Best bait for tip-up pike

[ryan the poor college kid]

hey guys i need your help. what are some of your favorite tip-up baits?? i have always used chubs but haven't had a whole lot of luck. i was thinking about giving smelt a shot.

Large redtails, medium suckers, and dead smelt.......they have really worked well for me......The redtails are great for big walleyes also.

Good Fishin'
TBO/MN

[Mattman]

Second TBO and and Ciscoe's.


Better to have and not need than to need and not have!

Matt Davis

When I've fished pike, big shiners always out produced sucker minnows about 3 to 1.

[mudpuppy]

I'll usually use whatever is available , Chubs , Shiners , Suckers etc.. Smelt when we can get them . Ideally we'll run both live bait & frozen smelt in a spread . I've used the big Swedish hooks in the past with smelt & they work , but any more I'll just go with a quick strike rig with 2 trebles on both . It helps to have the bait riding level , more or less , in the water . A couple 6 penny nails inserted into the smelts mouth usually helps by adding weight & breaks the air bladder . "Usually" I'll set the smelt closer to bottom to start out & live bait up higher in water column , and adjust if a pattern shows up . Also , a lesson my Dad taught me from his spearing days , be as quiet as possible around your tip-up when checking or changing depths . Good Luck !

[Rick]

I think I catch more on large dead shiners than live ones,...I think Pike are used to finding fish in deep trouble or dead during these months,...they become more like scavengers than preditors,..don't want to waste a lot of energy striking out at things that are faster than they are,..lack of cover makes them roam more rather than than darting out from weeds or other structure,....just my opinion,.....

[Kevin/CO]

One of the more well known baits for Pike here in colorado is waterdogs, or tiger salamander larvae.

[Suzuki]

Eye of newt or shiner. Whatever is easiest.

[Ristorapper]

Smelt, smelt, smelt and an occassional fathead once in a while.

We have literally pounded 5# average fish the last two years with dead smelt over our tip ups. We run a treble hook up the middle of the smelt and hook it onto the leader. We will sometimes use the smelt hooks, medium smelt hooks if the smelt available are somewhat small and large smelt hooks if larger smelt are available in the grocers frozen fish section. Trebles seem to have a higher percentage of hook-ups for us however.

Last year we experimented with 14 gauge copper wire (8-10") with a treble hook wired to the end of it. With the copper wire straight, we strung on the smelt head first down to the treble hook then bent the copper wire in the shape of a smelt hook. The bend coming at the tail end of the smelt. Outstanding hook-up percentages so we will monkey with this experiment more this year. BUT when setting the hook on this set-up the copper wire will straighten out so you need to set it hard to bury the hook as the wire straightens out.

And this year we have access to an underwater camera so it should be even more fun.

We also used jig rods with fathead minnows in the same waters to hook up with the perch in this lake. You know when a pike hits instead. They are fun to fight for a while but we usually can't get em turned up the hole. Heck they are so plentiful we just have fun with them.

One word of advice on the leader. We use steel leaders on out tip ups and will gradually lengthen the leader as the ice thickens. We feel that when you are trying to turn the pike up the hole, a steel leader dragging on the sharp bottom edge of the ice is great insurance in not losing many fish. Good fishing

BW(ND)

[ryan the poor college kid]

are there any pictures on the internet of how you guys rig these smelt? or is the best way just to use the quick strike?