North NJ Pike

[saxmatt]

This is turning into a fish story thread Nice fish Skunk and Gary! Both look like upper 30" fish, probably around 38" 15lbs. You switching to heavier leaders now skunk?

[Skunk City]

Originally Posted by saxmatt

This is turning into a fish story thread Nice fish Skunk and Gary! Both look like upper 30" fish, probably around 38" 15lbs. You switching to heavier leaders now skunk?

I've yet to have an issue with the 30lb Yo-Zuri Flouro leader I've been running for the passed year or so, but want add a 50lb-60lb to my arsenal to run on my live bait setups. Any suggestions? The beast MikeyTopaz's buddy lost at the hole last weekend was on I believe a 20lb flouro. I think the lesson we all learned was to stop caring out smaller fish seeing our leader and concentrate on landing the big ones without bite offs.

[saxmatt]

Try 60lb pink yo-zuri and retie if I get any nicks. The pink disappears better than clear floro. In open water you can get away with less because you can set the hook immediately and the flex of the rod takes a lot of the tension off of the leader. Through the ice the fish have time to get the bait down their throat by the time you get to the flag so your leader will be in their mouth for the fight. When you're using a hand line you don't have anything to absorb the shock like you have when using a rod. You have to be especially careful around the hole when they start going nuts. The leader can get cut on the ice or by their teeth when they start spinning. Always grab the mouth with some kind of gripper or grab it by the gill plate while the head is still in the hole. The pike weighs nothing in the water but if you pull a third of the fish out like you did in the video there is a lot more weight on the leader and it's much easier for the pike to break you off with that extra pressure.

[saxmatt]

Don't worry about small fish being turned off by the leader either. My buddy and I got 45 pike in 3 days first ice last year using 60lb floro, I'd say at least 30 of them were under 30". There's no need to go with lighter line.

[saxmatt]

All those fish hit dead bait too

[Skunk City]

Good stuff Matt, I appreciate it. We're trying to get out hands on some big dead bait for this weekend. What kind of set-up do you rig them on?

[saxmatt]

Single 3/0 to 5/0 octopus hook. Try Chinese supermarkets for big dead bait