Thoughts on Pike regulations (40"+)

[reinhard1]

hey, i personaly would not under any circumstances keep a large pike. we have grafite reproduction for the purpose of keeping our memories. any game fish let's throw back the big one. good luck.

[goose89]

hey, i personaly would not under any circumstances keep a large pike. we have grafite reproduction for the purpose of keeping our memories. any game fish let's throw back the big one. good luck.

+1 We've also got camera's and fancy frames to put around blown up pix. (but to each their own).

[PurpleFloyd]

OK, now i see what you are getting at.

To me it would seem a 30-40" slot where no fish can be taken and maybe a tag or 2 for fish over 40 would be the way to go. they have a tag for sturgeon don't they? whatever type of regulations can get the northern population back to respectable is good with me as I just let them go any way.

[Adam Wolf]

Just a question, how are you positive large pike are correlated with reduced panfish size? There are many things that affect fish growth, including breeding habitat, water levels, weather patterns during breeding, lack of adequate oxygen through winterkill or algae blooms, human fishing pressure, and yes larger predator species to name a few. It seems you have reservations about the DNR, but this article from them states pike have a very limited effect on sunfish populations, plus it talks about many of the influences that could determine sunfish growth...

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fish/sunfish/management.html

I don't know the lake you are on, but it can be difficult to determine why fish populations and growth fluctuate, thankfully it is often a natural process and some years have better year classes than others and when the right year hits and a successful year class are of the right size fishing can be spectacular.

Also, I wish I had a chance to catch a 40 inch pike on a local lake, even if rarely, seems that the regs, likely along with a lake having good production value, are working! Rarely is more than never as it is on many of the lakes in the state. I'm still looking to break the 40 inch mark.

Good luck, hope your presentation goes well.

[Jack Peterson]

The Pike AND walleyes have to feed on bluegills and crappies because of the low amount of baitfish in the lake.

Almost no perch or ciscos.

[DTro]

I would guess that a 40” minimum would be a step towards more of a Musky type management. Whether you agree with it or not, those involved have made a pretty good trophy fishery in the state of MN.

On the other hand, if you want to eat a Musky, your only choice is to eat a trophy.

2 very different fish though, especially when you take into account the natural reproduction of the Pike. I favor more a trophy type management, because I like to catch big fish, but also think there is room to keep a few here and there.

They are doing some pretty good cool things to protect the big girls on URL, you might want to research that a bit.

[harvey lee]

This is what I personally like so if it takes some regs, thats fine with me.

I realize some do like to eat pike but for me, the trophy is the goal.

This fish is still swimming for others to enjoy. The photo works for me.

The fish looks nice but the guy holding it should have shaved and opened his eyes. Poor pic on my part but thats all I have.

[cbrooks]

The Pike AND walleyes have to feed on bluegills and crappies because of the low amount of baitfish in the lake.

Almost no perch or ciscos.

Are you sure that walleyes and pike are the ones eating all the big bluegills and crappies, not the anglers.

[live4chrome]

how about just C&R on pike 26 inches and up? Who needs to keep a 40 inch pike anyways? Just get a repo if you want it on your wall so bad.

[Adam Wolf]

Interesting, I wonder if a 40 inch pike eats similar amounts of panfish as would say a bunch of 20 inchers that could take its spot if removed. Has anyone seen any research on this?

I don't keep pike too often, but if I do anything over 23 goes back, because I prefer catching big fish as opposed to lots of smaller ones and don't trust the mercury and PCB levels of big fish. Also, I understand the tradition in our country and actually I think some mounts look kind of cool but I personally have no desire to put a dead animal on my wall, so even if I caught a pike over 40 back it goes.

Totally off topic but sometimes I wonder what people from other countries would think if they saw a room full of dead animals. We see a good memory and a lot of hard work put in to catching that fish, people not familiar with our culture would probably see animal worship / obsession with death and domination of nature. Plus, it might scare them a bit. Growing up with it its just accepted, if you catch something big, up it goes. Just funny to think about from other perspectives.

[Nick Kuhn]

Interesting, I wonder if a 40 inch pike eats similar amounts of panfish as would say a bunch of 20 inchers that could take its spot if removed. Has anyone seen any research on this?

The only report I've seen is that on smaller lakes more big pike will result in fewer large perch, but has little impact on crappies and sunfish. Both large pike and small pike will take very young panfish, but I think the choking hazard prevents them from eating adult panfish, regardless of the size of the pike.

[Shawn Kellett]

The reason why the 30" min slots don't really work is because about 90% of all pike in the 26-28" range are kept. That's why the 26 lower limit seems to work the best in most cases. As far as anglers thinning out the smaller pike, the DNR has found that rarely happens. On many lakes that have liberal bag limits on small pike there are very few anglers that take part in it.

