Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! > Northern Pike

Unable To Catch Pike? Why?

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fish_hooked:
Don't know what you tried, but try lining your tipups across a dropoff or channel.  The reason I like to line across a channel is I can cover a range of depths. Personally, I have real good luck on pike with the smelt that you buy in bags at the grocery store.  I just hook one of those to a size 4 treble hook and send er down to about a foot off the bottom. Also like to have a tipup or two about three feet below the ice for those shallow cruisers.  I've had a hard time not catching at least a few pike this way.

cold_feet:
get out near the weed edge. You might be setting your rig high over the weeds and the pike will lay near the bottom waiting to ambush. The other thing is if you are fishing a lake that has trout in it try putting a big silver willow leaf blade on the line hooked to a small snap swivel when the chub swims around it will add more flash looking like a trout. As far as thinking its to cold water everywher in the world freezes at 32deg and the pike motabolism is slower but not totaly shut down. The other thing is during summer Ive had good luck fishing the low light hours, even in dark. Try diffrent baits live and dead Smelt bigger chubs ect. If their eating trout, 8" would not be too big even bigger might work.
Cold Feet

Barleydog:
Mackdaddy,  I have fished 11 mile a couple years back while visiting a friend.  We had spent 2 days fishing just off of the launch area and on the opposite side of the lake.  We found most of the fish to be rather close to shore.  Most of the fish we caught were located in and around the 5-10 ft. level.  We drilled about 45 holes and rotated spots until we scored.  We used large white and chartrouse twister tail grubs.  If we didn't see any weed structure, we didn't fish it!  I didn't hook any monster pike at 11 mile, but we had fun!  I could never figure out "why" almost every state in the west is so pro trout and anti pike?  Pike are much more desirable than trout, taste, fight, size, etc....  Even in Alaska, pike have been taken out of lakes in order to replace them with stocker rainbows????  Funny thing is, pike are native to interior Alaska not smelly little rainbow trout.  Oh well, guess you gotta please the tourists!

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