Catching pike on a rod/reel combo

[Spearing Machine]

So Ive been solely a tip-up guy when targeting pike. But since I have piked up a couple rods (38 inch medium heavy and 42 inch heavy) and paired them with shimano reels I want to try hooking up on some pike with them. So what I want to do it attach a quick strike rig to them but use it more as a set line (using dead bait). How can I use this setup without having to be right next to it but still be able to see when a fish has taken the bait? Thanks!

[Jim Almquist]

Jeremy here is what I use for Lake Trout: Tip-up for a rod and reel.

They are in the Outdoor ProStore.

[Spearing Machine]

That is a real slick device, Jim! Not particularly fond of the price, but maybe they will be discounted now at the end of the season. Thanks!

[Boar]

Google The Slammer. his thing is cool Im getting a few of them.

[motley man]

Attach a small bobber on the line and reel it up to the eye. When it is not visible, you had a bite. Just take bobber off as you reel in and fight the fish.

[fitchin_fanatic]

http://www.winkelman.com/videos/good-fishing/Through-The-Ice-Monster-Pike_148

Watch video and enjoy!!

[hydro]

A couple of things to consider, first I believe "The Slammer" is not legal for use in Minnesota if it automatically sets the hook.

Second, I used to be a "tip-up guy" but lately I have been jigging for pike quite successfully. I pick a likely looking spot on a lake with a good pike population and use a large Buckshot or swimming type lure tipped with a minnow head. It is a lot of fun when you can out fish your buddies who are using tip ups. I have a second rig that is a medium weight ice rod and a device like Jim Almquist mentioned that I set up to drown a sucker minnow. There are a couple of ice rod "tip-up" rigs out there that pop the flag, release the line, and let the fish run. They are nice because there is no bobber to freeze up.

In the last few years, the jig technique has outfished the sucker at least 4:1.

[DTro]

Check out the HT Ice Rigger

[hydro]

The HT "ice Rigger" is the device I was thinking about. Great idea!

[Fred_Bear]

I used a set up all winter that cost about 2 dollars and it worked great. I have a little red rod holder that clips onto the top of a 5 gal bucket. Put the rod in that and put your dead bait down however deep you want it. Open the free spool and tighten the spool tension knob until line wont pull out with the free spool open. I tie a fluorescent pink 10" piece of shoelace on to the line right after the tip top guide. When the pink shoe string moves, that is your flag... simple as that. I use a cabela's thermal hole cover to keep the hole from freezer over.

I actually used this with smaller decoy suckers as well and its really cool to watch the rod bounce the whole time.

I've had way better hooking percentage and percentage of iceing the fish with this method as compared to tip ups.

[Hoffer]

Just started using the HT ice rigger this year and love it!

A few tips. Probably works best with a closed face reel or baitcaster type of reel. I used my smaller open faced spinning reels and they worked fine - but the line does tend to spool out sometimes (you have to leave the bail open for this to work...) and if there is any wind it can get caught around the reel components etc...

Also, get your self a decent stout rod. I had some rods I thought would work OK - but once we had a fish on that was like 5 pounds or more the rods just doubled right over and did not have enough backbone.

Last, I had spooled my spinning reel with some mono. I think for next year I am going to go with spooling everything with no stretch superline of some sort and then just go with a 6 foot mono leader. But these are a lot of fun. We always had good weather this year when we were out so didnt have much issue with ice freezing the line in. However, that is the one drawback with these - if you get a colder year. But as the above poster mentioned you can also get some hole covers or else use them inside the house too - they work great in that situation too.