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Old 02-25-2021, 09:22 AM
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WayneChristie WayneChristie is offline
 
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Default Pike rigs: the simpler the better

I started fishing for pike maybe 13 -14 years ago when I moved to pike country. Before I had fished for them, but only here and there as they were usually a long drive from home in Calgary, for the most part. Ive researched a lot of different rigs, tried a lot of them, and wasnt happy with any of them.
Two hook rigs, either the visible hooks scare away wary big fish, or one gets caught on the ice and lets the fish escape, or can stick in the fish or the fisherman if their luck is really bad. 3 hook rigs, even worse! a treble has a lot of surface area for a pike to clamp down on with the 3 bends and Ive had a good fish open its mouth and the hook fall out. (then again my son and I both caught a pike this winter that was too hungry to let go of the bait, not hooked)
Since I got my first camera, Ive been watching and learning, no better teacher than the one eating your bait!
Some days, a pike will hit a bait before you can get it to the bottom, Ive had a few actually come right up into the holes to grab a bait on aggressive days. Other days you can beg and plead with the fish, but all its going to do it put its nose on your bait and examine every scale on it. Then after a long time turn, give you the fin, and swim away. Its amazing how smart a fish in a busy lake can get, they can see your hook, and even with a fluorocarbon leader Ive watched them stare at it to the point of following it up a ways.
A few seasons ago I was fishing with a friend on a different southern lake, I had thought about trying a different type of rig but not sure what to go with by then. I saw he was using a single circle hook, and doing quite well with it. I decided to give that type of rig a go, occasionally I will use a circle hook, but for shallow water pike I prefer a smaller bait and a size 4/0 or 5/0 J hook so I can set the hook as soon as they take the bait, another reason I prefer camera fishing.
This season in the last 4 or 5 outings, between 80 or 90 pike Ive had to cut my leader twice, they managed to get the hook in the roof of the mouth too far back for me to dig for, so I just donated them. The rest including the fattie walter I caught yesterday were all hooked in the corner of the mouth, or in the jaw, all I do is lift their head out, grab the hook with pliers, a quick twist and the fish is off to get back in the line up for my next bait (actually happened yesterday)
My new rig for pike and walleye on bait is a simple single hook tied on the leader with an overhand loop so the hook swivels easily. Thats it thats all. When the fish are eyeballing every scale on your bait you can hide the hook under the skin, or if they are aggressive you can just hook a smaller bait under the dorsal and let it hang.
Same setup for a bigger bait, I watch to see where the pike are grabbing the baits, and adjust my hook placement to somewhere they arent eyeballing. usually I put the hook in the middle of the bait, a decent pike will take half the bait first bite when they turn it and usually get the hook. I could go with a second hook for big bait, even tried it the other day but I do prefer just the single hook. I lose fish that dont get the hook sure, but when you are catching 15 or 20 fish a day who cares, keeps things interesting! Especially if one was a biggie. You have to be willing to lose a lot of baits, if you bury the hook as deep as you can, remember you have to rip it out through all the bait to get it to the fishes mouth. I will attach some pics from this past few days. walter was a fat 26 inches, I figure with the girth it was definitely between 0
and 10 pounds would be in my belly but not a keeper lake.

Im not telling anyone how to fish, just sharing what is working great for me, I wont go back to trebles for pike since almost all my pike fishing is catch and release, its nice not having to handle most of the fish, if shes worthwhile I will let her in for a pic but usually they just swim away now. The grippers are handy for a big walleye I wont use them for pike, especially after getting lectured twice by the gimp the past couple weeks!









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Toss the lipgrips for pike!!!
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Old 02-25-2021, 10:41 AM
dave99 dave99 is offline
 
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Excellent write up and tips Wayne. I would hazard to say that few have more knowledge and experience than you with what you are sharing.

Question: would you recommend the same J-hook setup for deadsticking for pike with tip ups? I find that I lose every second pike with my treble setup.

Part of the problem is the very delayed hook set on tip ups because of the time it takes to get to it.


