Winter ice angling using tip-ups: Influence of tackle and bait types on Northern Pike (Esox lucius) behaviour and catch and release

Abstract

Catch and release angling is a multi-billion-dollar global industry and an important management tool. The effects of catch and release have been well studied in open-water fisheries, but the behaviour of fish in the winter and how they respond to catch and release ice angling has not been well studied. The gap in knowledge is critical to address given that fish in the winter are exposed to different conditions and stressors, including cold temperatures, different hook styles, and different approaches to fishing. In northern regions of the world, anglers commonly target northern pike (Esox lucius; hereafter pike) in the winter due to their ability to grow to large sizes. Pike present additional challenges for winter catch and release because they are often caught using tip-ups, which are passive angling devices that present bait on a slack line. Popular tip-up tackle rigs include one or more barbed treble hooks, referred to as “quick-strike” rigs. Little is currently known about the performance of quick-strike rigs in terms of winter capture success, or factors that might affect the success of catch and release (e.g., hooking injuries) after being caught on such devices. Circle hooks are an alternative to quickstrike rigs that may have benefits for pike catch and release, but they have not been evaluated for winter fisheries. I used tip-ups in standardized field trials to capture 235 pike during three ice angling seasons (2020-2023). Hook style may influence the success of catch and release, including angler interaction time, dehooking time, dehooking difficulty, frequency of hooking injury, and hook placement. Importantly, rigs with two or three treble hooks produced a higher probability of foul hooking and injuring pike compared to the single treble quick-strike or single circle hook rigs. Bait type, based on three different species of fish and hotdogs, had no major influence on factors affecting catch and release, and pike did not seem to discriminate based on the bait offered. The month of capture had a small effect on the outcome of catch and release, where fish captured in December were the smallest in size and those in January required the longest dehooking times. Assessment of pike behaviour under the ice showed that hook style and bait type had little influence on what fish did as they approached tip-up presentations. In general, pike were very tentative in their approach and appeared to require considerable time to decide to strike and attempt to consume the bait. It took longer for pike to decide to strike tip-up presentations with two or three treble hooks and darker coloured bait. However, the numbers of fish striking and landed were not influenced by either hook or bait types. Month had the largest influence on the behaviour of pike; fish were less tentative when striking at tip-up presentations later in the season during March. My results suggest that the type of tip-up tackle selected by anglers may be important for reducing potentially negative catch and release outcomes in the winter. Given that pike seemed to treat all hook and bait types the same way, there is opportunity to alter angler choices of tackle and increase both successful catch and release, and fish welfare.