I have used a way of fishing pike in MN i do not know if it is ehtical or even legal. so any imput is apprecieated. What is done is i put 8 pound test on, leader, 6inch. and a big bobber, and then i put a 3-4 inch sunfish on a size 2 hook. it allways works. and i’ve caught big bass, pike and even the dirty dogfish, more times than wanted, so any help apprecieated and if this offends anyone i am sorry! 
ILLEGAL
That method would get you a nice fine if a warden runs across you doing it. Sunfish are classified as a game fish in MN and as such can never be used as bait, regardless of size. In other states such as WI you can use sunfish as bait… but not here in MN.
o well i better find another bait to use! is there another bait i can catch at the lake to get the same effect? junk fish?? 
If you’re opposed to buying bait I would suggest trapping shiners and / or suckers from local creeks as a good substitute.
You can use them in Iowa only if they are caught on a line and hook first.
allright, thanks, i have a couple of cricks around to git bait out of. any other ways to fish for pike?
I have a method for pike through the ice that works very well, at least on the Mississippi backwaters. I watched a guy do this several years ago on a TV program and I read an article about it a couple years ago.
I use golden shiners but I kill them before I put them on the hook. Northerns are very lethargic in the winter and they seldom will chase live bait when they can scavenge and eat dead or dying bait (at least that is what I was told). The dead minnow isn’t the biggest part of this. That would be the can of cat food. I put a half-can of cat food in each hole before I set my tip-ups. I use seafood canned catfood. I know you are all laughing right now but this does make sense. The oil from the cat food spreads with any current which is why it works so well in the river. The cat food continues to spread oily scent all day. That oily, fishy scent brings the northerns in for an easy meal. I laughed when I first heard about it but when I saw all the nice pike this guy had caught I though I’d give it a try. Now whenever I set tip-ups for pike I bring my cat food and I usually go home with fish.
Eyehunter
This time of year your not going to get much bait out of the creeks… time to break down and go to the bait shop and get some suckers or shiners. Unless you discover a really good area to trap bait in the open water season, it will often cost you more in traps and gas money to aquire enough larger bait for pike fishing. $6/dozen is a bargain and it lets you go right to the lake.
It sounds like you have caught plenty of northerns before, you know where to look.. usually anywhere around some weeds.
SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH 
eyehunter… its also illegal to chum in minnesota… at least that is what the warden told me years back throwing handfulls of corn out in the lake to bring some carp in.
I’m surprised its still legal to use a hook here to catch a fish.
Hey Coon Hounder!
I don’t know how I missed you! Welcome to IDA!
As you can see, this is the place to ask questions and get some answers!
Have you ever stopped in to Hooked on Fishing in Rochester? There’s a couple guys in there you should meet..Mike and Mike…although they are both as ugly as a new born rabbit…they know the area well…give them a shout in the Rochester Forum.
By the way, in case your not framiliar with a private message (PM’s)…keep an eye open for a flashing envelope to the left of the yellow “FORUM” in the top middle of your screen…click on it and it will take you to “My Home” and you’ll be able to view your messages there.
Good luck fishing this year…and let us know how you are doing!!! 
Yup… I’m pretty sure the cat food thingie would be illegal for MN residents and on MN waters. Chumming.
Welcome to MN. Land of 10,000 fishing regs. If it wasn’t for the unparalled quality of the fishing (‘spose there’s a correlation? ) I’d be upset over all the things I can get a ticket for here on this side of the border.
Very true James!!! thanks for the tips every 1!! 
Does that chumming ban apply to the Mississippi where it borders Wisconsin? You almost have to have some current for it to work anyway. I guess I never thought of a can of cat food as chum. I know of a few people who use it down here in Iowa on the river and it works surprisingly well. Best of luck to you. Northerns through the ice taste like lobster.
Then its ok too use dynamite by the case? man thats fun!!! All you do then is walk out on the river bottom and pick up fish, its that wall of water that comes in after that , that you have to run like hel- from.
I never thought about using dynamite. I’m sure there is some law against using it. It would sure cut the time required to catch a meal of fish. 
I haven’t been out on the ice yet. I do catch most winter northerns in December and into early January but catch few after that. They seem to move out to somewhere else or they just stop eating. I had a DNR fellow tell me a few years back that the northern is the most underfished fish in the river, at least in this neck of the woods. There are some pretty nice northerns to be had. 15 Lb fish are not uncommon but most run under 10. I know many of the interior rivers in Iowa are stocked with good numbers pike so I would imagine about any slack backwater areas in these rivers would have the fish stacked.
