwilly4g63]

I used to use smelts, now all I will put under my tipups are cisco's, they can usually be found at the co-op on ave c. and the fishing hole in saskatoon

[warren77]

Is there another word for cisco's?

[spoxick]

toulabee ..... or however you spell it they are the annoying things that you dont wanna eat and people mistake for a whitefish

[spoxick]

if you have ever caught a white fish and then catch a tolabee you will notice the difference in the mouths

[buzzbomb]

hey buzzbomb,
just a head's up but I would not be admitting to using small perch for bait for pike-it is illegal-as well, catching tulibees and using them for bait is illegal also

EMT

I always thought that so long as a perch was dead and you counted it as part of your possesion limit it was legal to use them; likewise tullibee and that there was a line about parts of fish being legal for bait in the synopsis.  If I was breaking the law I never knew it and I must of been checked at least once while using it but that doesn't mean anything.  I'd even punch the air bladder out in a tullibee and send it down on a cord without any hooks just to watch.  Around 4:30 when the light starts failing let that thing flutter down from just below the ice and it refracts like crazy.  If Mama's in the area the result can be like a scene from jaws.  It's no fun without the big hole,(we used to chop one 16x18).

[mondo_13]

toulabee ..... or however you spell it they are the annoying things that you dont wanna eat and people mistake for a whitefish

Whats the reason for not wanting to eat toulabee sorry im new to the whole toulabee/whitefish thing??

[The Beachcomber]

They are usually full of worms that infect them, not to appetizing

[ochocenko]

Yeah, I agree with buzzbomb, if your able to use eyes and fish belly, why couldn't you use the whole thing if it was dead?

[RMD]

My wife an I were checked last year by the DNR and my wife jokingly told the officer that all we caught was a small perch that she could have used for bait. His reply was dont let me catch you. So using a perch for bait is a nono.

[rickie72]

  thanks for all the info 

[emt]

no, it is definitely illegal to use a perch-it is a game fish first of all and I think it is also illegal to use a tulibee because it states "baitfish that is commercially frozen"-I read that as it must come from a bait dealer if it says commercially!!!! You do what you want out there but I would hate to see you get pinched over a stupid tulibee or little perch!!!!!!

I always thought that so long as a perch was dead and you counted it as part of your possesion limit it was legal to use them; likewise tullibee and that there was a line about parts of fish being legal for bait in the synopsis.  If I was breaking the law I never knew it and I must of been checked at least once while using it but that doesn't mean anything.  I'd even punch the air bladder out in a tullibee and send it down on a cord without any hooks just to watch.  Around 4:30 when the light starts failing let that thing flutter down from just below the ice and it refracts like crazy.  If Mama's in the area the result can be like a scene from jaws.  It's no fun without the big hole,(we used to chop one 16x18).