Have used both gills and sink perch. Both have caught fish. Better than paying a 1.50 a piece for a shiner around here and no trips out of the way for bait. Clip the tail and they will have good action.

 

You bet I've had tons of luck with gills and perch for bait. Your going to want to use a little heavier sinker than you would with shiners , gills and perch tend to be quite fiesty so you won't get as many false flags. I caught a #23 pike and several in the high teens on 5-6 in perch in southern mi. Good luck!


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I find that my catch rate is a little lower with local perch and especially panfish (I think they can avoid the pike better) compared to suckers and shiners but it's hard to beat the cost savings these days. Plus you mentioned that the pike are just bonus fish so I'd stick with using whatever you can catch as your bait since the pike are not your major concern.

 

Dead smelt.

 

Just jam a big nail up its butt and you're good to go.

 

+1 to using perch as bait

 

I use shiners, but perch are preferred. I use bluegills too. Especially when I'll have a screen full of fish and they disappear every once in a while. Tells me the pike are hungry for bluegill and they are roaming.


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Haven't used gills as much as small perch, but I'm sure they'd work fine. Last pike I got had a belly full of little gills. I've also found that if you're having issues with bass hitting your shiners, they tend to hit a small perch less, but the pike still gobble them up.

 

When I was a youngster I'd catch some small gills and send them out on a bobber, during the summer. Worked great, also caught channel cats if I left it out at night.

 

Hotdogs!!! [emoji226][emoji226]. Shrubby

 

Are there any "unlawful" implications using gills or perch as bait (since they are a possession regulated species)? I didn't find anything that specifically says this, but don't want to assume that's the case.

 

I thought I read once that you had to count that fish towards your catch. Makes sense I guess.

 

I use huge blue gills for huge cats. floated under huge bobbers . lol

 

I recommend using gills or small perch. Just make sure to add them to your catch limit. But hotdogs do seem to be a useful tool also. Buddy of mine has gotten two nice sized pike in the last couple outings.

 

 

Try putting a small spinner above your hook (as a attractor) n if your using a big gill, cut some of the tail off...good luck go gitum

 

LOL! a couple weeks ago I took all my kids ice fishing for the first time. We caught a small gill and I sent it down on a tip up. My oldest son who is a day away from 10yo was in awe when I bit part of the tail off the little gill before sending it down the hole. LOL!

 

if i can catch small perch, i dont even buy shiners or sucker minnows for pikes

 

Are there any "unlawful" implications using gills or perch as bait (since they are a possession regulated species)? I didn't find anything that specifically says this, but don't want to assume that's the case.

Not really. Since there's no size limit on gills & perch. They must be caught legally & count toward your limit.
I don't think you're supposed to transfer them to another lake either

 

They will tend to give you false flags more then shiners, so we sometimes snip their tail fins off

 

The hot dog thing Is cool. Forgot my spikes one day ended up using slivers off a slim Jim. Did surprising well.

 

The hot dog thing Is cool. Forgot my spikes one day ended up using slivers off a slim Jim. Did surprising well.

Take a small perch and cut the dorsal fin off, as they will tend to spit it out, not so with this done. Also clip a few fins so don’t trip flags, I carry a small pair of shears.

 

I have used small gills and done well with them. I clip off one of the side Finns. And some of the tail. This makes them struggle to stay upright, and brings the pike acalling.

 

I've done better pike fishing with gills & perch than I have with shiners or suckers.


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Actually that makes a great deal of sense as that is their normal diet.

 

What lake is that photo taken on? nice photo by the way.

 

Caught on a 5 inch perch.

 

Caught on a 5 inch perch. View attachment 366521

Fantastic Fish! What lake?

 

Dead smelt especially if pike are the bonus...as you will get less flags but generally produce bigger pike.

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In our teens, shore fishing near the dam in Croswell, we caught several nice gills and rock bass. We had them on one of those old wire clips stringers in the water. Getting ready to leave we pulled the stringer in and had a 32" pike hung up with both a gill and rock bass down it's gut. That was a bonus pike for sure.