You are going to do some Northern Pike ice fishing? Here is what I do to be successful. If you know a lake really well and you know where the pan fish are then you can bet the Pike will be around as well. Knowing where the weeds will be a big plus.
1. Bait - Sucker minnows or Shiners, if it's a clear lake I like to use shiners just with a small weight and treble hook. If it's a dark stained lake I like to use a treble hook that has small blades to give it a little extra flash.
2. Hooks I use a medium sized treble hook, many people use too big of treble hooks in my opinion, Big treble hooks can be spit out easier as it doesn't fool the fish and it kills the minnow faster, Your minnow will be swimming like a SOB with smaller Treble, it's OK to go big if your minnows are huge.
3. Placement of bait, DO NOT FISH THE BOTTOM. Bottom fishing is only for walleyes. Nothern Pike's eyes are set so they are looking up as they swim. Now if I am fishining in 8 feet of water or less, I place that minnow about 2 feet below the hole, you can adjust to the depth you are fishing. You want your bait to dangle a foot or so above the weeds. I always go back and check my tip ups after they have been set so I am not bringing up weeds, if you are in weeds your minnow is going to hide.
4. The run - You can do this in a few ways. Your flag goes up and you can see the reel spinning, some people set the hook right away, some people let them run with it and then wait for them to stop and set the hook again on the second run. How you do it is based on feel, if they are smacking it good that day then I will definitely set it when they are running but somedays the bite is light and then I let them chew on it a while.
5. If you are setting the hook and getting nothing but a hook back then I would let them run and change to a smaller treble hook. And that's about it.
I went this season once with a buddy who had a nice camera and you could see that minnow above the weeds, amazingly enough we had a few pike and bass come in and just stare at that minnow and swim away, we had some stare at it then hit it and then you had some come flying out of nowhere smacking it. You could always tell when something was in the area cause that minnow panicked.
What lake are you fishing? I am fishing Lake Ellison in Barnes this morning after work.
1. Bait - Sucker minnows or Shiners, if it's a clear lake I like to use shiners just with a small weight and treble hook. If it's a dark stained lake I like to use a treble hook that has small blades to give it a little extra flash.
2. Hooks I use a medium sized treble hook, many people use too big of treble hooks in my opinion, Big treble hooks can be spit out easier as it doesn't fool the fish and it kills the minnow faster, Your minnow will be swimming like a SOB with smaller Treble, it's OK to go big if your minnows are huge.
3. Placement of bait, DO NOT FISH THE BOTTOM. Bottom fishing is only for walleyes. Nothern Pike's eyes are set so they are looking up as they swim. Now if I am fishining in 8 feet of water or less, I place that minnow about 2 feet below the hole, you can adjust to the depth you are fishing. You want your bait to dangle a foot or so above the weeds. I always go back and check my tip ups after they have been set so I am not bringing up weeds, if you are in weeds your minnow is going to hide.
4. The run - You can do this in a few ways. Your flag goes up and you can see the reel spinning, some people set the hook right away, some people let them run with it and then wait for them to stop and set the hook again on the second run. How you do it is based on feel, if they are smacking it good that day then I will definitely set it when they are running but somedays the bite is light and then I let them chew on it a while.
5. If you are setting the hook and getting nothing but a hook back then I would let them run and change to a smaller treble hook. And that's about it.
I went this season once with a buddy who had a nice camera and you could see that minnow above the weeds, amazingly enough we had a few pike and bass come in and just stare at that minnow and swim away, we had some stare at it then hit it and then you had some come flying out of nowhere smacking it. You could always tell when something was in the area cause that minnow panicked.
What lake are you fishing? I am fishing Lake Ellison in Barnes this morning after work.
opcorn2
