# perch or blue gills for pike



## buster5199 (Feb 22, 2007)

I am wondering how many out there catch their bait for their tip ups when they hit the ice. It seems to me that a perch or blue gill would look just as tasty if not more so for a pike over a golden shiner or sucker. I am heading out tomorrow morning and with the economy the way it is, I was thinking of saving a few bucks and trying to catch the tip up bait instead of buying it.

I will be focusing on mainly pan fish, but it is always fun to have a flag or two out for something much bigger.

Thanks for any and all input.


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## RyGuy525 (Mar 17, 2005)

the thing about gills and perch are the spines. Shiners and suckers have no spines so they are much easier for a larger fish to eat. At the same time i dont think they will hesitate to eat a gill or perch. Perch aren't as wide which makes them easier to swallow. This is just my thinking ofcourse....


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## wally-eye (Oct 27, 2004)

When I use tipups I always use a fresh caught 3 to 4 inch perch about half way down the water column. Saves money and pike hit them just as quick as a shiner or sucker.........that's what I've found anyways. 


Dan


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## Radar420 (Oct 7, 2004)

In my experience, it seems that pike prefer perch and that bass will hit the bluegill. It seems I catch way more bass when I have a bluegill on instead of a perch. 

Oh and you might need to add some weight to your line, the panfish seem to have an easier time of tripping the flag.

Try both and report back


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## Quack Wacker (Dec 20, 2006)

perch


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## chuckwagon157 (May 17, 2008)

I prefer a shiner, but I have used gills and perch and seen both work


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## ridgewalker (Jun 24, 2008)

Both have worked for me although large golden shiners are my favorite. Panfish in my experience trip the flag more because they are fresh and more active which is a plus for pike. The weight and a stinger hook are good ideas.


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## prohunter_20022000 (Jan 18, 2005)

i use a small spoon for the weight and a large treble and always use a bluegill hook in the poop shoot the fish dont like to be up side down and they tend to stay active for this reason bluegill will produce larger fish but my favroite is a nice small crappie


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## Wishn I was fishn (Mar 4, 2001)

What ever I can catch for bait first. I do prefer perch but will not hesitate to put a 3-5" gill either. Not to mention they're easier to catch in most of the lake I fish.


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## stinky reinke (Dec 13, 2007)

Just use whatever dink you catch first. I usually will snip a piece of the dorsal fin off or tail fin to make the swimming action a little slower.


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## Ken Martin (Sep 30, 2003)

I always use perch up to 6 inches when I have them. I always no matter what size, take my Gerber and cut the dorsal fin off. It's what my grandfather always did and he caught plenty of fish. It doesn't kill the fish either.

Ken


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## wartfroggy (Jan 25, 2007)

Usually use perch over a gill, but have caught fish on both. One of my best spearing decoys was about a 10" perch I caught in the hole. Had a ton of fish come in and blast him. After he "passed away", I tried a smaller perch about 7" and didn't work nearly as well.


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## buster5199 (Feb 22, 2007)

Thanks for all of the input, I was thinking about trimming the dorsal fin as well. I will be sure to report back on the results. Hopefully this 'storm' blows through before morning and the bite picks up for the panfish.


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## Ronjohn (Dec 26, 2008)

Biggest pike i ever seen came from an 8" sunfish with the dorsal fin clipped.


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## GOTONE (Jul 19, 2008)

perch if i dont have shiners


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## XXXdisel77 (Dec 16, 2004)

stinky reinke said:


> Just use whatever dink you catch first. I usually will snip a piece of the dorsal fin off or tail fin to make the swimming action a little slower.


This is exactly what you should do. Pike love the action of a wounded bait fish. I would snip a lot of the fins off and even put a gash in the side of the bait. That's what I used to do when I used very large suckers. I didn't kill them, but I sure slowed them up in a major way and I alway caught lots of pike.


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## MildBill (Dec 29, 2008)

I've actually found green sunfish to be the best panfish for pike bait. Usually about 4-5 inches since they get a bit "thicker" in the body than bluegills (and don't get a whole lot bigger anyway). Their fins do not have the spikes of a bluegill, and I do not know if the irridescence helps as well. However, since they tend to be more shy than perch or bluegill I've had to resort to other panfish and found that perch work better than bluegill. However, I have caught much larger pike with green sunfish. As noted by others, the liveliness tends to be an issue, but you can overcome it with some of the suggestions given above. (My granddad was an excellent fisherman and swore by perch. My experience has been a bit different.)


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## Roosevelt (Sep 21, 2007)

All the pike and eyes I've caught had perch, then gills, then sucker minnows, shiners and crappie minnows in em, respectively!

I've caught pike using small perch. I don't think they care about the spines but leaving a blood trail and slowing em up so they don't trip your flag sounds like a plan.

i really like the sucker minnows but they are just too damn expensive these days. The bait shop the other day wanted 20 bucks a dozen....... A DOZEN!:lol:


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## FishinJoe (Dec 8, 2003)

5 gills 5 flags this evening, I think I will stick with them.


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## AllSpecieAngler (Jun 12, 2008)

Did everyone forget its illegal to use gamefish as bait?


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## soggybtmboys (Feb 24, 2007)

AllSpecieAngler said:


> Did everyone forget its illegal to use gamefish as bait?


 
No, its not as long as it is counted as part of your limit.


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## N M Mechanical (Feb 7, 2008)

soggybtmboys said:


> No, its not as long as it is counted as part of your limit.


 Thank you I was wondering the same thing


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## wartfroggy (Jan 25, 2007)

AllSpecieAngler said:


> Did everyone forget its illegal to use gamefish as bait?


