LOW Pike Trip

Heading up the End of March to do a Pike fishing trip. With the season closing for most of the state where do people have luck finding suckers that time of the year?
Thanks for the help.

If you’re driving through Brainerd S&W Bait will have what you need.

orve4 wrote:

Heading up the End of March to do a Pike fishing trip. With the season closing for most of the state where do people have luck finding suckers that time of the year?
Thanks for the help.

It can certainly be tough, lots of places are already out for the season (not sure about up there, but around Duluth anyway). When we were up in March a couple years ago the only suckers available were decoy suckers (they caught a few fish but were huge and $$$).

The bait shop also had a limit as too how many we could buy, it was only a dozen or half dozen (can’t remember for sure), and that was for four people . It was Long Cabin or Border Bait (again can’t remember which one, but one was totally out, the other had the decoy suckers).

I’d plan ahead and start calling around, if you find some set up a cooler with an aerator and Better-Bait. Freeze and salt any that die before your trip.

The other option is to use dead bait (smelt, ciscoes). Most places by LOTW carry it, but again it’s a matter of if they will have some left by the time you get there.

We picked up some good sized dyed smelt yesterday at Outdoor Advantage in Cloquet, didn’t end up needing them (still had 8 suckers at home) but from past experience I know they work. Not as good as live bait, but better than not fishing.

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We always bring frozen Smelt along also that we get at stoplight bait here in St Cloud. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Heading up Thursday morning for our annual Big Pike trip out of Zipple and my buddy that lives there got me on board with pretty much using decoys. Those big pike don’t care. They love them! A little spendy, but worth it IMHO.

If using Frozen smelt. Make sure they have the proper VHSV free stickers on the bait. Not just any smelt can be used. They are way picky on this up there and check it rather close. Almost learned this the hard way, Purchased smelt at Morey’s and was told it was legal for use on lake of the woods. Turned out according to a game officer it was not.

In a pinch even hot dogs will work. We had a trip where the hotdogs caught as many or more fish than the live bait did. I’d be sure to bring some for sure. The cheapest ones work the best

Have done the dogs on Devils…

Told my brother to drop me off at the grocery store to get them. He just about sh!t when I came out with the “yard-o-beef” Told him I ain’t after hammer handles!

Went good with the chunk of cheese also in the bag – along with the corn kings…

IceNEyes1986 wrote:

Heading up Thursday morning for our annual Big <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Pike trip out of Zipple and my buddy that lives there got me on board with pretty much using decoys. Those big <em class=”ido-tag-em”>pike don’t care. They love them! A little spendy, but worth it IMHO.

Wait a minute, who told you about using decoys? I remember trying to buy them years ago up there and the guy at the bait shop told me that they’re too big for tip ups.. haha. We caught some bigs that weekend.

Question for you guys. Is it all catch & kill or are you releasing some? At what size (if any) do you decide to release vs kill?

The ones at stoplight come with the sticker that is why I get them there. They are spendy about a buck a minnow for frozen smelt. We have done the Hot dog before and the smelt and live minnow always outfish them and its not close.

I have done it a few times, and we have never actually kept any. I do know a lot of guys that go and keep their one big one each on nearly every trip. To each their own, I guess. I have seen a lot of big pigs laying on the ice over the yrs.

Lake of the woods has a slot from what 30-40 inches so I guess we will keep fish below that to take home and if we keep one over it will be to put on the wall.

Dutchboy wrote:

Question for you guys. Is it all catch & kill or are you releasing some? At what size (if any) do you decide to release vs kill?

30″-40″ must be released. I’d keep my unders all day long and a trophy.

orve4 wrote:

Heading up the End of March to do a Pike fishing trip.

You might need to bring a boat. A lot can change between now and then. I have done a similar trip many times up there and usually the 3rd weekend or so is all she wrote. TBD…

Dutchboy wrote:

Question for you guys. Is it all catch & kill or are you releasing some? At what size (if any) do you decide to release vs kill?

Take a picture and release for us. Unless we are hungry then we will fillet a few up and fry them.

Shop for them now and keep in a big cooler with an aerator.

Depending on what way you’re going up, Gateway General Store by Kab/Voyaguers might have them. I’ve grabbed them there before about this time of year on my way to LOW. Call ahead, but they might be a good option.

There are a couple of little known bait stores in the Twin Cities that carry big bait. The Ace hardware on Diamond Lake carries a lot of suckers. They might order them for you, too. They are good dudes.

