Tip up pike

[Eric Wettschreck]

I've been doing fairly well with pike on tip-ups the past week and I'm all about sharing some tips.

We all know most of these prairie potholes that we fish have, for the most part, a silted in or mud bottom. Normally, this tactic starts working later in Feb but it's doing well now. I'm using dead smelt, laying right on the bottom. Also, put a fathead on the hook, then string on the dead smelt. The fathead will wiggle around in the mud and stir things up a bit. This will attract the pike.

I'm not a fisheries guy, but I think the pike tend to slow down as the ice season progresses. Then come ice out they are eating machines. The dead smelt laying right on the bottom offers an easy snack for the slimey green meanies. In the past week this has been solid for me.

I also use "The Weed Line" on my tip up string. It's rather easy to attach. You can see it here.

This should work in the lakes with harder bottoms also. I don't see the wiggling fathead stirring up mud in these lakes, but the movement of the fathead itself should be an attractor.

[Wadinator]

I've often thought about laying big bait on the bottom under a tip-up, but never done it. I'll definitely give it a shot after seeing this. Thanks BG.

[kosterguide]

one of my favorite pike tip up techs is to fish pike half way through the water colom, with dead smelt or cisco, but the problem is just throwing a smelt on a hook does not make the smelt sit leavle, so i take with me some small finishing nails so that the smelt will sit leave in the water, granted you sometimes loose your nails but i have done very well using this tech on Upper red lake pike this winter land 4 fish over 40 inces the largest weighing in at 24 pounds 7 onces that was a pig, but i have cought some big pike in the lakes down there doing this tech as well, me and a friend lade three pike over 30 inches on day out of round lake back four winters ago, i have fished that lake hundreds of time and to my knowlege those were the only pike i have cought out there besides an occasional 15 ince hammer handle.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Good tip with the finishing nails.

Anyone else got a tip up pike tip??

[kosterguide]

usually one nail through the belly length ways holds it pretty much level. hey has any one fished ocheda this winter and done anything out there

[reelemin]

Maybe a tooth pick would work as well ? and be more enviromental. don't know - just asking. Cuz I'm hearing more about this dead smelt thing for pike tip ups and it sounds alot easier that hauling suckers all around !!!!

Between plastics for pan fish and dead smelt for pike, my minnow bucket may get to stay home more often

[kosterguide]

i have tryed alot of things to hold smelt level and a finishing nail is about as good as it gets in my eyes, tooth picks are to light and they float. you guys go try this method down there and let me know what you think

[kosterguide]

boilerguy are those red lake crappies in that pick, the crappies are on the move now