IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! => Northern Pike => Topic started by: Lobes on Feb 12, 2004, 05:46 PM
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Wondering who else has used this method. Actually, any panfish will do I found that perch are not as effective (don't know why). There have been a lot of days when mine are the only busy tip ups on the ice. I have always caught and used the largest ones I catch. Sometimes they need to get a little beat up before they go down the hole so they aren't always tripping the flag. I'll never forget the day I caught a 14" hammer handle on about a 12" crappie. He never got hooked, just got his teeth tangled up in the crappie. Had a harder time getting him untangled from that crappie than if he'd swallowed the hook.
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One day I caught up with a guy using blue gills for bait at one of my pike hot spots. He did really well on them. I haven't tried them yet. I don't think perch are as good for bait because of their prickly fins, spines etc.
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I think bluegills would be a good bait and so is very small perch. I mostly catch and release northern but this year I kept a couple for the first time and when I cleaned them I went right to the belly. I found nothing but bluegill and perch in 5 northern bellies ???I did try a very small perch one time and did get a taker but lost it. I think that northern are more likely to take the smaller ones due to the spiny problem. I think these baits are really overlooked and may be a good choice for picky or spooky fish.
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How do you keep the bluegill alive? I've tried this alot of times. I fish mainly bluegill, but sometimes bring along a tip-up and hook a smaller gill on it when I catch one. Every time I've tried it, the bluegill lasts about 5 minutes before it's belly up.
kero
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Whether it's ice fishing or summertime fishing I hook them right behind the dorsal fin If pike aren't biting they are usually alive all day. It's possible that if you catch your gills in deep water they are suffering from the Benz (too much nitrogen in their blood, that could be a factor. Or possibly they may be out of the water too long before they go on a line as bait. They're usually quite hearty and live through a lot. Like I said the bigger ones very often need to get roughed up a little bit before you put them on or they'll keep tripping your flag. The bigger ones do work the best for me for bigger pike.
Oh yeah, we call small pike "hammer handles" around here!
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Most states in the Rocky Mountain west strictly forbid the using of a game fish for bait. I know this is true in Wyoming, Montana and I am pretty sure Colorado. We can use parts of gamefish for bait, such as eyes or entrails but not the whole fish. Perch, Bluegill and Crappie are considered game fish. I wish I could use em for bait because the absolute best bait is always a fishes natural forage. I fish one lake in montana where the main forage fish are Cisco. You can use live minnows of any kind in this lake except for cisco or whole game fish. Actually, I am surprised that its legal anywhere to use a perch or gill or any panfish for bait. If its legal, rock on, I know I would.
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Blue gill and perch are legal in Massachusetts.
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In colorado you can use panfish for bait as long as they are dead, it says so in the regs.
Tyler
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Michigan says "Any fish legally caught may be used as bait" which means legal size also. Panfish & bass used for dead bait are quite deadly also.
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in maine you cant use any spiny finned fish for bait including bluegills
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im not a very experienced northern fisher but i say keep the bluegill,perch,and bass and eat them :) try a green jig with a dangling worm on the end. it caught me a 20''er today
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in one day last year caught a 18, 20, and 24lb pike on frozen perch. (live is illegal here in Sask).
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TTT
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I have had success this year by whacking a small perch and the ice and putting it on my tip ups.
Tyler
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Ive never used a bluegill as a bait, but i fish a lake with a good population of bluegills and northern. I have an aqua vu, and while i'm fishing for bluegills it always seems like i see a northern with a bluegill in its stomach, crappie, or perch. Ive noticed this a lot with my aqua vu that the northerns wont really eat the bluegills until they make a quick movement. I have friends that hook bluegills threw the tall and catch a lot but when the bluegill dies they cant catch any. ???
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I've heard that Bluegills work really well for Tiger Musky but I have yet to try it myself. I've had some success using Perch but I've only used them a couple of times. Perch and bluegill probably work very well we just don't use them enough. If we've had success using them sparingly Imagine how productive they would be if everyone used them all the time, the way we use shiners or smelt.
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for how much i have used dead perch they seem to work at least as good as tulibees if not better
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I tried a small bluegill last weekend and out of 4 tip-ups it was the only one that didn't catch a fish. That spot did before I tried the gill though. I'll have to try it again soon though :)
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My oldest boy buys a new tip up Saturday and wants to try it out on a new lake (normally two strokes of bad luck for us!). He puts on the first bluegill he caught for bait and in less than five minutes the first pike is on the ice.
I rest my case ...