There is also a BP station on Cedar and Old Shakopee Road. They carry a ton of bait and I think they would also special order for you.

If you are near the cities they are worth a call.

Matt Moen wrote:

There are a couple of little known bait stores in the Twin Cities that carry big bait. The Ace hardware on Diamond Lake carries a lot of suckers. They might order them for you, too. They are good dudes.

There is also a BP station on Cedar and Old Shakopee Road. They carry a ton of bait and I think they would also special order for you.

If you are near the cities they are worth a call.

I live in Apple Valley, and I’ve always been a little bemused/annoyed that our (SE metro) only real options for bait are gas stations and hardware stores! Not knocking them, they have good bait and good service, but it’d be nice to be able to not have to make separate trips for tackle (Fleet Farm) and bait (because we don’t even have a Fleet Farm with a gas station bait tank).

Having said that, the guy at the Shell on Hwy 5 in Burnsville has sold me decoy sized suckers for $5 a piece in the past, so I won’t complain too much!

Honest question: how do you run a decoy sucker on a tip-up and not have it constantly tripping the thing all the time? Rubber band the spindle and the flag together? Shock collar on the sucker?

Maybe if people didn’t buy so much on-line and in the big boxes we might have a few mom & pop shops around.

Dutchboy wrote:

Maybe if people didn’t buy so much on-line and in the big boxes we might have a few mom & pop shops around.

Who buys bait from a big box store? The only one I know is Scheels which is very inconvenient.

Bottom line is it’s low margin, long hours business. I don’t understand who would want to own a bait shop.

Ever ask a bait store owner for a fishing report? All of them say “don’t know cuz I got no time to fish. I’m always working.”

Matt Moen wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dutchboy wrote:</div>
Maybe if people didn’t buy so much on-line and in the big boxes we might have a few mom & pop shops around.

Who buys bait from a big box store? The only one I know is Scheels which is very inconvenient.

Bottom line is it’s low margin, long hours business. I don’t understand who would want to own a bait shop.

Ever ask a bait store owner for a fishing report? All of them say “don’t know cuz I got no time to fish. I’m always working.”

My point Matt was every Jig, Spoon, Rod & Reel bought elsewhere contributed to the loss of the local shops. I’ll agree no bait shop alone will survive selling just bait. Even somebody like Vados sold tackle and equipment for years.

is Runnings considered a big box store????? they got bait of all kinds!

My point Matt was every Jig, Spoon, Rod & Reel bought elsewhere contributed to the loss of the local shops. I’ll agree no bait shop alone will survive selling just bait. Even somebody like Vados sold tackle and equipment for years.
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Gotcha. I try to buy some tackle from the bait shops but it’s pretty convenient to do it online.

So many walleyes in those waters! I couldn’t imagine going on a trip just to catch pike let alone at one of the best walleye factories in the country. To each their own though, I get it. A good portion of every day I’m on the ice or water is spent avoiding those things. When we bought bait at log cabin the other day there was a kid in front of me getting a bunch of big suckers and he was telling his buddy/cashier they have been doing really good in four mile bay. I’d assume you could get bait at any of those bait shops on wheelers point as that’s kind of their thing that time of year.

Thanks for all the responses and Help: Yes we know to keep an eye on ice conditions and changing seasons up there. We keep in contact with the resort so we know if or how to travel. I am Mostly a walleye fisherman but witha 9 year old I have started to chase other things as It holds his interest. This is the only trip all I year I go on without him and we choose to chase trophy pike. I like keeping a few fish as its not the sole purpose of the trip as I cant eat them anyways.

Again thanks for all the suggestions and good luck to everyone still fishing

Spent a long weekend up at Zipple Bay and had the best fishing I’ve had all year! Setup in 25′ along some rocks and absolutely crushed the walleyes. No overs, but lots of nice 15-19″ fish. Also had a few really nice sauger with the biggest being a hair over 17″.

The Pike Derby last Saturday was one for the books! 1st place, 42.5″ 2nd place, 41″ and 3rd was a 40.5″. I my 39.5″ was good enough to tie for 4th. But lots were caught and what blast that was. They said that’s the first time in over 10 years that all three places were over 40″. All but two fish over 40 were released. And they were caught by 14yo and 10yo sisters. Their dad will have a hefty Taxidermy bill on those beauty’s.

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That sounds like a heck of a weekend. Nice fish!