Guide to Tip-Up Fishing for Pike
 

I have noticed that, over the last little while, there have been quite a few posts from people that are new to ice fishing looking for advice. My son has been making fishing and hunting videos for a little bit and he decided that he should make a 'Guide to Tip-Up Fishing for Pike'.

If you have seen any of his videos on YouTube in the past, you know that we ice fish for pike quite a bit. This video includes many of the things that I/we have learned over hundreds of trips over the past 2 decades. Hopefully you learn something new that increases your chances of having a successful trip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j--l91SMtCw

Thanks. Always appreciate tips or how to videos. Either I learned something new or confirms something I already know. Straight fishing videos are sometimes boring.

That was very good. Can always pick up a few tips.

Thanks!!!:fishing:

very well done!!

With your pike rig, does the bait hang horizontal, or is it angled down a bit? I've always wondered if it makes a difference....

We normally lay our baits on the bottom, but if you were to suspend them they would hang at an angle.

Crazy that laying them on the bottom works for you, I realize that pike are scavengers and all that... but in all my years of looking down a hole at a mess of bait littering the bottom, I've only rarely seen a pike pick one up. Plus I've always figured that since their eyes are positioned to look up rather than down you'd want the bait over top of them.

Guess I'll have to try one on the bottom next time.

One question for other tip-up guys, with a stationary dead bait I dont really care how it hangs, I'm sure the pike look at enough fish that they are well aware that your bait is dead no matter how you hang it. However, I tend to often have better luck with jigging tip-ups, and since presumably we are trying to convince the fish that our bait is actually alive I've always tried to get it to hang naturally. Just wondering if anyone else has any observations on whether it matters or not?

One thing I do find about hanging a bait horizontally, is that it makes the strike more predictable. On a horizontal bait it seems like a pike will almost always strike either at the head or across the body near the head or middle, so this makes it easyer for me to position a single hook rig where it will be likely to end up in the fish's mouth. I typically run a single treble hook somewhere between the head and the middle of the bait, unless the fish is small the hook should end up in his mouth either way, and I can set the hook immediately with a good percentage.

I've done quite a few tests where myself and others have done half suspended bait and half laying on the bottom. The baits laying on the bottom outfish the suspended bait and jigging rods more often than not. This has been the case on several different lakes in Alberta. The only time I suspend bait under a tipup now is when fishing in under 2 feet of water


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Cool, I'll have to try it the next time I run a stationary bait. Like I mentioned, jigging tip ups usually produce better for me, but perhaps thats because I'm not running my baits on the bottom.

Now that I think of it though, rigging a wind tip-up to just occasionally lift the bait of the bottom a little might also be a good setup. Thanks for the tips, I'll give it a shot this week.

I enjoyed that video! Thanks for the guidance, being new to this I'm absorbing as much as I can and learning alot.

Great video! Keep it up! That exact set up is what got me hooked on ice fishing to begin with.