Alternative pike bait

[Dewey Cox]

What do you guys use in a pinch when you can't get any smelts or other traditional bait?
Things you could find in a small town grocery store.
On the weekend I found I was out of smelts, so I used a sausage. (Didn't catch anything, but neither did anyone else.)
I've heard of people using organ meat, but I'm not sure how you'd rig it.

[bessiedog]

Last year my smelts got outfished by a couple of college guys who would rig up their tipups with wieners cut in 1/2 length wise.

They got some big pike.


I’ve caught lakers on pork fatback slices.... and koobasaw.

[RACKER]

I have great luck using bacon for pike at Coal lake. Never caught any monsters but lots of keepers. I have seen guys use hot dogs too. More of a joke to see if they would bite.

[pikeman06]

Jumbo shrimp. Used to catch hog pIke out of slave around the shanty towns that were stuffed with big shrimp that came from a superstore shrimp ring that guys probably dumped down the hole after a day of fishing. Late in the afternoon they would come thru and cleanup the minnows and crap guys would throw down the hole. Sometimes 20 or 25 ft deep even.

[calgarygringo]

Go to any grocery fish dept especially the Chinese stores. Smelts, big sardines, anchovies, getting are all available and work well. Usually way cheaper than the sports depths too.

[Dewey Cox]

Anyone ever try canned sardines?

[JReed]

Caught a laker once with leftover smoked ham from christmas, what a time!

[dwedmon]

Anchovies are great. Basically any fish with a high fat/oil content works well.
Go to any grocery fish dept especially the Chinese stores. Smelts, big sardines, anchovies, getting are all available and work well. Usually way cheaper than the sports depths too.

[RavYak]

Lures work fine for pike lots of the time don’t even bother with bait except on dead sticks.

[tool]

Anyone ever try canned sardines?


I did try canned sardines once, I found that they just fell apart and were very hard to get to stay on the hook. I don't know if that's how they always are or if it was just because they were really old?

[tracker]

frozen squid has worked for me.