Favourite Bait for winter pike?

[BPman]

I read all kinds of advice about using big or small smelts, mackerel and herring for big pike but what about shrimp or other tasty/smelly baits? I have had better luck on 4 - 6" smelts than big mackerels or herring but I would be interested to learn what works for other successful anglers. Also, set on bottom or suspend the bait?

[Bowman90]

I have recently gone out and I had the best bite using jig heads with swimbaits.

[Pike fisher]

I always use some sets with anchovies and some with smelts (some days they seem to prefer one over the other-once you get a pattern, switch over)...and always on the bottom. In my experimenting over the years, one of the most critical factor for converting hits into fish on the ice seems to be size of hooks.

I buy the best quality of hooks that I can find (check to see how far down the shank they are soldered), and go small...smaller than you think you should for the size of bait that you are using (if memory serves me right, I have been using 6 or 8 on 30/40 lb steel leader). The pike seem so spit it out less if the hooks are smaller. We have landed many pike over 20 lbs in the past two winters on this type of set up.

[deerguy]

Use 15" + fish from the Asian Market. Hover it just off the bottom.