Are your hooks too small? Or another possibility- are smaller fish (maybe not pike)draggin the shiner down but can't really get it in their mouth and get hooked?

 

We've had some similar experiences fishin West Branch...it always turns out to be a turtle.

If it was northerns or cats I think you would be loosing more bait.

 

If there are Gar around, that might be your culprit. You will miss a bunch of them before you ever stick a hook in one, and that will be luck.

I doubt you could miss that many Pike in a night. Pike have a big enough mouth that you would catch one by accident, even if you were having troubles setting the hook.

 

If you're fishing in the Hoga you could have some small smallmouth playing with your shiner. I've never had any problem hooking pike, but then again, I always use artificials.

 

Northern Pike lose their teeth at a certain time of the year. Their back rows move forward over time. If your strikes were indeed from Northern Pike, this could be the problem - or the continuous cold fronts could be making the Pike barely nip the Minnows.

 

Im willing to bet its smallies takin it.

 

I have had several days just like yours. If a pike grabs your bait, and you miss it, the bait should have slash marks. Like the previous posters suggest, maybe smallies where you are fishing. In my case it ended up being small catfish, bass, or turtles.

 

This may be obvious to the rest of you seasoned anglers, but what body of water was this at? Not asking for your honey spot! I know better than that!!

 

another obvious note.... you might be too deep and hitting the bottom to where it pulls your bobber down and holds it there! that would be one reason why you would still have your bait.... I have put a single hook through the nose and then ran a treble through the tail that way no matter where they bite you can set the hook right away! also I have caught 8 inch rock bass on 6 inch shiners!

 

Well at least you're getting hits. Anytime I've attempted Pike fishing, live or artificial, zero bites, zero fish, zero everything. lol

 

Its probably pike. They hit a shiner sideways and carry it awhile before expelling it and taking it in head first. Ive heard that old timers would smoke a cig before setting the hook. Wait longer. Give it a minute or two.
And to correct and earlier post, they do not lose their teeth. Thats an old superstition.

 

another obvious note.... you might be too deep and hitting the bottom to where it pulls your bobber down and holds it there! that would be one reason why you would still have your bait.... I have put a single hook through the nose and then ran a treble through the tail that way no matter where they bite you can set the hook right away! also I have caught 8 inch rock bass on 6 inch shiners!

This is a good possibilty. The first time ie went i kept seeing the bobber go under. I would wait, set the hook, and it would bob back up, fish still on, no marks at all. As the day went on, since i was wearing my hip waders, i headed out to see what the heck was up. It turned out my set had floated down river to a much shallower spot and wedged into a rock and the current going down stream pulled my bobber under. Its been a long time since i felt like such an amature

 

I use live bait sometimes for pike and I rarely wait more than 5 seconds to set the hook when the bobber goes down and my hook rate is at least 80 percent. What size/style hook are you using?

 

are you hooking them through the back? just below the dorsal fin..

 

NOW......you have some ideas. Do.....as you wish.

 

Its probably pike. They hit a shiner sideways and carry it awhile before expelling it and taking it in head first. Ive heard that old timers would smoke a cig before setting the hook. Wait longer. Give it a minute or two.
And to correct and earlier post, they do not lose their teeth. Thats an old superstition.

Then why do they have so many rows of them ? No fish needs that many rows of teeth to eat. Half of their amount of teeth would be plenty to hold onto any food fish - even with their quick strikes. Musky, Pike, Pickerel and their variants lose their teeth.

 

They loose teeth here and there, but never go through a period where their front row of teeth fall out. Its an old superstition to explain why pike are difficult to catch during periods of warm weather.

http://vilaslandandwater.org/water_resources_pages/fisheries/northernpike.pdf

There are many articles concerning this topic on the internet.

 

They loose teeth here and there, but never go through a period where their front row of teeth fall out. Its an old superstition to explain why pike are difficult to catch during periods of warm weather.

http://vilaslandandwater.org/water_resources_pages/fisheries/northernpike.pdf

There are many articles concerning this topic on the internet.

This whole thread is giving me a tooth ache !

 

Try throwing a jig and white grub 3-5 inches and reeling it in at different speeds and try different size heads. I frequently throw a 3/8 jig with a white 3 inch twister for bass in the tusc river and end catching some pike and bass, in massillon it seems like a pike will come off of any log laying the water. also try tipping it with a gulp minnow. Ive caught alot of nice fish doing this. good luck hope this helps

 

Try a 4 inch red and white Daredevil Spoon. They work well.

 

river has white perch in it they were doing the same to me!

 

thank you all for your considered replies. Yes, I was fishing in the Hoga. The weeds around make it impossible to throw artificial in my area.


I'm using a livebait style 1 size eagle claw as of now. I'm thinking of going to wal mart and getting something different, perhaps even a circle hook.