Northern Pike - Setting up ice fishing Tip Up's

[TackleBoxMike]

I'm looking for some tips on how you guys set up your ice fishing tip up for northern pike?

I've put Deacon line on the tip-up 1st then I'd put a weight on the line tie on a swivel, and then I'd use a monofilament line leader and then a 9" metal leader and hook on a medium sucker minnow on a hook. I run the fishing line down the ice hole until the depth finder would reach the bottom and then I'd raise the line up 10"ft. to attract Northern Pike. I'm woundering is that to high and will a Northern Pike travel that far and take the sucker minnow?

Let's Keep are Hooks Sharp.

TackleBoxMike

[JohnMickish]

I think your setup sounds good. I use a 2/0 straight back worm hook and tail hook my suckers. I usually fish in 10-12 fow on a flat and stick the minnow down maybe half way or so.

[hanson]

For the tip-up line, I think you are alright with the braided dacron. I've used the plastic coated stuff in the past but it seems to have too much memory and jump off the spool For me, I'll stick with good old braided.

For the business end, I use exclusively quick-strike rigs. If you plan on releasing the fish, I'd highly recommend a quick-strike rig. You can set the hook immediately and not have to worry about the Pike swallowing the hook.

A quick strike rig is basically a wire leader with a treble hook on the end. There is another treble attached to the leader above that one and it is moveable up and down the leader to adjust to the size of your bait. To keep the rig legal in MN, you need a little spinner on it too. Many tackle companies produce these and they are simple enough to make on your own if you like doing that type of thing.

I don't use a sinker on my dead baits, they seem to stay down near the bottom just fine without it. On my suckers, I'll loop the line through a small egg sinker before tying on the quick strike. Just gives the minnow a little resistance.

For depth- some are set near the bottom, some right underneath the ice, some somewhere in between. When I find a depth that is working better, I'll adjust.

[buzbunni]

Very often you will have success leaving the bait just under the ice. I sometimes leave it only 1-2 feet under the bottom edge of the ice. I believe the northerns cruise just under the ice for dead/floating baitfish that are "chum" up there.

It works for me.

[P.DONA]

We use Dacron attatched is the swivel and about a 4 ft 50 lb fluro carbon leader with a small split shot, # 4 gammagatsu treble and about a 4"-6" shiner. Check the depth with a weight, mark it on the line and put the shiner about 1.5ft - 2 ft off of the bottom.

As far as setting the hook, let it run, let it play?? That's probably another whole thread in itself

[Gus]

Concerning the use of a spinner to make a quick strike rig leagal in MN; Does just adding a bead make it leagal or do you have to have the spinner? I saw some quick strike rigs for sale at a major store a month or so ago and they only had a bead, no spinner. Just wondering what the reg states. Thanks.

[Cooter]

Hey buzbunni - Just curious how deep the water is when you set bait just under the ice. I've had good luck doing it in shallow, weedy areas, but never thought of trying it in deeper water without cover. Always willing to try something different.

[hanson]

Cooter-

Here is a link to some good discussion from a few months ago.

http://www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=267170&page=6&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

How deep of water you ask?? I've heard of people getting Pike on LOW right under the ice over 30' of water.

[buzbunni]

My experience has only been in around 18ft., but like hanson said, it definitely works deeper. Those wolves know where to get their meals .

[Lost]

My trip to LOW for these little fish was quite fun. We used homemade quick strike rigs and deadbait. We were fishing in 4-6 feet of water with the bait maybe an inch above the bottom.

The last day up there we were fishing a little deeper... 10-12 feet. Again, on the bottom. I should have tried on the surface just to be different. But it was a learning experience for me.

[captainshane]

WE USE THE SAME SETUP AS YOU DO, WORKS WELL. HAVE YOU EVER USED DEAD SMELT? WORKS WELL AND IT IS CHEAP!

[TackleBoxMike]

I have a question about northern pike fishing on the Lake of the Woods. How many miles out from shore have you guys picked up northerns ice fishing? Would you guy position the bait near the button edge of the ice to catch those big northern pike on LOW? I'll be on LOW ice in January. Thanks you guys for all the information.

Lets Keep are Hooks Sharp.

Thanks

TackleBoxMike

[hanson]

TackleBoxMike-

Hmmm... A couple of good questions.

#1- I'd try posting your question in the Lake of the Woods forum once ice fishing starts. The LOW forum has been a little silent lately. I have a feeling everyone is out chasing them walleyes now that the fall bite is going.

