Night Crawlers

[rottik9]

Do night crawlers make good bait for pike?

[huntsfurfish]

They will catch some(mostly when trolling with them), but minnows, suckers, smelts etc are much better.

[EZM]

They will catch some(mostly when trolling with them), but minnows, suckers, smelts etc are much better.

I'd agree.

On the rare occasions I bait fish for pike - Typically I make a leader with a hook using some heavy fluorocarbon leader material and send down a nice greasy small herring, large smelt or greasy anchovy.

Pike will, of course, similar to black labs, eat anything.

Singles or better yet, Circle hooks are a good choice for bait fishing pike to avoid any deep/serious injuries to released fish.

[EZM]

Here's the rig I use most often (under ice or in open water).

Tandem tied large single hooks up 18" to a bead stop, an egg sinker, another bead stop another 18" of line up to a bead terminated to a swivel.

Drop the bait down and let them chew/take the bait feeling nothing but the weight of the bait (and a couple hooks) - as they begin to move and turn the bait and have a few feet of line slides through freely before the egg sinker is felt lifting off the bottom - at that point - he has it in his mouth and you are off to the races.

The ones in these pictures are a little shorter for use under the ice - but 24"-36" between beads is common for open water rigs - this one might have 16"-18" in the picture.

Line is 60 or 80 fluorocarbon leader material, hooks are tied tandem using a snell knot on each.

https://i.imgur.com/NYDxtcI.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/fPlJkiS.jpg