This is a common misunderstanding, and I have no idea how or why so many people get confused on this. You can use ANY LEGALLY TAKEN FISH AS BAIT. If it is of legal size, and legal length, and in season, it is legal. Look it up in the book. If you want, you can throw a 15"+ walleye on a tipup, if you really wanted to.


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## wartfroggy (Jan 25, 2007)

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/lawful-fishing-methods_229771_7.pdf

"Any fish (except lampreys, live carp, and goldfish) may be used as bait when legally taken and possessed."


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## buster5199 (Feb 22, 2007)

I was worried that the recent posts would become part of this. I understood the law as explained by Frog.

Well things went as planned this morning. The dink perch (4") were found quickly and put on the tip up. Just let her soak for a while with no real action, but I was optimistic. My 6 year old boy started to get board watching the vex and started to wander around which he does frequently if the action is slow and he has never gotten into trouble until today. Now I have been taking him fishing since he was three and I guess I am starting to get a little too comfortable with him out there with me.

Needless to say he wandered about 100 yards away from us playing on the ice and saw what he though was a really cool open water spot right next to shore. Well he started calling for us and we worked our way over to him thinking that he wanted to show us something cool. Nope, sure enough he had fallen into knee deep water with a very soft bottom and sunk down to about his waist. My buddy was in front of me and got to him first and layed down on the ice to pull him out of the mud and water. I knew it was time to leave after only an hour on the ice so we packed up right away and started the mile hike back to the car. I called my wife on the way back and she met us at the parking lot with warm clothes and a warm car to rush him home into the bath to warm back up.

My son is fine now and happy to be home. I asked him if he wanted to go fishing today or tomorrow, he declined, but he said he will be ready again next weekend. The kid is tough. We dumped water out of his boots that were half full of water as we were leaving the ice and he didn't give up or stop once.

Lessons learned: 

1. Give your kids a whistle to wear around their necks to blow on if they get into trouble. I am not sure he was hollering at us before he got our attention with the wind blowing it was really hard to hear him, but a whistle would of worked much better.

2. Don't get too comfortable on the ice, I know better, but let my guard down for just an instant.

3. If you or someone with you does get wet keep moving. He was frozen on the oustide of his jacket and snow pants, but his feet and legs stayed somewhat warm, because we kept moving.

4. Still not sure on the perch on the tip up. We had to leave too early.:sad:

Good lessons learned with thankfully nobody getting hurt.

Be safe out there!!!


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## soggybtmboys (Feb 24, 2007)

Glad he is alright, and everything worked out. I got a 9 yr old and he has been going out on the ice with me for a few years now. I gotta tell ya though, even at 9 I don't let him wander anywhere near 100 yards from me. He gets about 20 yard birth is all and he absolutely has to wear a life jacket anytime he steps onto the ice. Again, I am very glad your boy is ok and nothing bad happened. Think about the life jacket dad and don't let him wander that far, especially at 6.


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## WALLEYEvision (Dec 5, 2003)

Glad to hear your boy is OK buster5199!


I usually use shinners, but watched a guy on Kent Lake (Livingston Co.) chase flags all day long using 3-5" frozen bluegills.


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## fish fanatic jr. (Feb 18, 2004)

all about the dink gills on of the lakes i fish you rarely catch perch and the ones you do they are keepers dink gill cought a 37" 15lb pike this year so far.


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## RichP (Jan 13, 2003)

wartfroggy said:


> This is a common misunderstanding, and I have no idea how or why so many people get confused on this. You can use ANY LEGALLY TAKEN FISH AS BAIT. If it is of legal size, and legal length, and in season, it is legal. Look it up in the book. If you want, you can throw a 15"+ walleye on a tipup, if you really wanted to.


yep, there is of course a new twist that everyone has to remember though -- Because of the VHS situation (both perch and gills are on the positive list), you have to use the perch and gills on the same lake you caught them.


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## Lordofallthatswims (Jan 28, 2008)

I'm going to start putting caught bait on again. I've never had any luck in the past with caught bait so I pretty much gave it up, but after hearing all these success stories I'm going to try it tomorrow on Chemung, I'll let you know what happens.


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## AllSpecieAngler (Jun 12, 2008)

wartfroggy said:


> This is a common misunderstanding, and I have no idea how or why so many people get confused on this. You can use ANY LEGALLY TAKEN FISH AS BAIT. If it is of legal size, and legal length, and in season, it is legal. Look it up in the book. If you want, you can throw a 15"+ walleye on a tipup, if you really wanted to.


Wow I guess I should read my handbook a little bit closer then. Thanks for the info. I have always done it on private lakes with really good success with small perch, when I used gills 4 to 5 inch seemed to work best.


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## chuckwagon157 (May 17, 2008)

This past weekend, I was out on a small private lake and one of the first fish I brought up was a little dink perch. Threw him on the tip up and i pulled one pike up and got another strike on him, but it got off. and after all of that, at the end of the outting, the little guy was still kickin! I took him off of the trebble and watched him take of like a bat out of hell.


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## Fishslayer5789 (Mar 1, 2007)

Perch and gills work great for pike all year round, but if you can catch some good-sized smelt and toss them on a tip-up, you'll be in for some great pike fishing.


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## gunfun13 (Jun 13, 2003)

Fishslayer5789 said:


> Perch and gills work great for pike all year round, but if you can catch some good-sized smelt and toss them on a tip-up, you'll be in for some great pike fishing.


 Even dead smelt work great!!


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