Eyehunter
Eyehunter
If you are a MN resident…no chumming on border waters or inland waters.
If I recall correctly anything made from fish parts is considered chum. Chommancharo15 is our resident expert on Chum/Cast Nets and some other “legal” issues…but he’s on his way back from Elk River…
It kinda makes a guy wonder how “dip bait” and “stink” bait is legal to use?
can you catch a pike just using a walley rig in the winter? in rod and reel not tip ups. if not how should i go about gittin em?
Yes – chumming is illegal in Minnesota to include border waters. It is legal in Wisconsin as long as you remove any fish parts you may have chummed with when you are done fishing.
Before I found out that I could end up in Oak Park Heights Federal Penitentiary for chumming I used to make this really good frozen chum concoction. Blend up 1 cup beef blood; 2 cans seafood cat food; 1/2 cup fathead minnows; and add water to fill a 22 oz container. Blend it all up in the blender (you only have to do this once and the wife will give you the blender permanently). Freeze it in the freezer and just put the 22 oz frozen lump in a Chum Pot (found on the internet) and hang it off the front of the boat. I did it for a few weeks until I found out it was illegal. I could actually see the chum line on my depth finder as it dissolved in the water. I don’t think it helped that much – I still got skunked on a fairly regular basis. 
Quote:
It kinda makes a guy wonder how “dip bait” and “stink” bait is legal to use?
I believe if it has a hook in it, it is considered a “Bait” and not chum…
Kind of like Berkley’s Power Baits.
My question would be, how about the sprays they sell for walleye, bass and trout? They are made from fish, and in my mind it could be argued that it is “Chum”.
I made a few of these last summer and field tested them with varying degrees of luck. All I did was take a pill bottle, drill it full of holes, thread my cat leader through the pill bottle, and then put some stink bait in the bottle with a big hunk of cut bait on the hook in front of the bottle. I don’t think this is chumming because the stink bait is legal and I’m only using one hook. I caught channels on this rig pretty regular but I was also catching them on rods rigged with straight cut bait also so I’m not sure if it helped or not.
itd be a shame if that can of cat food happened to fall off the hook into the water…
I think the chum laws are in place because fish parts(mainly the entrails) promote algea growth, especially in areas that arent swept out by current. This is why you dont see fish cleaning houses at resorts next to the water. In many states, its very popular to have a fish cleaning location next to the water and you just toss the remains in the water… usually backwaters in a cypress swamp or area similar.
Personaly.. I think its stupid when it comes to the river. The guts of our bait is what holds the most scent, draws fish in, and entices them to strike. I dont think there is anywhere entrails could enter the water and not be sucked up by a fish.. ALL species of fish, or other aquatic scavenger critters.
This is why it works better during ice fishing to use the head section of a fathead(or any minnow) vs the tail section.. more scent/flavor.
The pill bottle with holes in it attatched to the line should be legal and seems like a great idea for channel cats. I wonder how many times the fish grab the bottle and not the bait?
Dave – I missed a few hook sets with the pill bottle rig that I know the fish had the bottle and not the cut baited hook. I shortened up the distance between the bottle and the cut bait hook and this did not happen as often after that. I also switched from J hooks to circle hooks on the setup and I think I had better luck with it. I don’t recall catching any small channels with this setup which tends to happen when fishing with stink bait alone.
If anyone makes one of these rigs be sure to drill holes in the top and bottom of the bottle too so that you get good water flow to move the stink bait scent out of the bottle.
I was using the Berkley catfish bait chunks in the bottle. I would break the bait chunk into small chunks and fill the bottle – it would last about 15 – 20 minutes and I would fill it again. About the time you want to change cut bait you would need to fill the bottle with stink bait.
By the way…Steve is the only guy I know that has a blender in his garage. 
So in wisconsin it is LEGAL to catch a panfish, say a small perch or sunfish, and use it as bait on that same body of water???
I have done this before and had been told many times that it is legal and many times that it illegal. Either way the perch have worked well for pike a long with an occasional bass
Yes, anyone living in Minnesota:
NO FUN FOR YOU!
Unless we tax you on it, then have all the fun you want. 
TipUpsOnly,
You folks in WI can use little northerns to catch BIG northerns if you like. Perch, sunnies, walleyes, Muskies…are all bait for you.
Coon Hounder. Another good bait to try is frozen cisco or frozen smelt. Your local bait shop should have some.
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