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Old 02-25-2021, 10:50 AM
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beerhunter beerhunter is offline
 
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Wayne, can you share a picture with just the hook and the bait before you send it down the hole please.

Thanks
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Old 02-25-2021, 10:56 AM
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WayneChristie WayneChristie is offline
 
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thats part of the reason I hate tipups, I like sitting in my warm tent in front of the big heater with a rod on either side of me. My friend who used the circle hooks, Reeldeal used them on tipups with great success. I prefer catching big fish on a rod with a big baitcaster, it lets them run and not get dragged out with the heavy handline on tipups, plus I hate the cold and the wind and the snow and winding wet cold line with freezing fingers and trying to get it even and so on. now I usually just lift the fishes face out and grab the hook, down it goes. some do just swim right into the tent though, especially the big ones as soon as you get her chin on the edge of the ice they will kick and join you in the tent. out of the cold out of the snow, they stay healthy with no freezing eyes or gills . thats just the way Ive decided to fish now, being lazy and liking the heat on my old bones this is the perfect method for me. I dont know a lot I just pay attention and waste a lot of time fishing making mistakes, although fishing cant be classified as a mistake in Alberta legally
I just want to share a bit of new ideas and Im just as quick to grab new ideas from other people too when it makes sense
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Old 02-25-2021, 10:58 AM
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WayneChristie WayneChristie is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by beerhunter View Post
Wayne, can you share a picture with just the hook and the bait before you send it down the hole please.

Thanks
second last pic shows it the lines too thick for a loop to fit through so I just feed it through the eye and tie the loop. sometimes even tighten the short end with pliers and melt it with the lighter but if the fish are fussy it makes a difference
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Old 02-25-2021, 11:02 AM
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madatter madatter is offline
 
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Site fishing like Wayne is doing,especially on a CnR lake the single hook is awesome.
With tip ups Ive tried it.....success is low,unless a pike really gulps it.
I usually use a single treble hook in mid,unless the bait is large,then I use the 2 trebles on either end.
My hook up ratio has been low lately either way for some reason....I think alot more smaller pike have been hitting.
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Old 02-25-2021, 11:32 AM
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what size octopus hooks are you using wayne? Also How many pound fluoro leader?
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Old 02-25-2021, 11:42 AM
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WayneChristie WayneChristie is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HuyFishin View Post
what size octopus hooks are you using wayne? Also How many pound fluoro leader?
I usually use my sturgeon hooks so mostly 4/0 and 40 pound, I have to trim the end a lot so I tie them long, easier if you have to grab the leader too
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Old 02-25-2021, 07:58 PM
GrillBoss GrillBoss is offline
 
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Thank you for sharing this. I am wondering what kind of action you give to the lure if any. Are you jigging?
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Old 02-25-2021, 09:43 PM
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lots of those fish have been caught before, proving catch and release works.
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Old 02-25-2021, 11:19 PM
Fisherdan Fisherdan is offline
 
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Thank you for the post. Appreciate it.
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Old 02-26-2021, 05:32 AM
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WayneChristie WayneChristie is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GrillBoss View Post
Thank you for sharing this. I am wondering what kind of action you give to the lure if any. Are you jigging?
I usually keep another rod close by with a swimbait of a spoon to jig if there are a lot of small pike trying to take my big baits, other than that I just slowly jig my baits if there are no fish around, most of the time they just lay on the bottom. Watching the fish you can tell if they want a moving bait or not by how they react. it can also scare away a bigger experienced fish and so can missing a hookset so I usually try to make sure they have the hook in far enough before I try. Id rather pass up a fish and not educate it so I have another chance a different day.
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Old 02-26-2021, 06:01 PM
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EZM EZM is offline
 
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Wayne, I agree using singles. Always easier to remove, and they seem to penetrate better compared to a treble on bigger fish.

I usually run a tandem single/single in a big size for the tent with a slip weight on top (allows the bait to dangle naturally).

On tip ups I run a circle hook (to prevent deep takes) and allow the pike to swim away and hook himself when he stops, turns the bait and takes his first bite.

I rarely use a jack jacker unless I'm hunting for small trout, perch or walleyes.




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