Ice Fishing Chat

what do you guys think about size of bait? i'm thinking 2 12 inch suckers.

I've taken three pound pike on 14-inch bait before and 25-pounders on three-inch shiners. If a fish is near a bait and it's hungry, it'll hit, despite the size. So in general, I don't feel you need absolutely HUGE bait to catch big fish. Just my opinion... -Jim

7 inch perch

i use whatever they natural feed on so usually a small gill but if i get a perch i instantly change the baits out
i rarely use shiners cause its free to us a small gill or perch and i have found they hit the gills the same as shiners and hit the perch a lot more than anything else

Im not 100% sure or not, and i would have to consult the fishing rule book, but i believe it is illegal to use perch as bait. I believe it is legal to use gills as long as you dont cut the spine fin off.

just use a hot dog

A recent In-Fisherman article researched the preferred prey size for both muskies and pike. I use huge baits all the time, but even I was surprised at the results. They found that esox usually prefer prey that is 1/4 their size or a little larger. 48" pike are horsing down 12" prey all day long.

whats ur fav way to hook then? im guessing through the back? i have never targeted pike in particular but i would love to give it a try

I prefer shiners 6" or a lil bigger, but I'm with Jim, they don't have to be huge to catch big fish. My biggest pike this year (nothing huge, just 31") was caught on a dinky 2-3" shiner. I also caught a 12" pike on a 6" shiner, the flag went off 8 times before he was finally able to get the minnow in his mouth past the hook. Obviously a bigger minnow is more easily seen, but if the fish is hungry and sees it, it will eat it. This time of year, late in the season, the minnows from the bait shops seem to get smaller and smaller, but I usually catch the most fish, and the biggest, at the end of Feb and early March. If the fish are active, it won't matter a whole lot.