dead bait rigging

[finlessbrown]

how does everybody rig their dead bait?

[poorfisherman]

I use a quick strike with trebles or circle hooks. One through head one through dorsal area

[Drifter_016]

^^^^ Same here.

[finlessbrown]

i guess i should have been more specific, should the bait be horizontal or vertical? upside down or right side up? sunk to the bottom or just under the ice? ant other info would be great also, thanks

[lightningz]

There is no right or wrong answer for your question. Since Northerns are notorious for feeding on the natural dead bait that may exist in the lake hanging the bait either way can be productive. If you're trying to present your bait as if it is a live offering, then hanging it horizontally  would be preferred. If you're presenting it as a dead fish than hanging it vertical would be the trick. It also would depend on where in the water column you plan on fishing. When we set up our spread we try to cover all the bases and play the see what works attitude. Many times both methods have produced even on the same day. It is much more important that you are fishing a location that has good potential and that you match your presentation to the location. 

[Hydro]

I fish with two trebles on a quick strike rig.  I go back and forth on the best way to hang a dead bait - haven't got it figured out yet!

[coboy]

This will be my second year of using tip-ups for pike. I've been having good success with a quick strike rig and the sucker lying in the horizontal position. Seems like the bigger the sucker, the bigger the pike. Because of a few break-offs on heavy fluorocarbon line, I switched to wire and specifically titanium wire without any noticeable loss in strikes. By no means am I trying to open a debate on
which type line to use. The specific body of water I fish; with no snow on the ice, I can see 4 lb. P-line all the way down to a tiny lure, twenty feet deep. Here we get many days with clear ice. I'm
just trying to figure out what works best to catch those toothy critters.

[blackmer826]

I have never used dead bait so this is very interesting to me. Alot of people like their dead bait over live so I might have to do another experiment this yr...along with others.

 

This will be my second year of using tip-ups for pike. I've been having good success with a quick strike rig and the sucker lying in the horizontal position. Seems like the bigger the sucker, the bigger the pike. Because of a few break-offs on heavy fluorocarbon line, I switched to wire and specifically titanium wire without any noticeable loss in strikes. By no means am I trying to open a debate on
which type line to use. The specific body of water I fish; with no snow on the ice, I can see 4 lb. P-line all the way down to a tiny lure, twenty feet deep. Here we get many days with clear ice. I'm
just trying to figure out what works best to catch those toothy critters.

are these dead suckers lying horizontal? or alive. I have fished pike on tip-ups for 7 years now and always used live sucker and shiner minnows hanging horizontal. have caught alot of pike, my biggest is 16lbs, so looking to experiment more to catch the 20+lb fish.

[BryanG]

i just stick em on a hook and drop them down mid-depth i fish about 15 feet so 8 feet down. i also freeze my bait with a little picklin salt and berkely sauce

[coboy]

Here in Colorado, you can't use live fish above 7,000 feet or west of the Continental Divide. The place I fish most often is around 8,600. The DOW introduced pike to kill off the suckers, that were  apparently harming the spawning grounds of trout. So even though there are native suckers in this reservoir, I can't use live ones. I've been having very good success with them horizontal. With
a two rod limit, I haven't tried experimenting with anything but horizontal, because it seems to be working fine. I caught my largest pike and largest fish through the ice last year doing it this way,
at 12 lbs.

[mikejl04]

I use a flagel rig.

[stoutbait]

Horizontal has been working for me! Really easy to hang hot dogs with these rigs and the pike seem to like them.