Ice fishing for Pike

TheLegend · #1 12-19-2011, 01:27 PM

hey guys

Never ice fished for pike before so i got a few newbie questions here. I am thinking of just using tip ups but how many are you allowed on the ice? On the business end of things I am thinking of just using a large hook with a minnow about a foot of the bottom. Is this good? Last but not least how is Coal lake for pike in the ice fishing season? I here it is slow? north or south end?

Thanks for any info!!

mikeym · #2 12-19-2011, 01:39 PM

you are allowed 2 lines thru the ice on most lakes. so can be two tips ups or one tip up and a rod or two rods. check the regs for specifics on the lake you are going to first though as this might not be true of every lake.

if you want to go after the big girls, the bigger the bait the bigger the pike in my opinion. smelts or herrings are my perferred bait when pike fishing.

Rgds
Mike

carlwashere · #3 12-19-2011, 01:44 PM

Go to the main fishing discussion and click on search - then type in coal lake pike and there are several posts.

Speckle55 · #4 12-19-2011, 02:00 PM

You are allowed to use two seperate hooks when ice fishing and you need to be close to them at all times check regs,, i use a smelt or herring when fishing pike and use a leader and a couple of trebles on my tip up and have one ready when ice fishing for Lake Whitefish.. here a pic of my Ex WR for Ice fishing North America Pike from Fickle Lake caught in 1985 Mar 1 and lasted as a WR till Mar 11 2006 and my friend caught the new WR from Fickle Lake at 33#2oz and mine was 32#5oz .. also i will throw in a pic of some Lake Whitefish we caught Friday and we got a 9#2 pike also a 67cm on Saturday and 3 Lake Whitefish .. good luck

on your fishing Pike i am from Hinton .

Food for Thought
David

_32.5Pike WRmar1 1985.jpg

Picture 701.jpg

!cid_E13DCFC1217547E280385250DE10F829@mine.jpg

WayneChristie · #5 12-19-2011, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Speckle55

You are allowed to use two seperate hooks when ice fishing and you need to be close to them at all times check regs,, i use a smelt or herring when fishing pike and use a leader and a couple of trebles on my tip up and have one ready when ice fishing for Lake Whitefish.. here a pic of my Ex WR for Ice fishing North America Pike from Fickle Lake caught in 1985 Mar 1 and lasted as a WR till Mar 11 2006 and my friend caught the new WR from Fickle Lake at 33#2oz and mine was 32#5oz .. also i will throw in a pic of some Lake Whitefish we caught Friday and we got a 9#2 pike also a 67cm on Saturday and 3 Lake Whitefish .. good luck

on your fishing Pike i am from Hinton .

Food for Thought
David

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WR stands for what?

RavYak · #6 12-19-2011, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WayneChristie

WR stands for what?

I believe world record.

fishunter · #7 12-19-2011, 08:12 PM

There are so many jacks around that a guy could put pantys and a hook and catch a big shark. hehe

leeaspell · #8 12-19-2011, 09:04 PM

Heres my first pike of the year from little Mcleod. Nothing fancy here. I have about 60 feet of 30lb braide wound around the middle of a 1x1x16 piece of poplar from home .hardware with a 1/0 treble and a 4 inch smelt from IGA. Put out the amount of line you want, set the stick back a few feet. If you get a fish it hauls the 1x1 over the hole. Because its square if the fish pulls hard enough it will spin and release a little line, kind of like a built in drag lol. Cost about $10 including line and hooks to make 3 of them. lol

pickrel pat · #9 12-19-2011, 09:28 PM

let your bait rest right on the bottom. youll do better than having it suspended.....

WayneChristie · #10 12-19-2011, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pickrel pat

let your bait rest right on the bottom. youll do better than having it suspended.....

try one on the bottom, and one about 6 inches off the bottom. Ive got 2 17 pounders in the last 2 weeks, one was caught on a smelt right on the bottom, the other on a 4 inch minnow jigged a few inches up when the fish showed up. it was checking out a lost bait on the bottom but the movement when I jigged the hook was what got it to take. thats why I like a camera

TheLegend · #11 12-19-2011, 11:45 PM

Thank you very much for the replies

carlwashere · #12 12-20-2011, 06:45 AM

Sounds weird I know but I used to fish pike with something I called a tip down at the time. I took an old 4l plastic jug and tied on about 50 feet of heavy line to it. The I put a baited lure or treble hook rig on the line. Drop that to the bottom then walked back away from the hole 'till all the line was out plus about 6" so the hook is suspended close to bottom. Push some snow around the jug so it stays up, but will fall over with a bit of a pull. I put a thin stick with ribbon in the jug so when it got bit and fell over it was obvious.

Super cheap and simple - but it worked as well as a store bought tip up.

