Does anyone know how I could rig up a fishing pole to catch pickerel? I have about 30 rosy reds and any size hook thinkable, I just need to know what size hook to use. Do I need to hook the minnow any dif. than usual? I hook them through their head; up and down, not sideways.

As the great "Shorty" at Shorty's bait shop told us before we went walleye fishing... "you see these here minnows you hook'em through the a*****e"

Include poorly drawn minnow on the back of our map with a hook through it.

Well Shorty can hook his minnows like he wants but I would think a poor minnow would have a hard time swimming natural when he is hooked in the anus. Through the eyeballs without piercieng the eyeballs if possible the minnow will stay alive a long time. Some hook through the back but that is through the spine and they do not live very long that way. Through the eyeball sockets with out piercing the eyes if you can. When the pickerel sees it it will be swimming and if you managed to hook through the eyeball sockets without damaging the eyes themselves it will see the pickerel and try to swim away and trigger the instinct of the pickerel to chase and eat.

As far as hook I use anywhere from a # 10 with the largest being a number 6 at most. # eight is a good mid range but I have pulled in two foot catfish with a number ten hook. Do not let its size fool you.

That is my best suggestion and of course you will get other opinions but hooking through the anus I do not recomend because you want to present your bait as natural as possible. I do not see how that minnow could swim natural. Thats a new one on me.

I've always hooked 'em through the skin in front of the dorsal - not through the spine, but just deep enough to keep 'em on the hook. The can swim freely this way too.