# Best Bait for Pike



## muskat

What does everyone like to use for Pike through the ice? I am heading out Friday and might try some new things.


----------



## GooseBuster3

Hot dogs, brats. smelt, herring*. All of these work great.


----------



## dblkluk

Buster, I think he meant what you use for bait... not what you eat for lunch!! :lol:

For me.. Its smelt or herring.


----------



## GooseBuster3

They really do work!! 8)


----------



## dblkluk

I know..A buddy of mine once tried to convince me, I told him he'd have to prove it before I used a hot dog!! Well after his fourth fish and my none! I gave it a shot. It sounds stupid but they do work!!

I just like the smell that herring leaves on my fingers! :lol:


----------



## win4win

I tried to tell em the same thing this past summer over on the Red River when it came to catfish....everyone just laughed. Suprised a few people when they saw us catching big cats.

We used smelt thru the ice with good success this past weekend and took a 3 man limit......only limits on the lake that day that we know of. We probably missed just as many fish as we caught.


----------



## muskat

Hot Dogs, now that is something I have never tried. Do you cut them in half or just throw the entire thing on the hook?


----------



## GooseBuster3

Use a smelt harness and rig the whole dog on it.


----------



## Brad Anderson

Caught a 36" pike friday, on a bare hook and small minnow. Largest pike I've ever caught through the ice. Landed the sucka with me bare hands. It is kinda fun fighting em' with an ultralight rod and 4 lb mono.

He must've been a repeat customer, I pulled 5 hooks outta his mouth.


----------



## Brad Anderson

Caught a 36" pike friday, on a bare hook and small minnow. Largest pike I've ever caught through the ice. Landed the sucka with me bare hands. It is kinda fun fighting em' with an ultralight rod and 4 lb mono.

He must've been a repeat customer, I pulled 5 hooks outta his mouth.


----------



## rockinmichigan

I find that interesting guys, never heard of hot dogs and brats being used for any kind of fishing. I've heard people using blue gills for pike bait. I do have a problem with that personally, because knowing my crap for luck if I were to use a blue gill for pike fishing, I'd snag the biggest pike in the lake and it would snap my line and I'll never see that bluegill again, and it be the type of blue gill I would normally fillet up if it was worth a darn. But anyways, I have heard and used chicken liver when catfishing, and actually was hooking white bass left and right, so its amazing what you can use.


----------



## RhinoNorth

ive used many many smelts over the years, but one bad cast and its bye bye smelt. the best bait for pike is to go down to the supermarket and buy one of those 5 dollar farm raised salmon and use about the last 8 inches of his tail (split in half) if you hook it right you can land a days worth of fish without having to rebait

damn that salmon skin is tough....watch the fingers when driving your hook through


----------



## rockinmichigan

That's not a bad idea at all RhinoNorth, what else would bite on that besides pike? Sounds like something catfish would bite on.


----------



## RhinoNorth

well Rocks i use the ol salmon tail trick on for pike, lake and brown trout big walleye burbot and i used to catch many o bull trout back before they outlawed bait in the athabasca for walleye id only recomend you use the last 3 inches of tail. the closest thing we have to catfish around here is a burbot and they love salmon. large strips of skin also work great. all in all its cheaper to buy a farm salmon than it is to use smelts and its bullet proof


----------



## Ryan_Todd

i like to use large decoy suckers on a tipup. they work really well. i also have use smelt in nodak and have had good luck.


----------



## njsimonson

Back in the day when I knew how to ice fish :roll: I liked a big herring with a 3/0 treble hook threaded through the stomach and up through the dorsal fin, on a Sevenstrand leader.


----------



## rockinmichigan

Are burbots bottom feeders? I've seen pictures of them and stuff, but don't know much about them, never caught one, never seen anyone catch one, and never seen one in person.


----------



## RhinoNorth

burbot are both scavengers and fresh meat eaters..they have been known to try and take a baitfish 3/4 its size. Around here the average is 2-5 pounds although they grow much much larger. the best time to catch one is at night in about 15 feet of water...during the spawn it is not uncommon to catch 100 in a day. watching the burbot ball of about 1000 eels all having group sex in a huge ball is something to see. spawn hits from late feb to mid march around here

Save a salmon.....kill a burbot


----------



## cootkiller

Up on Devils Lake I like to chum the water with a freshly skinned cat and then just throw a hook with a minnow and bobber out in the middle of the chum. I am a die hard pike man and this may be a little extreme but the big pigs just come cruising in, plus it helps to keep the cat numbers in the area down.
:lol:

cootkiller

P.S. I hear freshly skinned PETA members work real good but I haven't been able to get my hands on one.


----------



## qwakwhaker883

:toofunny: :withstupid: :toofunny:


----------



## Fishing king

What does everyone hear use to catch perch - im trying somethung new


----------



## mitch1fish

Ok...Im 14 i have never been pike fishing and i need a suggestion for bait.

could any body help! :beer:


----------



## mitch1fish

Fishing king said:


> What does everyone hear use to catch perch - im trying somethung new


If i was u id use magget,erm the thing when maggest have died,bread.


----------

