Pike 1 Me 0

[Tipup Master]

Out tipup fishing yesterday on Cable Lake.  Flag goes up about 50 yds away.  As I get close I see the spool spinning good and then it takes off and spins super fast.  I look at the spool and more then half of my 25# dacron is gone.  Grabbed the line and gave it a small pull and was shocked at how hard it pulled back.  It started running and as I attempted to slow it down, the line snapped. The line broke just a tiny bit toward the lure from the knot.  My largest pike through the ice has been 32 inches and my experience with big pike is very limited.  If I learned one lesson it is to treat every pike as though he's a 40+ incher until known other wise.  I was way too aggressive on trying to get him to stop.  Although it didn't seem like I was pulling to hard, the combination of me pulling and him running exceeded the strength of my 25# mono.  I would have loved the challenge of getting him out of my 8 inch hole.  Would have probably needed to use my gaffe for the first time.

[essox hunter]

People will slam me and say I'd get more flags if I didn't use steel leaders,but that's why I use steel leaders lol.
Sounds like u had a nice 1 on!
I use very thin flexible steel leaders and I also make my own quickstrikes and I usually have good action.
Even with steel your not pike proof I've seen 4 steel leaders shreded which resulted in lost fish.
Get em this last few days

[Able2fish]

I agree that steel leaders will increase your catch rate. I've had tip ups with and without leaders and haven't noticed a difference in flag rate, and have lost a few on 25lb line with no leader. A couple days left its time to hit the pike spots. Going shallow tomorrow on my favorite lake. Should b good

[Dean84]

I dont use steel leaders, but I do use heavier braid in the summer up north fishing. I get a LOT of pike as bycatch while jigging for walleyes. Mono and flouro stand no chance on those teeth.  Even the braid gives out once in a while. If I was actually targeting them, I would probably move over to a wire leader of some kind.

[pmaloney86]

I prefer 50lb floro but tying knots with floro that heavy is a pain to get your knot to cinch down well.

[Dean84]

I prefer 50lb floro but tying knots with floro that heavy is a pain to get your knot to cinch down well.

Heck, I hate trying to get knots to lock down good in my 4lb flouro on my trout rods!

[jdgambler]

I actuall use a 18" piece of 60lbs braided line for my leader and have not had any breaks yet!

[carbidemanfishing]

I use fluorocarbon leader for open water but always steel leader for ice fishing. I have lost lots of big pike (caught some to) using braid and fluorocarbon. Even had steel leader break on me once. I had to switch to steel leader in open water to after loosing many expensive lures in the maws of big pike.