Dead bait rigging ?'s

[WalleyeChaser]

After doing some reading I see it can be more effective than live bait. I figured as long as I have a few suckers that die during the week I could just freeze them and give 'em a try! Have never used dead bait before so just a couple questions.

-How do I hook them on a trebble hook(Wisconsin)? Just in front of the dorsal so they hang as horizontal as possible?

-Do I thaw them before using them or just hook 'em on and let the water thaw them?

-Do I have to do anything special to them before I Freeze them or after I thaw them?

-Do I need to add sent to them at all?

-Any other things I need to know?

Newbie questions for sure, but i want to know what you guys suggest! Thanks

[mwal]

Hook them under the dorsal and don't worry about how they hang. Pike are happy to eat a dead bait and don't care. If on weed free structure I have caught pike on tip ups leaving the bait lie on the bottom. Remember you can no longer use smelt in WI. My favorite bait.

Mwal

[Steve Foss]

I'm with mwal.

I thaw my bait first. Sometimes bait is frozen so hard you can't get a hook through it, or if you do it breaks apart. Two barbs into the bait, one sticking out is how I do it. With dead thawed suckers, which aren't as oily/fatty as smelt or cisco, I cut a slit in the belly so some juices get out there in the water. I also hook behind the dorsal. Baits usually point down a bit or a lot, but it really doesn't matter.

I generally have one bait about 2 feet off the bottom and another one half way up the water column if I've only got two tip-ups out. Most days both get hit pretty much equally, it does make me feel better to cover a bit more water column.

[The Hex]

I like to marinate my dead bait in a mixture of Dr. Juice pike/musky and a little water for extra smell.

[RK]

Hiya -

Use a quick strike rig.

Two reasons to do so:

1.) Way better for the fish if you don't plan to keep them all. With a quick strike rig and immediate hookset you have every few deeply hooked fish. There was a study a few years back, done in Wisconsin, on hooking mortality with single hook rigs through the ice, and the mortality rate with single trebles and Swedish hooks was through the roof compared to quick strike rigs. Several companies sell QS rigs, or you can make your own for about 20 cents a piece...

That having been said, and immediate hookset is a must. Watch those flags...

2.) Hooking percentage is way, way better vs. a single treble. You rarely miss a fish with a QS rig.

As far as how to hook it, you can get or make rigs that hang the bait horizontally, but frankly I never bother. I put the end hook of the QS rig behind the head, and the top hook just behind the dorsal fin, and let the thing hang upside down. They really, truly, do not care... They're scavengers, and they won't turn their nose up at a free meal because it's hanging upside down - it's dead in the first place, so what do they care?

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[mrklean]

can you use preserved shad as bait?