Never fished pike in Idaho, but spent most of my life in northern Michigan fishing pike through the ice. My favorite location to place tip-ups was near drop-offs. Usually placed them on the shallow side and placed the bait 4-6ft down in 8 to 12ft of water. Since you have to use dead fish in Idaho, I would recommend buying some smelt over using perch. A trick we used to do was placing a nail up the anal vent to keep the fish suspended right-side up.
Good Luck!
Jim