The thing I thought was cool was that when the jug had a fish it could slide super easily across the ice, and you could tell when to set the hook as soon as the jug stopped moving. With 8 and 10 inch augers - you can cut 2 slits in the bottom of the jug and poke a stick through there too - to ensure it never gets pulled to the hole and down (super unlikely to happen). I have also tied a bell to the stick and I know exactly when I have one if I am fishing in the tent.

Rob · #13 12-20-2011, 09:13 AM

Speckle55,

Just wondering whereabouts on Fickle do you go for the pike. I've read about large pike there before, have made the long drive from Edmonton a couple times, but haven't caught anything over 10lbs. Not asking for GPS coordinates, just a general area?

Guitarplayingfish · #14 12-20-2011, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pickrel pat

let your bait rest right on the bottom. youll do better than having it suspended.....

not entirely True. Do what Wayne said and have one on the bottom and one 4-6" off bottom.

NorthernCaribou · #15 12-20-2011, 10:08 AM

I've had really good luck with light jigging. I'll generally drill a few holes in the same sort of place I'd look for pike during the summer, I'll jig at a hole for a while and move on if I don't get any luck. Best luck has been with salted minnows, and the lure doesn't seem to make half the difference that the bait and the choice of spot do. If you're not getting anything at a hole, don't keep fishing it, IMHO.

I've never had luck with tip ups like I've had with jigging, but there's no reason you can't have a tip up on one hole and jig the other.

I haven't caught a real monsters, but I definitely get enough catches that way.

SonnyJ · #16 12-20-2011, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Speckle55

You are allowed to use two seperate hooks when ice fishing and you need to be close to them at all times check regs,, i use a smelt or herring when fishing pike and use a leader and a couple of trebles on my tip up and have one ready when ice fishing for Lake Whitefish.. here a pic of my Ex WR for Ice fishing North America Pike from Fickle Lake caught in 1985 Mar 1 and lasted as a WR till Mar 11 2006 and my friend caught the new WR from Fickle Lake at 33#2oz and mine was 32#5oz .. also i will throw in a pic of some Lake Whitefish we caught Friday and we got a 9#2 pike also a 67cm on Saturday and 3 Lake Whitefish .. good luck

on your fishing Pike i am from Hinton .

Food for Thought
David

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Yeah I remember seeing your picture in the Parklander when you caught that hog but..

That was a long time ago when Fickle had great fishing,heck it had a lot of walleye in the 5-6 lbs range but sad to say fishing at Fickle nowadays kinda sucks..

diamonddave · #17 12-20-2011, 11:21 AM

The world record threw the ice is only 33 lbs?? Seems small with all the 60+ pounders over in Europe. I guess they just aren't caught threw the ice. Learn something new every day.

MoFugger21 · #18 12-20-2011, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheLegend

hey guys

Never ice fished for pike before so i got a few newbie questions here. I am thinking of just using tip ups but how many are you allowed on the ice?

As many have said, 2 lines through the ice per person

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheLegend

On the business end of things I am thinking of just using a large hook with a minnow about a foot of the bottom. Is this good?

This is how I rig most of my tip ups when fishing for pike- mostly known as a "quick-strike" rig

But will sometimes use this method as well- with a 12" or longer leader attached to the treble hook

And if the fish seem to be fussy, or it's been a slow day, I'll down size and put a small-ish jig on with a minnow.

Now, I typically hang my bait 6"-12" from the bottom and sometimes even higher, and have good success with it. I've also had success with laying it on the bottom. But all of the bigger(up to 28lbs) fish I've seen come out of the hole down south here, has been from suspended bait. Pretty sure it all depends on the lake, how the fish are feeding, etc. Just need to try different methods until you find one that works for you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheLegend

Last but not least how is Coal lake for pike in the ice fishing season? I here it is slow? north or south end?

Thanks for any info!!

Can't help with this, I live down south, sorry.

Hope all this helps.

TheLegend · #19 12-20-2011, 11:31 AM

Thank you again. Very helpful info here.

highwood · #20 12-20-2011, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by diamonddave

The world record threw the ice is only 33 lbs?? Seems small with all the 60+ pounders over in Europe. I guess they just aren't caught threw the ice. Learn something new every day.

Different type of pike

Guitarplayingfish · #21 12-20-2011, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by diamonddave

The world record threw the ice is only 33 lbs?? Seems small with all the 60+ pounders over in Europe. I guess they just aren't caught threw the ice. Learn something new every day.

?? Pike through the ice is a bigger than 33lbs... Last year alone someone pulled out a 34... already seen a 30 this year.. IMO fishing is usually more productive through the ice than open water (most of the time)

diamonddave · #22 12-20-2011, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guitarplayingfish

?? Pike through the ice is a bigger than 33lbs... Last year alone someone pulled out a 34... already seen a 30 this year.. IMO fishing is usually more productive through the ice than open water (most of the time)

Thats kinda what I was thinking. I saw a scaled pike at gull that was 38 lbs in 2010. Guess he should have registered it.