Big Pike Techniques

[pelada trochu]

Since I have never caught anything through the ice...

What am i going to do to hunt the big girls.
so far what ive picked up is to put a big bait down and set her motionless on a tip up.

But how do you rig it, is it one or 2 hooks, etc.

what about water depth and location. Does it change from summer?

Do pike still respond the same in winter that they do in summer... ie. hit anything flashy that ****es them off... Can you vertical jig something they will hit?

also, how do you fight them when there is a jagged ice hole on the bottom and they try to run. in summer you need to keep alot of tension on the line to prevent a spit off. how can you do this in winter? also, braid would seem to be good here but there is no stretch to braid making it even harder to keep the line tight??

maybe this will all make sense after the first one but for now its all clear as mud!

appreciate your pointing me in the right direction.
i will try and search these topics but if you have any comments they will be appreciated.

[BeeGuy]

Could anyone confirm that a mainline in excess of 30lb braid is overkill??

So long as you have an appropriate leader there shouldn't be a way to break 30lb line. I know a lot of salt water fishers also use 30lb mainline for this reason. 30lb line can land marlins and sharks.

I suppose snapping the mainline on the ice could be an issue, but I'd attribute that to operator error.

Thoughts?

[Guitarplayingfish]

we always use 30 or 40lb braid ... Bait and homemade Pike Harness's, 2 treble hooks and one on each side on the fish.. My brother caught a 30lber today on that set up! :sHa_shakeshout: it was huggeeee. Tip up works well too.. I find I get hits when its motionless but I also get fish when i jig occasionally. Depends on the day I think.

[BeeGuy]

we always use 30 or 40lb braid ... Bait and homemade Pike Harness's, 2 treble hooks and one on each side on the fish.. My brother caught a 30lber today on that set up! :sHa_shakeshout: it was huggeeee. Tip up works well too.. I find I get hits when its motionless but I also get fish when i jig occasionally. Depends on the day I think.

PIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSss!!!!!!!!!! !!!

[New Hunter Okotoks]

Hey Pelada. Welcome to the Forum.

I use 40-50lb Power Pro line for my pike setups. I only use 1 Treble hook and put it just in front of the dorsal fin so that the bait tips forward slightly. I leave my baits suspended about 6" off the bottom. I like to use large baits for pike. "Large" smelts is the smallest bait that I use. I will use Mackeral if I have them but generally I use large anchovies as they seem to be readily available. I usually use 1 tipup and 1 rod jigging. Generally with a baited Air Plane jig.

Note: PowerPro line has absolutely NO give to it. If a big Pike runs and your hand is wrapped up in 50 lb. Power Pro,you will be losing skin and blood for sure.

Good Luck,hope this info helps.

[New Hunter Okotoks]

Could anyone confirm that a mainline in excess of 30lb braid is overkill??

So long as you have an appropriate leader there shouldn't be a way to break 30lb line. I know a lot of salt water fishers also use 30lb mainline for this reason. 30lb line can land marlins and sharks.

I suppose snapping the mainline on the ice could be an issue, but I'd attribute that to operator error.

Thoughts?

Braid in excess of 30lb is still very thin line. I really like it because of the abuse that it is capable of taking. After handlining 20 or 30 feet of line in high wind,that line gets into all the frozen ice nuggets,and frozen slush on the ice. Also,later in the year when the ice is in excess of 2', the line is bound to rub on the ice at the bottom of the drilled hole when a fish takes off.

I also don't like to over play the fish if I don't have to. That heavy line allows for quicker fights and less stress on the fish, IMHO.

50 lb mono looks like rope,but I think that 50lb braid looks like 10lb mono.

[honker_clonker]

I like to use 80 lb dacron as my mainline on my tipups. Yes its way overkill but it is a lot easier to bring in the big girls with it. It does absorb water and gets a little unruly when its -25 out but its really nice to handle. Quickstrike rig and 8 inch smelt on a pro thermal and your in business. I have caught some pigs 1 foot below the ice in 20 FOW with this. Eyes are on top of their head for a reason.

