IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! => Northern Pike => Topic started by: blackmer826 on Feb 01, 2016, 07:11 PM
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Just wondering how many people use sinkers (splitshots) on their tip up rigs for pike in order to keep their bait down.
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I actually run a small egg sinker above my quick strike rig. ;)
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Run a egg sinker above my leader. Another split shot on my leader.
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Interesting, I have never ran egg sinkers
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How big of an egg sinker we talking?
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I run a spinner blade on a couple of traps so no weight on them, but the rest of my traps have a sliding sinker above the leader so the sinker doesnt get hung up if they run into cover nearby im unaware of..
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Since leaders can become weak from crimping split shot onto them, I do not use split shot, or any weight on the leader. I run an egg sinker on my main line. Don't ask me how I know about leaders breaking from split shot.
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Egg sinker . (X5)
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1/8 oz. egg sinker or 1/8 rubber twist on sinker.
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interesting....thanks for the responses, I have never fished with weight on my lines but will try it for sure now.
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How big of an egg sinker we talking?
1/4 oz.
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1/4 oz.
Yep!
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I make my own, and put a circle hook at the bottom, 3-4 beads, then a spinner blade. I really don't want to wear my bait out with weights. so the blade adds some weight/ the benefit of some flash, and the beads add color, as well as keeping the blade off the bait
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Shallow water, a #5 splitshot above the leader and a 3/0 on the leader. In deep water i run the egg sinker above the leader. In shallow water my line markers are too close to the leader so no point in using an expensive egg sinker when it can only move 10" on the line before it hits my marker.
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I use split shot. I believe it makes the bait from swimming around too much
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1/4 egg sinker here above my swivel on main line.
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Besides fishing for pike I also spear pike. I like using live bait, either a shiner or sucker, with my standard hook harness in the minnow. This way if a fish comes in that I can't or don't want to spear, I can let it take the bait and catch traditionally. I typically hook my minnow in the back with a single hook and the treble in the belly with two of the hooks. This does not kill the minnow and you'd be amazed how much life a minnow has. There is never any need to put on fresh bait if your minnow has been down for even a few hours. I spent all day last Sunday watching my minnow while waiting for pike to come in. I only had one pike come in when I first dropped my minnow down, he spooked from my headlight after he circled back a second time.
I had switched over from a large sucker to a medium shiner, maybe 4"-5" long, and a sinker keeps it on a short leash. They will get a burst of energy and start swimming and being attached to a line they swim upwards, but only as far as the sinker will allow. Without a sinker they can swim up to the bottom of the ice. The hardware, hooks and snaps for leader, are not enough to weigh them down either. They can also swim in a circle and if you don't have the line tender on your spool synched down snug they can unwrap the line on your spool. This is why you may have reeled up line on your tip-up and you have much more line out then you recall, making you think the minnow was grabbed for some unknown reason the flag didn't trip.
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I don't use sinkers through the ice for pike. Sinkers are just another piece of hardware that can get caught on the ice during the fight, and I think the extra weight might make them drop the bait especially when they are running through weeds. Plus I defrost my baits and pop the air bladder so they sink, and if I'm fishing live baits for pike I fish 10' of water or less so there is no need to keep the bait down in the water column.
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I use a rubber core sinker so I don't damage the line.