When I was younger I stumbled onto an excellent pike bait. I highly doubt that you will pull many clams up from a hole in the ice, so a little off topic. But in the summertime while you're backtrolling and bouncing bottom, you may pull up the odd clam. DO NOT THROW THEM BACK. I don't know if they are legal to use, but they drive pike insane.
I was on Falcon lake, Mb. or somewhere near Minaki, Ont. when I first tried this. It was a long time ago, so I'm unsure of the location, but the water was clear enough to see 10-15ft depth. I baited up a clam that I pulled out of the water and pryed open because me and my dad had run out of bait. Dropped it down and within seconds, not minutes, a spot that seemed devoid of fish suddenly had two pike fighting, yes fighting over the clam that I just dropped in the water, there was a third that appeared, watched the other two fight for a second before he grabbed the bait. Quite a sight.
Clam meat is fairly durable, I was able to reuse the same piece of meat several times. 1 clam=8 pike in less than 30 min. Like I said, drives them insane.