Picky Pike????

[tipup]

Ok so I have been a tip-up/rattle reel pike fisherman for a few years and have always had very good luck with it. This year seems to be different?? I have cought fish this year but seem to have missed many more than years past. Also a big thing I have noticed this year is the pike are being picky or not wanting to eat. I have my house in 15 feet of water and can see pretty much to the bottom of the hole. That being said I have seen over 2 dozen pike swim upto my bait and either just look at it and swim away, or bite it and spit it out!!! I have seen what i think is one fish that seems to be there every day I am out and he will just nudge and look at my bait???

Now I have heard all the myths like, they loose their teeth and dont eat, they eat only once every 3 days and so on, but come one, I fish 3-4 times a week. the only consistent bite I can get are the little 12-19" fish.

What are your guys thoughts on this????

[GatorGetter]

We are seeing the same thing here in ND in the lakes I have fished. Seeing plenty of pike on the camera as they slowly drift by, often looking at the bait and then leave. I quit using the tip ups and rattle reels so far this season. Seems like jigging a minnow has triggered more bites.

[Steve Foss]

Tipup, are you using live or dead bait?

[tipup]

Live suckers. About 4-6" I am going to try and switch to smaller suckers and see if that works.

[Steve Foss]

Try dead smelt or cisco. Years ago I used to use both live and dead, but deadbait outfished live for me 4-1. Found the same ratio when I was fishing deadbait next to the live bait guys. That's on a lot of lakes in N.D., Minn., and Wis.

For the last several years all I've used is dead cisco/smelt. Active pike will gobble up any bait, live or dead. Neutral/negative pike, which often won't hit a live sucker, will scoop in dead cisco or smelt. On those neutral/negative days, deadbait is usually the difference between sitting on one's bucket all day getting cold or running for flags. Seen it happen that way many a time. Pike also are put down by a lot of on-ice traffic. And I use "running for flags" loosely. Most guys set their tip-ups so far apart they have to run to get to them in time. But I've seen pike drop baits many times when people come stomping up to the tip-up. Better to put the tip-ups close enough that you can just get to them with a quick, quiet walk.

Especially in Minnesota, there seems to be a longstanding tradition of using live suckers on tip-ups for pike, but I've never been outfished by the live sucker guys when I'm fishing near them with my deadbait. Also, deadbait is easy because you don't have to keep it alive. The smelt and cisco (tulibee) are preferred because they are oily and disperse a lot of scent.

[Gordie]

down size. use dead bait suckers,smelt,ciscoes,shinners.

try live golden shinners many options. I have seen this before on the lake I fish and the pike roll in and look at the sucker on a jig and then will swim off so I went to a fathead and when the pike came in I jigged it and let it hit the bottom and let it lay there and wham the pike grabbed it and ran.

Good luck

[Steve Foss]

Also, there's a long thread on favorite pike tip-up baits here. Lots of interesting opinions shared.