Pike on Tip-ups

[jakemcarroll]

A buddy and I have been catching sunnies and crappies all winter but the occasional roaming pike sure is a blast to catch. We were thinking about buying a couple tip-ups and actually targeting them. Just wondering if getting a tip up with some line (any suggestions?) and baiting a hook with a shiner near some weedlines would be a good way to start? I love the site, thanks for all the help!!

[Eric Wettschreck]

Another thing that works well for pike in my neck of the prairie, especially later in the ice season, is dead smelt laying right on the bottom.

[Steve Foss]

jake:

Yep, live shiner near the weeds will draw pike in great. I quit using live bait several years ago on pike tip-ups because over the course of about five years, dead smelt and cisco had outfished livebait by far, and I've had great luck with deadbait since then. Less hassle, too.

Any tip-up is fine, but for pike I like to use something like superbraid 50# test, which generally has a pretty small diameter. Then it's simply a storebought leader and hook with a couple split shot above the leader. That's the easy way to go and works fine. I make my own leaders and such, but that's more hassle then it sounds like you want to do. Better yet is to pick up a couple quick-strike rigs, which you should be able to get in any bait store. Directions for hooking the bait should be on them, and with the QS rigs you hit the fish as soon as you get to the flag because it's going to be hooked right away.

If you've got some 20# mono, that'll work well and you don't have to go spend green on a superbraid if you don't already have some.

I have my best luck on pike from half way down the water column to a foot off the bottom. If you have two tip-ups out, vary your location and experiment with depths throughout the day.

Also, when the flag pops, don't make a big foot-thumping sprint to get there. I've watched a lot of pike drop baits because it looked like the start of the Kentucky Derby rushing toward the first turn. Gotta wonder what that sounds like to a pike under the ice.

Good luck, and tell us how you do.