Post By: johnski Posted: 1/29/2023 9:18:03 AMPoints: 4918
I am planning a trip up north to jig for pike. I know some of them can get to be jumbo and I am excited about the possibilities. Question I have is about leaders and or swivels. I am contemplating a heavier mono leader, steel wire leader, swivel alone, or just 8 pound test with no leader at all. Thing is, I don't have a lot of experience with jigging for pike and wanted to get some opinions from those with more experience. Thanks.
Reply by: Barnacles Posted: Jan. 30, 9:41:02 AM Points: 2900
Don't know if there's a right answer for this one. I feel more confident with light, clear mono. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that gets me better action/more bites with a jig. Maybe someday I'll break off a monster, but have been lucky so far. I used the swivel/heavy leader in Alaska when they were smashing swamp frogs all day in the weeds.
How far north are you going? There are places in Canada where you can use winch cable and get away with it. Just seems like our Colorado pike & tigers are more pressured and educated.
Reply by: johnski Posted: Feb. 1, 8:31:59 AM Points: 4918
Thanks Barnacles. I'll be after Nor Dakota pike. Bought some steel leaders yesterday in Gunnison at Gene Taylors. I guess I will be ready for either mono leader or steel if necessary. Many of the youtube videos show steel. Years ago spoke with pikefreak and he was using mono on his open water rig. Anyway, I'll be ready!
Reply by: JKaboom Posted: Feb. 2, 10:25:37 AM Points: 633
Here is what I found from the Hot Dog post: [log in for link]
Take some time to read up on how to make your own quick strike rigs for tip up fishing. Order a crimping tool, some crimp sleeves, blades, beads etc. A buddy and I fished quite a bit for pike last year for the first time and found the most effective line for doing this was 25 to 30lb fluorocarbon.
Test different depths on your tip rigs and experiment with different baits. Caught fish last year on whole 6-7 inch dead sucker and even caught the biggest fish of the year on a hot dog when we ran out of suckers. Have tried water dogs, but have never got a bite.
Good luck it's fun to see that flag pop up and that spool spinning like crazy! Just remember if you use a quick strike rig you can hit them right away with a hook set as soon as you feel the tension of the fish.
Just talked to my brother in Wisconsin, the pike fishing for him is hot right now with hot dogs on tip ups. When they do jig the just use 10 or 15 pound mono, very few bite offs. That is also what I use for pike. You may lose a few but to me the bites come way more often with clear mono. No need for wire or heavy leaders, JMO.
Some great ideas from our group. I will try a number of approaches with both tip ups and jigging. Been watching a lot of videos too and see some with steel others look like flouro or mono. Will be using quick strike set ups too, and I like the way they work immediately. I am seriously energized and maybe this will be the year of a pb 10# pike or better! I'll post some pics.
You never know what lurks beneath that 4 feet of North Dakota ice. That is my fishing "superbowl" for this year. I will see how it goes. Thanks all.
