Absurdly large live bait?Success?

[doublehaul]

Recently I've been fishing some extra large baits in the 9-12 inch range.  Believe it or not, I caught a 5 and a 7 lber on this size bait. Does anyone out there specifically target pike presenting 10-12 inch live baits? Had any success?

[Whopper Stopper]

About all I use. Once in a while a small pike will screw me up but for the most part I have good luck targeting the biggest pike. I watched a 42" + pike inhale about a 3 pound pike last year in the boat. A 12" sucker is no where 3 pounds.

                         WS

[coboy]

A friend recently caught a 42"- 22 lb. pike on a 14" fish. Yesterday I caught a 20" pike on a 9" sucker, and the week before a friend caught a 16" pike on an 8" sucker. I don't think those are too
large at all.

[thefshdentist]

9-12 inch isnt huge bait

[Drifter_016]

This guy was caught on a 10"-12" dead bait last weekend.   
It's not only pike that like big baits.
I've caught lakers on 16"-20" whitefish as well.   

[doublehaul]

thanks for the responses. I guess I just wanted to get some feedback on maybe fishing baits even larger than that too. Say a bait up to 1 lbs.? 2 lbs.?

[deadsmelthead]

On a few occasions I've been pulling a 18" or so pickerel in and a big pike took a stab at them.. i have a picture somewhere of the teeth marks left behind from one time in particular... It held on all the way to the hole,  i was kinda dumbfounded as to what was going on at 1st , because there was a big yank,  then it felt like nothing was there and then it hit it again and latched on...

Definitely an unforgettable moment on the ice for me...

[IceTroll]

I have caught several Northern Pike that have actually swallowed a walleye that I had hooked earlier. One of my fishing destinations does not require attendance as long as tipups are checked daily. On all occasions, a 14"-15" walleye had grabbed the minnow, was hooked and then later swallowed by the Northern. Northern will eat just about anything they can swallow if they believe it to be an easy meal. I tend to get a bit more action on 6"-8" minnows but I am not afraid to run the biggest minnows I can get my hands on. Big bait usually equals big fish.

[doublehaul]

I grew up on that destination you are describing icetroll and know it very well.

[IceTroll]

I grew up on that destination you are describing icetroll and know it very well.

Its a paradise and my home away from home brother. Going up there on the 26th for two glorious weeks of Northern fishing and Coyote killing.

[esox_xtm]

I'll chip in on this...........

Tried to get some bloater chubs for dead bait some years ago from a fishing outfit on Lake Superior. Well, bloaters didn't turn up in the catch so they save the "smallest" lake herring for me instead. I bought 'em all wrapped in butcher paper, sight unseen for a $1 a pound. When I got 'em home, the smallest one was 12" and most were 14-15"........... Geeeez.

Well, at first ice my son and a group of his pals went fishing on a lake known for hammer handles. Lots of action but not much over 28-30". I brought the "shark bait" thinking I might select for size with bait size, there had to be a few bigguns in the system. The boys were already chasing flags in the shallows and I started to set outside the first break in 12-15 FOW. I set a windlass tippy in the second hole with the shark bait. As I began to drill my third hole I looked back to see the flag on the wind job was up. Really?

I went back to a slowly unspooling rig and pulled the string. At the end I found 39 inches of musky........... Nice.

The next week I was not to be outdone. Same scenario except it was a 44"er.

Now I didn't find the big pike I was looking for, but I'd never be afraid that I was fishing too big if I was targeting big.

/m

[stevek]

When we fish QC every spring we routinely have pike attack or 16-19" stringer fish. This pike was not very big, but still managed to swallow a 15"+ walleye head first on the stringer while we were eating lunch. I don't think you can use to big of a bait for pike.

[Goatskin]

That is pretty awesome Steve!

[doublehaul]

That's an awesome pic. THanks for sharing.

[walligator]

Ya I also gotta jump in here! Just look n watch how a pike is. No bait is too big! NEVER! I landed a 43" pike on a 15 inch tullibee and just think those tullibees are deep. There toothy predators they hunt anything.

