pike

[gigidy]

any sugestions for pike fishing ,we are staying in my wheel house but have a portable and dont really no where the typical pike action is best on red ,we usaully fish waleyes out deeper would like to spend the mid day fishing for pike ,thanks for any ideas

[battleriver1]

I saw good pike activity today in 16 ft of water out in the mud, right along side the schools of perch. Nobody was targeting them. Largest was 38 inch long with 16 inch girth. I think that if you just get yourself into a perchy area and find the largest bait you can you got a shot at a pig this time of year. good luck

[JBMasterAngler]

Is there much success with dead/frozen bait out on URL for pike? I never hear about that. Reason I ask is because the oriental market down the street from me sells frozen mackerel (which I hear work great for pike) that are about 12 inches long. When I see them I always think to myself "I'd never use those unless I was going to canada"...or upper red perhaps?

[Random guy]

the oriental market down the street from me sells frozen mackerel

Where did the Mackeral come from and is it VHS free? Freezing does not kill it and you don't want to be the guy that introduces VHS into Northern Minnesota waters. Plus live bait out perfoms 10-1 in my opinion.

[JBMasterAngler]

Comes from the atlantic ocean. So far any saltwater fish is legal to use...including smelt (have to have proof it's from the ocean of course). I'm in the process of experimenting with frozen sardines right now, but have yet to really get out and use them

As far as live bait outfishing dead bait...that's definitely beginning to sound like a regional thing. NE minnesota frozen bait is king...down here most people say live suckers are better. Interesting.

[Random guy]

Comes from the atlantic ocean.

So did zebras, lampreys, VHS and a whole bunch of other nasty stuff that turned out to not be so good. I understand a lot more goes into to it but I'm not big on things from the ocean anymore.

As for live verses dead I feel it boils down to stained water and how anything putting out vibration helps the predatory critters zone in on targets.

[JBMasterAngler]

Well the good news is I happen to have some very large shiners swimming around in my minnow bucket as I type Unfortunately I have no plans on making it up to URL this season Thanks for the tip though.