Friday
Mar192010
Northern Pike: A**holes of the Fishing World
Friday, March 19, 2010 at 12:03AM 
Bob Wire in New West brilliantly takes aim at Montana's invasive pike, or as Wire refers to them, the Rahm Emanuel of the Sea. There are now established Pike populations in many of the watersheds of Western Montana and the outlook for containment is grim..... a laugh out loud must read.
There is some hope, if Montana fishermen are willing to take some steps in the right direction. In some states, like Maine and California, where the northern pike is not native, fishermen are required to remove the heads of any pike they catch. I say let’s take it a step further, and put those heads on a small stake at the edge of the water, as a warning to other pike.
LINK (Via: New West)
tagged bob wire, invasive species, pike in Conservation, Humor
bob wire, invasive species, pike in Conservation, Humor
Reader Comments (32)
So they suggest putting a pike's head on a pike? <lol>
Just ask Sacagawea.
Bravo all around!
I had a friend here that caught one on the CF near missoula. He let it sit on the bank for more than 10 minutes and felt guilty while it was still flopping around.....so he let it go and it swam off fine..they are tough....stupid hippie
sure get rid of most of em. But there are some trout barren waters that i would love to see a good pike fishery. between dams? how about toston to canyon ferry as a pike and carp fishery?
Agree with I like pike
Fun fish to catch especially on a fly rod...just not if theyre going to disrupt a natural trout fisheree.
Agree no name. only keep them if they can be secluded with no possible escape. then we can throw muskie in there. A whole new fishery awaits. 3ft. fish coming through the ice sounds great to me.
I hate Pikeys!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9XQvJX6OiA
they suck! They are a horrible fighting fish! You get one run and they float to the boat...muskies are fun...pike are trash fish
Since when did having a top predator introduced into a food chain mean it destroyed it. If anything, it will support a healthier more diverse fishery for all angler types. I would rather have fewer fattier and healthier trout in a population, than overstocked small unhealthy populations. Keep the pike and hell, if you ever catch one you might actually enjoy it.
That's the problem Alb, they're not stocked and the pike will get em all. Stocked fishery = sucky
The lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush, or “spotted douche bag”) population in Flathead Lake has mushroomed to the point where the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes host an annual tournament, Mack Days, to encourage anglers to keep as many as 50 lake trout apiece every day for a month.
I live on the Kanektok river here is Alaska (teacher) and just last year the first pike was caught in the river. Folks are worried to say the least. We have a great rainbow population and salmon, which means salmon smolt treats for those huge pike. What the heck do you do though??
And talk about tough. Pike are native about 40 miles away. Either they took the ocean route (fresh and saltwater from the Kuskokwim/Bering sea - or came somehow from flooding along the tundra - but 40 miles?? seems a bit long.
20 in a subsistence net was definitely cause for concern.
Maybe environmental DNA surveillance (a la Asian carp) could help keep them out of watersheds that they haven't yet invaded? www. environmentaldna.com
From yesterday's Missoulian...
http://missoulian.com/lifestyles/recreation/article_964a04ea-323b-11df-ad44-001cc4c002e0.html
invasives are fun to catch, and even more fun to kill.
the bull trout is already the top predator in the system, and an amazing one at that.
To hell with pike in the lower CF. I grew up near the Noxon Rreservoir, over 100 miles downstream of Missoula, and witnessed firsthand the destruction caused by these river wolves. When I was a kid, it was common to catch native bullies and cutties over 24", and now that is very rare. The warm-water species introduced into this stretch (pike, bass,and walleye included) have completely ruined the native fishery, and I would pay any price to see them exterminated. Same with the waters upstream of Missoula. Pike have run amok in the Clearwater drainage, wreaking havoc on the native salmon: and now that they tore down the Milltown Dam, there is no barrier for pike to take over the entire CF drainage. Say goodbye to the waters that inspired "A River Runs Through It."
Trout and northerns coexist in many bodies of water(or should I say thrive). Oatka Creek is one of the most renown trout streams in Western New York. You can catch 20" browns(many of them spawned, not stocked) and 36" northerns in its waters. FYI: Seth Green started the first hatchery on Big Springs Creek, which dumps into the Oatka. If you happen to be in Caledonia, NY; take a walk through the hatchery or drift a fly out back.
Pike and trout... It's a win win for all.
If you think that introducing pike into a river system won't fuck it up, you're crazy. They will take over. Just like lakers eating all the cutties. Pike will USUALLY annihilate a trout population though not always. At what point do we quit introducing new species into bodies of water? There will be some negative repercussion from this, I promise.
can/will wreck havoc on certain fish. trout/salmon will take a beating.
i recommend likewise to pike caught in trout waters. give em the rock shampoo.
@ FlySwinger
With regards to the Milltown Dam removal providing pike access to the upper CFR, I think it is important to note that pike were present in the Milltown Reservoir prior to its removal. As such, those fish already had access to the Blackfoot and upper CFR.
SIDE NOTE: I saw David Schmetterling, MT FWP fisheries biologist, give a talk earlier this fall. He did note the astounding impact that pike in the reservoir had on migratory trout. He indicated that more bull trout were captured in the stomachs of northern pike than by any other means.
Well, being from minnesota, pike fishing is a part of our fisheries and past times. If populations of trout can continue reproducing w/o having the pike decrease the populations, i dont see any problem with them, yes they are water wolfs, if ppl dont keep them, will be tons of small pike that will target anything equal to its size and sometimes larger. I do agree to keep out invasive species and i have an understandings of the damages that invasive species can do on an ecological base, yet think about the larger, smarter fish that can and likely survive takes away the competition between the trout and allow them to grow. So really, yes there are pros and cons, and without having a complete understanding of what would happen would determine this. If ppl were to catch one out there, keep it, learn how to remove the Y bones, and they are great eating, and if you can get enough try out a pickling recipe! well take what you may gather from info from both sides and make your own decision. Oh and they are fun as hell on light weight fly rods!!!
You can catch pike on a fly. The world record all tackle rainbow trout was caught in waters containing both pike and triploid rainbow trout.
i really cant believe the drivel some of you are spouting on this we have a local trout lake that has a big head of pike in it we went out once on a pike only day and caught in excess of 300 pike between 30 boat up to 30 odd pounds and you know what the fishery manager also said it was the best year on record for trout catches .........don't believe the hype you read about pike they will keep any fishery healthy and will control there own numbers the big problem is when people start taking out bigger fish (over 10lbs) then the smaller fish will start to take over and do damage because there will be no larger fish to control them pike would rather eat a smaller pike than a trout you see trout and salmon are a fast agile fish the bigger pike expend to much energy chasing them that's why the slower smaller pike are a better option .....please please if you want to take pike out of a water take small fish under (10lbs) and leave the bigger fish to keep numbers down .
if you remove bigger fish you are setting yourself up for problems in a few years time
i really cant believe the drivel some of you are spouting on this we have a local trout lake that has a big head of pike in it we went out once on a pike only day and caught in excess of 300 pike between 30 boat up to 30 odd pounds and you know what the fishery manager also said it was the best year on record for trout catches .........don't believe the hype you read about pike they will keep any fishery healthy and will control there own numbers the big problem is when people start taking out bigger fish (over 10lbs) then the smaller fish will start to take over and do damage because there will be no larger fish to control them pike would rather eat a smaller pike than a trout you see trout and salmon are a fast agile fish the bigger pike expend to much energy chasing them that's why the slower smaller pike are a better option .....please please if you want to take pike out of a water take small fish under (10lbs) and leave the bigger fish to keep numbers down .
if you remove bigger fish you are setting yourself up for problems in a few years time