Best Northern Bait Shiner or Sucker???

[bigminnow]

I have used both Suckers and Shiners for Northern. I like the flash of the shiners, but the durability of the Suckers is nice b/c you can use them multiple days if they don't get hit by a fish. I just keep them in the garage with an areator and they stay fresh. Whats your preference for Northern?

BigMinnow

[Northlander]

Shiners because the eyes also love them.

[hanson]

Call me weird, I like my baits dead. When your bait is already dead, you don't have to worry about them dying.

Dead smelt, herring, or my favorite ciscos!

I usually start the day with 50/50 suckers to ciscos and adjust if I see the Pike have a preference.

[psegriz]

I don't think it really matters too much. They may have a diff. preference from one day to the next. Guess I mostly use suckers. Northlander if they'll take a shiner, I've found they'll usually take sucker too. Fact one time last yr. I had to go back to the bait shop and get some bigger bait (5" suckers) cause too many cigars (6-9" walleyes) were bittin my shiners. Only caught one walleye after that but he was decent.

[The Grebe]

I don't fish for Northerns when I go out of town, but once in awhile, I get the craving for some pickled pike and I will get after a couple, here in the metro.

On the lakes here in the Metro, the ones I fish anyways, the Golden Shiners, in my opinion, out do the Suckers and the Suckers out do the Silver Shiners?

I get as large a Shiner as I can buy and they are nowhere near as big as the decoy Suckers that are available.

I figure that you get more flags, but smaller pike with the shiners. I like fish in the 7-10 pound range for pickling and/or smoking, although they all work, I just have a preference.

If I were to go after some of the mongo pike, 15 to 20 pounds, I would try to find the biggest Sucker decoys I could and buy maybe 3 of them...I believe the bigger bait increases your chances of getting a bigger fish.

I used to watch the pike hunters, years ago on Cove and Isle Bay up at Mille Lacs, and that is what they would use and they used to catch some hogs! I don't intentionally target the hogs, so I don't need em, besides, their "Spensive"!

[merc]

Just curious, am I doing something wrong but you go after 7 to 10 pounders for pickeling. I want the 2 to 3 pounders for that. Just curious.

[pikerliker]

Hey Hanson I've always wanted to try the dead bait thing. Where do you get your cisco's, smelt, etc? Also do you set them up just under the ice, or on the bottom, somewhere between? I've heard before that some of the bigger pike prefer the dead bait. Any truth to that?

Thanks ~piker

[hanson]

pikerliker-

From my experience, I would say that the bigger pike do prefer the dead bait. I would also say that I target big pike on lakes that are known to produce big pike- Lake of the Woods being my primary target. I also primarily target them during the late ice period, when the big females are just looking to scoop up an easy meal when they are getting ready to spawn.

This photo here happened to be a 34" 14 pounder from LOW. Not the biggest but it took a dead cisco.

I also happened to be out on Devil's Lake, ND 2 weekends ago and we got into a good pike bite in a shallow bay. All we used for bait was dead smelt and pulled 8 pike through the ice with the biggest hitting 8 pounds. There was also another 5-6 flags that we didn't connect with. This was all in about a 3-4 hour time period.

I always buy my ciscos and suckers at Denny's in Roseau, MN on the way up to Lake of the Woods. I've picked up some nice herring around Upper Red, I believe it was the gas station/bait shop in Blackduck. They sell them frozen so I just pick up a bunch and keep them in the freezer and I always have a supply.

You ask about what depth to set your bait at. About all I can say is try the entire water column and see what happens. Most of my pike seam to come near the bottom but a few will be up high. I'm going to be experimenting with more baits right under the ice this winter. The reason they are up there is they are eating the dead fish that float up under the ice. I read an incredible article about LOW last winter where the authors were catching pike right under the ice in 30+ feet of water! Incredible!

[Redlantern]

PikerLiker, I figured I'd reply even though you asked Hanson. I only use dead bait for Northerns. Typically, I use ciscoes. I fish in the BWCA so it isn't really practical to keep live bait in the winter(at least I don't know how to). I fish ciscoes on or near the bottom when fishing for Northerns. To hook them, I use a crochet (sp) hook. I insert the needle into the anus, thread it through the mouth, snag the leader with the crochet hook, and pull it back through so the treble hook I have on the leader is around the head of the bait. The treble hook has a split ring on it with the smallest spinner blade I can find to keep it legal. I've tried going through the mouth first, but seem to have more luck the other way.

As far as finding the bait, I usually buy ciscoes in small bait shops on the way to the BWCA. Holiday in Grand Marais, Rays? in Two Harbors, A place in Cloquet right on 33, Lucky 7 in Virginia. I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of them right now. I will usually buy a buttload of them since I can't find them around my town. As far as smelt go, I haven't found them to be as effective as ciscoes, but they still work. I think Vados in Spring Lake Park may have them. Otherwise, pretty much any place that sells ciscoes will sell smelt.

Well, that's it. Have fun.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Hands down, dead smelt.

If they aint quite dead, smack em on the ice until they are. Then, drop em down and let them sit on the bottom. Every now and then you can kind of jig em. That will stir up the mud on the bottom.

The northerns swim by and just scoop them up. I've found the farther into the ice season the better this works.

[The Grebe]

merc...I don't pickle the fish real often, last year I did'nt do any. Like I stated, it's a matter of preference, you like the 2-3 pounders, I like the bigger fish.

First, I only want to mess with cleaning the one fish. By the time it is filleted, skinned, and side bones taken out,

(I know they can be left in and they will break down, but it's what I do) the finished fish is about the amount that I need. I cut it up, do the pickling thing and when it is done, I give some to my ma, my nephew and sometimes an inlaw, the rest is just enough for my wife and I, thus the larger fish serves my purpose just fine, thank you for asking!

And no, you are'nt doing anything wrong, unless the finished product tastes funky...then you are doing something wrong!

[icehousebob]

For pickling sized Northerns I use Shiners, especially early season. With Shiners, I like to cut off the top half of the tail and one of the pectoral fins. It makes them look really wounded, like a free Northern meal. Big Pike are lazy, they'll hang out on the bottom, looking for easy pickings. Late winter they're looking for winterkill near the bottom. That's when dead smelt really shine. I take frozen smelt and color them green with food coloring and fish them with a quickstrike rig. We tried lots of colors and day in- day out the green works better than the others we tried.

[R_B]

I also use the Redlantern's method of rigging ciscoes. I first learned to do this fishing for Lakers and caught a few large pike. I works slick.

[bigminnow]

When I lived in Milwaukee I could find smelt in most bait shops as well as catch them in lake Michigan when they ran. But I haven't been able to find them in the cities or outlying areas. Is ther anywhere near by that carries them?

Thanks for all the good posts.

Bigminnow

[pikerliker]

Hey Redlantern and Hanson thanks for the responses! I live in Southern MN and havn't seen the frozen smelt, cisco's, etc down here. Just suckers and shiners. I might try one of those with some of the techniques you guys talked about. Also when I get back up to LOW or Red I'll look for one of the spots you listed and stock up on the Cisco's and smelt!

~piker

[Eric Wettschreck]

I live in SW MN. The bait shops never have smelt. However, the local grocery store does!!!!!!!!!!