Why is dead bait so deadly for pike if they are sight hunters?

Because pike are enthusiastic scavengers, and scent is what advertises a free meal that vision alone would dismiss as inert. A dead cisco or smelt on bottom leaks a steady amino-acid and oil plume that pike track upcurrent, and in cold water — when a slow metabolism makes chasing live prey a bad calorie trade — a large, effortless, scent-broadcasting meal is exactly what the energy budget orders. This is why dead-bait fishing peaks in winter and at ice-out, and why oily species like smelt, cisco, and herring outfish leaner baits: more oil, bigger plume.

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