[chubbdarter]

the benifit of a larger diameter line is it doesnt cut into the bottom edge of the hole...if you hook a large pike and it runs only in one direction it saw's the line into the ice. Some lines can quickly embed itself deep into the ice.
Especially with tip ups the larger diameter dacrons help the hand lining process. When handlining one hand should guide the line while the other hand pulls the line thru the guide hand. Always pile your line on smooth ice and down wind.

14-16 inch mackeral on a quick strike rig either nose down in a feeding postition on early ice. Later on and last ice i always lay bait on bottom to resemble a easy meal winter kill.

[WayneChristie]

with pike and ice there is no overkill, Ive had them break 30 pound braid like thread, as well as 40 pound dacron tip up line. :mad3: thats why I use 50 and 80 pound braid, also lets you land them quicker as well. if you drill a hole with an auger it should be fairly smooth on the bottom, in springtime they tend to get hung up on the ragged hole bottom caused by melting ice breaking out in chunks. if you have a fish cam you can see their reaction to your methods, but that can and does change from fish to fish and hour to hour. thats why it aint easy. Guitar we need pics!!! sounds like a beauty, I can guess where she was, might want to keep that to yourself. :bad_boys_20:

[Geezle]

First off it's tough to go overkill on the line when you're fishing for pike through the ice. This season the lightest I have lined up for a pike rig is 30lb line, and the heaviest is 80lb. The 80lb is on my sturgeon reel. I want to use that reel specifically, so there's no need to change the line.

That being said, I pretty much always fish 2 lines in the winter...if I can I'll run two different baits, one slightly larger than the other. One will usually sit dead in the water, and the other I'll jig from time to time if there's nothing gong on.

Smaller baits I'll just hook with a single treble pushed up through the belly of the bait, and then clipped directly to my leader. With larger baits I'll use a quick strike rig with two hooks.

Then you wait :evilgrin:

[fishinggeek]

Just putting my 2 cents in.
I will never use less that 50lb braid on my tipups. all mine are spooled with 80lb braid. Go buy the gear needed to make your own rigs, (wire, hooks, swivels, and wire clamps). will save money in the long run and have lots extra when your on the hardwater. And as Chub said, LAY YOUR BAIT ON BOTTOM. I have never landed a 40inch pike at wab suspending my bait. Ive watched 40inchers come and go in the hole, then layed the bait on bottom and, SLURP. the bait is gone. If you dont like the idea laying it on bottom, put only one on bottom and see which flag flys up first, you may be surprised.
I wont use anything smaller than a large herring. Mackrel and anchovies work best.

[Guitarplayingfish]

I used your livewell technique you posted on the other thread and it worked great! Thanks! I just picked up some bait about an hour ago that is like 10 inchs long haha, Pretty pumped to go try it. Big bait is key.. I went fishing a while ago and all I had was minnows.. didnt get anything, went to the same spot the next day with the big herring that I usually use and I was catching fish all day. Coincidence? I don't think so... A pike would much rather exert the same amount of energy getting a big meal than a small one.

[dodger]

BIG PIKE !!
Easy - Just listen to Wayne. Check out his hogs on ice and it is pretty clear he knows what he is doing.

Good Luck !!

Dodger.

[Steve8816]

hey guys i am totally new to the tip up set up,
i have one question what does a quick strike rig look like? and where can i find them?

[WayneChristie]

hey guys i am totally new to the tip up set up,
i have one question what does a quick strike rig look like? and where can i find them?

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=77516

[wallycranker]

Where can a guy pick up mackerel in Edmonton for bait?

[Dust1n]

TNT super market
AKA the big asian store

[YeeHaw]

Superstore as well:)

[Don K]

Just curious? Been to the TNT's in Calgary a few times and was wondering what the heck that smell is? I've smelled better gut shot deer...

[ak-71]

That must be something for burbot bait :)

[WayneChristie]

Just curious? Been to the TNT's in Calgary a few times and was wondering what the heck that smell is? I've smelled better gut shot deer...

Those are in aisle 12 next to the road killed skunk. :sHa_sarcasticlol:

[The-Legend]

It's all the crap they force down the floor drains I've done a few service calls there and everytime it's plugged drains with the most disgusting s*!t and smell out there. Jobs like that make me wonder why I didn't listen to the old man when he said go to college... instead i became a plumber