Tip-ups: Live v dead bait

[Steve Foss]

OK gang, in the spirit of comparing notes and getting information out, do you prefer live or dead bait under tip-ups, and why? And what are your opinions based on?

In N.D., where I've done most of my tip-up fishing, live suckers are illegal to use for bait, so almost everyone uses frozen smelt bought in grocery stores, and some use frozen herring. This works really well there, in clear or stained/muddy water alike.

In Minn., I've put live suckers out next to dead smelt and the smelt have outproduced the suckers.

In Wisconsin, where I now live, big golden shiners have outproduced dead Lake Superior smelt, even on crystal clear lakes where you'd maybe figure pike would be put off from tip-ups in the first place, what with braided line and wire quick-strike rigs.

Go figure.

How's it with you?

[Guest]

Ohio is not the first state that comes to mind for pike. But on the handfull of occasions I have fished for them dead shiners out fished live shiners hands down. I mean it was'nt even close.
Twelve or fifteen years ago Stange ran some articles on live vs. dead bait with the European "quick strike" rigs. Dead always got the nod, not only under the ice but through the post ice cold water period. Apparently predators like pike as well as bass, walleye, and cats find dead forage easier to scarf as opposed to chasing down live prey. The same applies on land. Fox, wolves, bear, eagles, etc. are all carrion eaters for the same reason. Its an energy conservation thing.

[Iceman77]

I am a ND transplant also and used those expensive sucker minnows quite a bit last year. When I went back home I picked up some bags of larger dead smelt(about 8-12" long). The stench of thawed out frozen smelt can't be beat. When fishing with my future in-laws, who used sucker minnows, the dead smelt would win out every time. The nice thing about smelt is they are a lot cheaper than buying live sucker minnows.
As a side note I would catch larger fish with larger bait. With 10" smelt or herring I could catch 10+ lb northerns consistently in the mud holes back home. With anything smaller than that, all I could catch was 2-6 lbers. The bigger fish didn't want to waste their time on smaller bait. But this is only mine and some of my friend's experiences.

[Guest]

Dead bait, hands down.

[KING]

This is a good topic.

A friend of mine and me always argue which is better, suckers or ciscoes. I am a cisco guy and he likes suckers, not big suckers but 6-8" stuff.

As far as a comparison it is hard to say what works better. He is more of a pike specific fisherman, will spend days at a time fishing only for pike. Where I am pike fishing waiting for an evening run of eyes somewhere. He always uses two-tip ups, I always use one tip-up and a jig rod. He puts more fish on the ice than I do, and does get some big fish.

He says the suckers will produce more consistant action throughout the day, and that he is there to catch fish not stare at tips that don't fly, and that an occasional big fish will hit the suckers anyway so why suffer with big dead bait. Plus suckers are more fun to watch swimming around in the bucket in the warm truck than a plate of frozen bait. Huh?

I still think big dead bait is the number one way to catch big pike on LOW. And I am too impatient to sit and watch another tip-up so I run around and jig.

Overall I would say up here the suckers will catch more fish, but the truly big fish prefer the dead bait. I think they are really just too old and lazy for the live bait. I guess we always do bring both just in case, so I would have to rate it a tie.

[Guest]

Not on the subject but, this is the second thread that I have heard of the the "quick strike" rig. As I am the type of guy that just throws a spare minnow on a tip-up while fishing for other species I have no idea what this is. Can someone help me out here?

[fiskyknut]

chiro
Bumped a post from last winter with QS rigging info, that "frozen smelt tactics" one. There was another but I have'nt found it yet. Search topics from last winter and the winter before tons of info in the "archives".

Regards....Fisky

[This message has been edited by fiskyknut (edited 10-17-2002).]

[Guest]

Thanks I will do that. Now it is out to the shack in the backyard. Gonna crank up the heater, do some DC fan wiring and pretend I am sittin' on hard water!

[Guest]

I'm on the same side as King on some occations. If I'm fishing a lake with high walleye populations I'll drop down medium sized shiners so that both roaming pike and walleyes will be attracted. If I'm directly fishing pike I'll use larger shiners or suckers on quick strike rigs. If I'm only using tip-ups and no jigging I'll drop down a dead bait on one tip-up and live bait on the other. Once one starts to produce I'll switch to the more positive presentation.

Good Fishin, Matt.