Suckers?

[whale1979]

I fish Saskatchewan and I usually use smelt, herring, mackerel for my tipups.
Has anyone used suckers with any noticeable success in hits over the oily ocean fish??

[legend]

i have used live suckers in wyoming and vermont....both worked just fine...the motion works better than dead bait i believe.

[thepikepolice]

Live ones work great. It often helps to match the local brand of sucker, whether that be redhorse, white, etc. Though pike are not overly discerning in their tastes, live bait has worked better for me than dead bait.

[Chuck Enwinde]

I wouldn't say I'd choose them over the oily fish - I prefer dead lake herring - but they definitely get bit, alive or dead.

[Mr.Seaguar]

What size do pike like? I had some 5-7 inch creek chubs that got bit well and some shiners that got bites but I also had some 11-12" suckers that did not attract attention. There were pike over 36" within 50 feet of the big suckers and no bites. I could see the pike swim under my hole.

[DR.SPECKLER]

not much help but ive fished suckers and golden shiners side by side many times and the tipups with shiners get hit most.i like how long suckers stay alive but shiners get hit more for me everytime.might be the flash of the goldies.

[Mr.Seaguar]

Yeah, I had shiners also and I got bites fastest on them but they die on the hook if they don't get bit

[bigk]

Whale I sent you a p.m. we can’t use live bait in Saskatchewan. I am guessing the suckers Whale is referring to would be 8”- probably 12” or 14”.

[aquarium234]

I have good luck with large suckers dead or alive. You can add a little flash spinner to your set up if you want a little more attention drawn to your fish. but they have no spines, so Pike love them. I usually will use them any day over shinners, I only use shinners when I can't get suckers....:-)

[Mr.Seaguar]

I used some suckers the last couple days that were 11 or 12 inches long. I never did get a hit. I also used some 4 or 5 inch shiners and caught 5 small pike, 1 walleye, had a couple drops and missed 2 bites. Also had 2 chewed baits that didn't trip.