#2- I typically fish for Pike much later in the year than your trip- late March into early April as ice conditions allow. Late ice like that finds the Pike a couple hundred yards off the shoreline in real shallow water. Midwinter, you might find the Pike deeper and out on the reefs. My biggest Pike to date came from 16 mile reef on LOW in mid-winter. We were fishing walleyes in 30' of water and it hit down near a couple feet of the bottom.

[TackleBoxMike]

hanson,

Yeah, you got me thinking about what the LOW Resorts have advertised last year on the web. Late Feb. and March Specials and that the northerns that time of year put the feed bag on this is ruffly what I remember.

Thank you

TackleBoxMike

[hanson]

Yep,

They put the feedbag on... AND can make for very LONG days fishing.

Sometimes you might not even get a flag, other days you might get a couple trophy fish. Its almost like playing the lottery. But in the meantime, you have a lot of quality time to learn more about your fishing partners. Put in the time and it will happen!!

If you want to go fishing with me in March/April, we might spend more time talking than fishing. Just a little food for thought.

[LittleRanger]

My 2 cents: buy as big of shinners as you can find. Over 6 inches. Trophy walleyes love dem big shinners!

[TackleBoxMike]

I've got a couple of tip-ups with that daron line on how often would you guys change the line on the tip ups to prepare for those northen pike?

Big Ice Fishing Holes for Big Pike!!!!

TackleBoxMike

[Lost]

They guys I went ice fishing with last year on LOTW use masonry line... 200 lb test. They said don't waste your money on the stuff that the stores sell for ice fishing.

[RK]

Hiya,

I generally have a pretty simple setup for tip-ups. Almost always use coated tip-up line, mainly because, for pike anyhow, I use windlass tip-ups with dead bait quite a bit, and the coated stuff doesn't freeze up like dacron, plus it's easy to handle with gloves on and easy to see against the ice (doesn't freeze to the ice either.) I have a spool of #65 Fireline XDS sitting in my basement that's going to go on a couple tip-ups this winter though. It's coated like the tip-up line is, but I think it'll coil less (the one pain in the butt problem with the coated stuff). Will have to see.

From there, I tie a small swivel on the end of my tip-up line, and just go direct to the leader on my quick-strike rig from there. Don't bother with any mono in between. Pike aren't often line shy. I almost always use dead bait, so I never both with weight of any kind. The weight of the bait and the QS rig is enough to sink it, plus with a windlass tip-up, an unweighted dead bait flutters nicely. Lord knows if the fish care about that, but it makes me feel like I'm trying anyhow.

About the QS rig needing a spinner rule: It's stupid, plain and simple. As I wrote not too long ago in the Outdoor News, it makes a lot of the off the shelf quick strike rigs, which are convenient and very fish-friendly, an illegal rig. It's easy enough to add a tiny spinner somewhere on the rig, and most COs I've ever run into will give you the benifit of the doubt if you at least make the attempt to comply with the letter of the law, but unless you make your own rigs, it means disassembling and modifying a rig out of the package. A lot of guys won't bother with them as a result, and use a single hook rig instead. I think there are a couple QS rigs on the market that come with a spinner on them out of the package. HT Enterprises, and maybe one other?

Quite frankly, the rule is just plain dumb, and I think it needs to be changed. Personally, I think quick strike rigs should be mandatory on baitfish, live or dead, over 7 or so inches. Too many guys still using swallow rigs, especially through the ice, and they're fish killers, plain and simple. Fine if you're keeping some 3 pounders to eat (I do sometimes) but if you intend to release the fish, or HAVE to release fish on lakes with size restrictions, it defeats the purpose when you release gut hooked fish.

Have to say too that angler responsibility is a big part of the issue too. Quick strike rigs only work when the hook is set immediately, and a QS rig becomes a swallow rig when guys only check their flags every half hour. But still, I think it's possible to make QS rigs more convenient by writing the live bait rule in a way that allows QS rigs to be legal without adding a completely superfluous spinner just to comply with the letter of the law, when the letter of the law as it exists now does nothing to modify angler intent...

Wow - I got off on a tangent as usual... What happens when I'm stuck inside and it's raining...

Cheers,

RK

[hanson]

Since we are talkin QS rigs, I thought I'd add a couple tid bits about the commercially available ones.

A proper QS rig has the leader material tied to the 'bottom' treble hook. The leader should then be threaded through the eye of the 'upper' treble hook. Typically a piece of rubber tubing is then threaded on the leader and pushed on over the eye of the 'upper' hook so you can position this hook up and down the leader to correspond to the size of your bait.

