[saxmatt]

Don't be afraid to try dead bait either. Sometimes dead bait will outproduce everything else, especially in the winter. Big fish love dead bait too: I've fished with lots of different baits like spinners, plugs, live bait, but all my 40"+ pike have come on dead bait. For rigging I normally use either a single #2 gama octo, or a pair of #2s crimped back to back on a 50-80lb floro leader. Most of the time this rig ends up in the corner of the mouth. I usually use baits in the 8-12" range and switch to smaller hooks with smaller baits. If all you have is small bait try putting 2 or 3 small shiners on 1 hook.

Gut hooked fish:
I almost never gut hook fish but if you fish bait it will eventually happen and it's good to be prepared. If you hook the fish in the back or closer to the tail you almost never gut hook the fish, and if you do gut hook them you can learn to unhook the fish in less than a minute with some practice. I don't like trebles because you can't get them out of the gut, and even when the fish isn't gut hooked it can still be a nightmare to unhook the fish.

Here is how to unhook a gut hooked pike when using a single hook, all you need is a long pair of pliers and a spreader. With big pike use the spreader to keep the jaw open, use grippers with small pike so you don't hyper extend their jaw. Clear any bait out of the pike's mouth so you can see what you're doing. CAREFULLY go through the pike's gill plate with the pliers without nicking the gills and pull the line back out the gill plate so there is a loop of line sticking out of the pike's gills. Grab the line that is sticking out of the gill plate and pull it towards the pike's tail, this should expose the eye and about half the hook because you're turning the eye at a different angle out of the gullet. While pulling the line towards the tail with one hand grab the pliers, go in through the mouth, grab the hook by the bend of the hook and it should pop right out. Just make sure that you're careful pulling the line in and out of the gill plate and the pike will be fine. I can do this in about 30 seconds and there is usually no blood or damage to the stomach. I usually don't gut hook fish but this is a great trick for when it happens.