Mike Hehner and Jake Wallace share some tips and tricks on how to tip-up fish for northern pike.
How to Tip-Up Fish For Northern Pike
Northern pike can be found in most lakes, rivers, and reservoir throughout the upper Midwest and Canada.
These toothy critters are voracious predators that commonly feed on perch, minnows, panfish, ciscos, and a variety of other fish species.
Tip-ups are a great way to target northern pike throughout the winter months. They allow you to cover a wide area and can be customized for pike fishing specifically.
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Location
Northern pike tend to favor weed beds during the winter months. Often the best weed beds are somewhere between five and eighteen feet of water and are near deep water.
Avoid small weedbeds or areas of sparse cover. Large bays and areas near creek mouths are often good places to start.
Northern pike can also be found on shallow flats, rock piles, and suspended out over deep water, but if you want to target pike your best bet is to look for large weeds with standing green weeds.
More weeds typically equals more northern pike.
Tip-Ups Options
The traditional tip-up allows the angler to fight the fish hand over fist. They are durable, easy to use and perform well on colder days, because the spool is underwater and unaffected by the freezing temperatures.
Within the past five years many ice anglers have began to switch from traditional tip-ups to tip-ups that turn your fishing rod into a set line.
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The Clam Predator Tip-Up allows the angler to use a fishing rod to fight the fish. It has an adjustable sensitivity and power setting so the angler can set how much force they would like depending on their bait size.
These style of tip-ups are relativity new to the ice fishing scene, but have become incredibly popular with many ice anglers.
Both the traditional style tip-ups and the newer tip-ups that pair utilize an ice rod are great options for those anglers looking to tip-up fish for northern pike.
Baits
There are a variety of different baits you can use for northern pike. When tip-up fishing for northern pike a live medium to large sized sucker minnow tends to be the go-to for a lot of anglers.
Shiners, creek chubs, big rainbow minnows all a few other good live bait options.
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Northern pike will also hit dead baits.
A dead smelt, cisco, or sucker suspended under a tip-up will catch plenty of northern pike.
When setting your tip-ups for northern pike you will want to place them a foot or two above the weeds.
This will prevent a live minnow from swimming into any weeds and gives the northern pike the opportunity to see your bait from a distance away.
You can still jig for northern pike under the ice, but tip-ups paired with a dead bait or a live minnow will almost always produce more bites.
Rigging/ Hooks/ Line
When using a traditional tip-ups for northern pike coated tip-up line is preferred.
There are other viable options out there including ice tip-up braid, but the coated line just seems to perform the best in most scenarios.
If you plan on using a tip-up that utilizes a fishing rod spool it up with a ten to twelve pound main line.
Leaders are crucial when pike fishing.
If you are going to tip-up fish for northern pike you’ll want to make sure you using a wire or heavy fluorocarbon leader rig to prevent biteoffs. Most anglers will use fluorocarbon leaders in a seventeen pound test or heavier.
Choosing the right hook size should be dictated by the size of bait you plan on using. Typically when using live minnows under six inches long a single treble hook or 1/0 octopus hook will work great.
When using baits larger than six inches a quick-strike rig will outperform a single hook.
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A two-hook, quick strike rig maximizes hooking efficiency when using large baits.
Using a quick strike rig also allows the angler to set the hook right away, because there is a hook on each side of the bait.
Conclusion
Northern pike are a great fish to chase through the ice. You can absolutely catch northern pike with a variety of jigging presentations, but almost impossible to out-produce a spread of tip-ups over a weed bed.
With a handful of tip-ups and a dozen sucker minnows you can have an awesome day on the ice fishing.
Hopefully you can utilize a few of these tactics next time you tip-up fish for northern pike.