One particular manufacturer that I bought QS rigs from last winter, I believe it was HT, failed to thread the eye of the upper hook onto the leader. Rather the eye & shank of the treble hook were just pushed up into the adjustable rubber tubing which was threaded on the leader. I didn't even pay attention to it.

Only reason I bring this up is I lost one heck of a nice Pike on Lake of the Woods last winter due to a poorly manufactured QS rig. While pulling the fish in, it felt like it 'spit' the hook. When I pulled the rig, minus the fish, out of the hole- I was missing 1 treble hook and had a piece of rubber tubing still on my QS rig. Upon further inspection, 3 or 4 other QS rigs I was using were all rigged this same way. You'll experience no problems if you hook the fish with the bottom hook, but get one on the top hook and you may lose the fish.

No doubt that was a major bummer, especially when you can sit for hours with no action. Sometimes tip-up fishing can seam so simple, but you must pay attention to the little details or you may end up not experiencing success.

[TackleBoxMike]

I know it's early in the ice fishing season but I'm woundering has anyone had the chance to set out tip-ups for Northern Pike yet ? also has there been any big pike caught ?

Lets Keep Our Hooks Sharp.

TackleBoxMike

[hanson]

TackleBoxMike-

I made it out to Devil's Lake, ND last weekend (Dec 10-12) to chase after some perch & walleye. Well, its hard to plan an early season trip like that to such a big lake that is 5 hours away from you. Ice was about 4-5 inches thick and most of the main lake was open as well as the water under bridges connecting the lakes.

The first day of the trip, we did our best to find good structure within walkable distance of access points to the lake. It made for a long day of scouting. There weren't very many people at all fishing.

The second day we came across a nice shallow bay that is notorious for its late ice Pike run. There were a few other people fishing tip-ups so we decided to switch gears and go for Pike. We scattered about 10 tip-ups with dead smelt across a submerged road and waited it out. In about 4-5 hours of fishing, we had a good 2 hours of flags that produced 8 fish with the biggest being 31", 8 lbs. The rest of the pike averaged 3-5 pounds. You can check out my full report on the North Dakota Forum. Devil's Lake- Report Dec. 10-12

The interesting thing is I received an e-mail from fellow FMer Jeff Dosch, who guides on Devil's Lake, and found out his group was fishing directly across the bay from us a few hundred yards away. They had a 20lb+, 44" Pike that weekend. I'm upset I didn't walk over to them to say hi, but I was concerned about the thickness of ice in the middle of the bay.

[JoeTC]

I got out on a small lake in north central MN last weekend and had a tip-up set up for pike. I caught 2 and they both were 1.5-2 pounds. I was a little dissapointed because I know someone who had caught 8-10 pound pike in this lake but it was great to get out.

My set up for pike is dacron line or the coated stuff(I have the coated on one and dacron on all the rest). I like the them both the coated is easier to handle when landing a fish but it does coil up a lot.bI tie my line directly to a wire leader that is connected to a treble(store bought so theres no snaps). I hook a 5-6 inch sucker behind the dorsin fin. I weight it 1-2 feet up on the line with a big split shot or rubber core. The only problem with this set up is knowing when to set the hook. A large fish could get the whole sucker in there mouth at once and I could set the hook right away but the smaller fish might only have part of it in there mouth and then I have to wait for them to turn it. So if I guess wrong I might either hook the fish too deep or pull it out of there mouth. For this reason I might try a QS rig this year. My only concern is having the fish feel it and spitting it out. Has anyone ever had a problem with that?

[TomWehler]

JoeTC

Try a 1/4 oz or 1/2 oz Egg sinker on the line above the leader instead of a split shot.

Fish will pick up lure, trip flag, sinker drops to bottom and fish don't feel any weight and you have good feel of fish.

Quick strik rigs are the way to go.

One in the snoot, one in the side of the dorsel skin.

Pike pick it up, turns, runs, HEAVEHOO!!

Don't forget if your runnig a few lines with buds or that special women to try setting one just under the ice.

Many a time them big ones roam just under the ice in all depths of water.

BIG surprise to most people who never try this.

Not always about getting everyone on the ice, but having fun.

Win some, lose some.

It's all good.

Tom

[JoeTC]

Thanks Tom. I guess I never thought about that.

Say I had two tip-ups set up, one shallow on the weedline and one out deeper. Which one would one should I run just under the ice? Or are there any particular depths or areas to do this?