MyFishFinder.com Just like iceshanty but warmer
How do you guys hook smelt or other dead bait when you use it? I've always used live bait (shiners or suckers), but thinking about trying smelt. just curious.
Thanks R.J., appreciate the advice. I'll try it tomorrow.
Well, in CO pike are very inactive through the ice, but I have struck through and caught some this year, usually 2-3 per trip, which is an insanely high number for colorado. (most anglers get 1 or skunked). I have actually had the most hits while jigging for perch with ratsos, shrimpos, or small jigging spoons. I have got bit off a lot though since I use light line on my perch setup. Since we can only use 1 tipup/person here (if we pay extra money), it makes the percentages lower, but I have got most of them on tipups this year. I like a dead anchovie or perch in the 4-6" range. Everytime I saw a pike on my sonar (could tell if I caught it or got bit off) it came in at EXACTLY 1 ft. off the bottom. When I set the bait on the bottom on the tipup I never got hits, If I set it 3-5 feet off the bottom, I never got hits. 1 foot off the bottom has been the best for me definitely. I like deeper water (because I never used to get any in the 2-10 ft. range), 15-20 ft. seems best around a rocky dropoff. Hit the pike when it is running line off of your tipup, you hook them much better. Use SMALL hooks on quickstrike rigs, #6-#8 trebels are my favorite. Pike have a tendancy to pick up the bait, run 10 yards of line, then drop it, and maybe even be idle for up to 2 minutes, and then pick it up again. Get him then!As for leader, this is the great debate. Our pike here in CO, since we are plagued with extremely, extremely clear water, are VERY leader shy. I used to never get them with wire leader, not a one. This year I use a fairly heavy florocarbon, or the p-floroclear line, and I have got A BUNCH more flags than I used to. (Before this year I got only 1 or 2 flags, this year I have got many). I did have one bite me off near the hole this year, a smaller 24", but if you don't horse them you have a much better chance. I have landed them this year on 1 and 2 lb. test, so it can be done.In condensed format, here are some things I've done to improve my pike average from maybe .5/trip to 2-3 per trip:1) fish deeper water. 15-20 ft. range off of rocky dropoffs.2) put the bait EXACTLY one foot off of the bottom.3) and the main one, switched from wire leader to florocarbon.
I catch sea smelt in the Kennebec River in Maine... Eat most of them... keep some of them alive for live bait... BUT some of them I put in a plastic bag and let ferment....y'know... fester... for a while, like 3-4 weeks... freezing and thawing... 'til the smell will almost knock you over... then they're ready to hook onto a trap and set just off the bottom in close to shore for big fat scavaging spawners!!!