[stevek]

Thanks guys. I took that pic myself it's no joke. We have had those metal stringers torn off the side of the boat. Have had guys have to push pike away from the stringers with nets/oars several times in a row. I think a few were even netted and released to keep them from shredding our walleyes. Ironically the biggest pike I've caught was up there and it was on a 1/4oz chart twister tail, 44" 22lbs. After that we started using these fallfish looking things we catch on walleye jigs for bait, probably 8-10". We've even had big walleyes hit them, the giant cigar shaped float acts very different when a walleye hit it.

[jedhead]

Steve... That is a great picture  gotta love a hungry fish

[jgouldin]

While ice fishing i caught a 28in. pike and cleaned it a it had a 12.5in walleye in its belly.  Go big!

[MRC2572]

I have been fishing some 13-14" inch baits this year and the pike have no problem taking them

[anglure]

 how about a full grown mallard stuck inside a 49 inch muskys wind pipe.   unfortunately, this fish was found belly up in a local lake....talk about bitin off more than you can chew.... or swallow..... lol    thinkin the big bait = big fish theory can be applied here. not always the case, but in this case..........

[fl18guy]

hey angle.
any pictures of that anywhere on the net.

[anglure]

i wish !!  i'm goin back about 12 yrs or so. a ranger friend at the lake told me the tale and showed me an older lookin polaroid of the fish.  thus the timing of this was just b4 the big cell phone thing. i think the picture is still under the glass countertop at the station but all those pictures r pretty sun light faded. i dont like to speculate on things like this , however, in this case i will say, i almost think the two rangers who found the fish thought if they removed the bird it might revive. i remember hearing something like that but who knows .....?  on a similar note, i wouldnt b surprised if there is some footage of somethng like this ( an actual take of a full grown duck ) out there on the web. tight lines one and all.....

[GOT PIKE]

There is footage on youtube of a pike taking a duck in alaska, Ive seen pike take frogs mice and all types of baitfish no matter what size, when in doubt go BIG, theres also footage from Poland where a pike was found on a lake edge dead, with a pike almost it own size stuck in its throat both fish were in the 3ft range,

[SDfisher]

It seems there has been a bait shortage up here in NE South Dakota, cause for the past two outing my bait options have  been 4 inch creek chubs or 12 inch large suckers, nothing inbetween

So the results are in,  I purchased 5  10in plus suckers, a dozen 4 inch creek chubs and used them all this weekend.

15 flags, 9 fish, 4 over 5 lbs. Funny part was the two smallest fish we caught probably 23 inch a piece, came on the largest suckers we put down. Had to clip the back fins on the suckers though, one to many false flags

[HUNTnFISHSD]

 I have filleted 2 pike that had tails in their stomach that I estimated to be up to a 14 inch fish. The fish were only 30 inches and under.

[river_scum]

go for it! good way to ice pigs.

[pikemanEd]

That's the only size bait I use sometimes bigger

[thomasthepikehunter]

10" is not absurdly large. I have tried all sorts of bait, and my go-to remains an 8"-10" sucker. Its the perfect size for me. They are tough at that size, lots of flash, and easy for pike to find. Even the smallest pike can easily eat these. And they are not so large as to do things like set off flags, plus they cost an arm and a leg. Large suckers cost about $8 a dozen, while a decoy sucker cost about $2 each. I have just started trying smelt called hooligans, which are sea smelt required by MN regs. They are about a foot long. I have only tried them for a few hours so far, but I'm sure they will be fine bait, especially as the season goes on.

[dennisthemence]

if targeting large fish go with large baits--like everyone has said
want lots of action, then scale back a bit.

i live on a lake that has smelt in it and i go out and catch  them the night before an outing for pike the next day. most of the smelt are 10 to 12 inches long. but some are larger. over the years i have taken 2 pike that went 24lbs and countless 12 to 18lbers.

i have cleaned pike with 18 to 20 inch rainbows in them. i even had a 18lb. hog that had 2-12inch perch, 18 inch smallmouth and it took a 14inch smelt that i was using.

so go and get some big baits along with what ya normally use and have fun.

[kingcoho308]

big bait = big pike