:tipup: :tipup: :tipup:
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I was open water fishing a few years agoand i kept seeing something swirling the water about 20 yards away and when i went over to it i saw that it was a 3lb. LM bass that had a bluegill lodged in its throat. I when to it netted it and pulled the bluegill out and it swam off and was fine. When i use perch and bluegill i clip the fins so they can be eaten easier. That usually does the trick.
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How do you keep the bluegill alive? I've tried this alot of times. I fish mainly bluegill, but sometimes bring along a tip-up and hook a smaller gill on it when I catch one. Every time I've tried it, the bluegill lasts about 5 minutes before it's belly up.
kero
Kero,
Make sure that you use about at least a 1.0 (or even bigger) hook, and hook it right through the meatiest part of the tail. The hook is so big it will mess up their ability to swim, giving you the always-tempting dieing-fish presentation. Since you are only hooked in meat they will live all day (if need be). You can also use a quick-set, just make sure you keep it in the meat. Man, will you catch pike! Make sure it's legal where you are doing it!
RJ
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I was open water fishing a few years agoand i kept seeing something swirling the water about 20 yards away and when i went over to it i saw that it was a 3lb. LM bass that had a bluegill lodged in its throat. I when to it netted it and pulled the bluegill out and it swam off and was fine. When i use perch and bluegill i clip the fins so they can be eaten easier. That usually does the trick.
I like this idea--I will use it this weekend!
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I have used perch for bait this year and they worked slightly better than dead anchovies one day, and about the same the next day. I stunned them and quick strike rigged them the way I do deadbait. I put two extra split shot on the line close to the bait so it could just barely swim. Caught a 25" pike the second trip. I would have done a lot more pike fishing this year if the low elevation ice didn't crap out. After all, this is the year I have had the most sucess.
Tyler
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does anyone know if blugills are legal in ny?
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I don't think they are because they have spiny fins...not totally sure about that though.
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that would be a big fine in South Dakota................ .....dont try it around my way ;D
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Cool I will have to try it. ;D ;D
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i use gills all the time for pike bait. just caught 3 from shore under a bobber. give em what they want, thats what i say. its summertime by the way. pike will slam anything.
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I have heard that it is legal to use perch, or bluegills just as long as you caught them in the same lake you are fishing. I am talking about Michigan and Indiana
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Anybody know if it is leagal in Wisconsin to use this method? I cant seem to find the answers on the DNR website, i must be not looking up the right thing.
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Anybody know if it is leagal in Wisconsin to use this method? I cant seem to find the answers on the DNR website, i must be not looking up the right thing.
Yes it is legal. You can use any legal fish as bait, but the fish must be caught from the same lake that you're fishing. I've caught small perch and bluegill and put them on a tip ups. You could even use a bass as long as it's of legal size. ;)
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Anyone know if it's legal in Minnesota?
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Most states in the Rocky Mountain west strictly forbid the using of a game fish for bait. I know this is true in Wyoming, Montana and I am pretty sure Colorado. We can use parts of gamefish for bait, such as eyes or entrails but not the whole fish. Perch, Bluegill and Crappie are considered game fish. I wish I could use em for bait because the absolute best bait is always a fishes natural forage. I fish one lake in montana where the main forage fish are Cisco. You can use live minnows of any kind in this lake except for cisco or whole game fish. Actually, I am surprised that its legal anywhere to use a perch or gill or any panfish for bait. If its legal, rock on, I know I would.
Bluegills and perch are not gamefish. Gamefish would be pike, bass, walleye, etc.
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Anybody know if it is leagal in Wisconsin to use this method? I cant seem to find the answers on the DNR website, i must be not looking up the right thing.
I fished wisconsin for years (native cheesehead, now yooper) and it is legal. The rulebook states that you may use any fish for bait, as long as it's legally taken and not a game fish. Game fish include pike, bass, musky, walleye, etc. Perch and 'gills are not considered "game fish".
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I regularly use bluegill, crappie or perch for tip up bait. It's legal in PA. Best fish I got thru the ice was a 44" 22 lb. musky on a 4" crappie. Sometimes nice suckers and shiners are hard to come by in our neck of the woods. Panfish work better than a wiener!
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I fished wisconsin for years (native cheesehead, now yooper) and it is legal. The rulebook states that you may use any fish for bait, as long as it's legally taken and not a game fish. Game fish include pike, bass, musky, walleye, etc. Perch and 'gills are not considered "game fish".
You are wrong. In Wisconsin, you can use game fish as bait. As long as they are of legal size. And the fish MUST be caught in the same lake you are fishing. Of course any pan fish can be used as long is it is caught out of the same lake.
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Here is a quote from the Wisconsin Fishing Regulations.
It is illegal to use any game fish as bait UNLESS they meet any length restriction for the body of water you are fishing and are included in your daily bag limit for that species.