Anyone ever use Smelt or Sardines for ice fishing bait?

[metrojoe]

 Originally Posted By: unotrouble2

do you have any problems with them trying to float ???

A pike hook will help keep them down and sit straight.

[LMITOUT]

Those are the hooks I use as well. Some people don't like them because they feel it's hard to "steer" the pike up the hole, but a little finesse and they'll come up without problems most of the time...even the real big ones.

[FishNovice101]

Dude,

This is dudette! We found smelt at Cub foods, but they are be-headed and cleaned. We tried them, but had no bites. Didn't see anything on the fish finder or the Aqua Vu either.

We're going back out tomorrow and we'll see what happens.

By the way - the smelt didn't float, but they went down real slow.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Hi fishnovice. Check out the post in the SW MN forum about tip up pike. Dead smelt on the bottom work wonderful.

I buy mine from the grocery store.

[perch_destroyer]

Dang, be-headed, that aint good. Good luck locating smelt with heads on them down there...

[SP180]

all you can use in ND. And mighty successfull too.

[Wallmaster]

My friend and I was out on Bavarian a couple of winters ago to try some Crappie fishing and pulled up to a car where the guy was fishing with two long fishing poles and a round bobbers, I never saw anybody using 6' fishing poles for ice before but he had three Northerns on the ice ranging 4-6 lbs. a piece and a pack of bacon he was using. He had big strip on a big hook, I couldn't belive when I saw it but he pulled another one up right in front of me I asked him where he was from and he said the Carolinas some where, never tried it myself though. That made my day for laughs.

[NyQuiLlama]

Lots of people swear by hotdogs too. I suppose if they are hungry enough they will devour just about anything. I wonder if they like pickles...

[unotrouble2]

found smelt at the grocery store -- the heads have been removed and the entrails have been removed -- do you think these would still work for northerns etc. ?

[Wallmaster]

I heard un-pickled herring works too--