The big thing with pike is that they spawn when they can/have to. So in basic terms when the big ones are gone then the smaller ones start spawning. When the small ones start spawning they devote their calories to making eggs instead of getting bigger.

Also the amount of calories to sustain 10 2# fish is much higher then 1 20#er. So bait fish in a system as a whole should have stronger populations with fewer, larger fish in the system instead of the hammer handle factories that you typically see out there.

If you're interested I have some great material regarding the slots in book form I could loan you provided I'd get them back. It's pretty apparent that these slots do work when you look at the data, even when you consider the short time most of these have been implemented.

[Shawn Kellett]

Also, the smaller lakes can't sustain much if any harvest of larger pike if a representative size structure is desired. In-Fishermen had a great article on it a few years ago. In a lake in the 200acre range even taking 1 20#er would put it out of wack if I remember right.

[cbrooks]

Interesting. Northern Pike are really a key in having a healthy fishery. The big pike keeps everything in balance and the stunted can take over a lake. Is there anything on the internet shawn that would have more info on this?

[motley man]

Why don't they keep it the same as other lakes in the state. Don't make different slots for different lakes. 24" to 36" is what the standard.

[Nick Kuhn]

Because the 40" minimum works better than the slot for big pike.

[mainbutter]

Two things. I don't think that the 40" min regulation will necessarily give you a population with an overabundance of 20" pike. Rather the BIG girls will keep some of that population in check and prevent it from getting out of hand.

This.

My favorite lures for big girls are the ones that resemble young pike. Big pike eat little pike.

As for the OP looking for my opinion:

I like having a variety of regulations across a variety of lakes. I absolutely support the ability to harvest pike. I also like for some lakes to be no-harvest, slot-protection(24''-36''), or minimum-length harvest (min 40''). I spend 90% of my days chasing pike on lakes with as strict regulations as I can find.

I only kept pike once this past year for a shore lunch. I kept a 21''er and a 24''er. We made fried fish patties and put 'em on sandwiches. It certainly was one of the best meals I've ever had, and we fed three of us with some leftovers to add to dinner later that day.

If a lake with strict regulations is producing better fish than the harvest lakes, and harvest fishermen are jealous... the regs are working then, aren't they?

[mainbutter]

Why don't they keep it the same as other lakes in the state. Don't make different slots for different lakes. 24" to 36" is what the standard.

Because:

1) every lake is unique

2) with the abundance of lakes in this state, we can strive to provide a variety of fishing opportunities to appeal to the different desires of fishermen.

[OnAFly]

I would fully support have some lakes be CR only for pike. It would be really nice to have a lake within 60 miles of me that gave me a legitimate chance at a trophy sized fish.

I also fully support a diversified set of regulations. Some lakes just seem to produce lots of 24" fish. Make those lakes unregulated (besides limits) lakes. Some lakes seem to produce a wide range of fish, make these slot lakes.

I guess the point is to try to get out of the lakes what the lakes have the ability to produce, nothing more.

[kyleharty]

I'd love to see large pike respected and revered like Muskies are now, with the strong catch and release ethic. Most of us here probably share that sentiment but spreading that to the general public falls on the DNR and regulations would likely be the logical first step. Slot limits can be very helpful IMHO but may not be the solution everywhere, I'm no expert! I don't eat anything I catch but I wouldn't want to deny someone else a meal of smaller pike and it'd be tough to tell people they can't keep one for the wall although I don't see any good reason to kill the fish today if people can be educated about reproductions. I don't think a 40" minimum is necessarily the ticket either as small pike tend to be much higher density than muskies ever will be; reasonable harvest of small pike shouldn't hurt the population like it would with muskies IMHO.

I fish pike mostly on the Mississippi and I'm sure it'd be more difficult to put new regulations on the river where it's border waters with WI but there's an excellent pike fishery with good numbers of large fish with very little protection there. I'd be thrilled to see a slot limit or even a 1 over 30" on the river; much easier to protect the fishery that's there than to let it get decimated and try to rebuild it.

[half-dutch]

I have no problem with a state wide slot for pike of 24"-40". You don't want to eat a pike much over hammerhandle size anyway; literally every where in the state they are carrying too much mercury. Check out the consumption advisories at the DNR HSOforum. The hammerhandles eat real good though.

It doesn't take more than 300 acres, if it has enough depth, to produce pike pushing the 40". We had a musky chase in a hooked largemouth last summer on Harriet that pushed 40" for sure, but when she turned the side was all pike. That was probably the biggest thrill we had last summer, and probably the biggest wild pike I have ever seen. That would have put her probably just under 20# right here in the heart of the city.

Stop the harvest of the top end and there will be more of those fish in a lot more waters, and even when those waters cannot produce that kind of trophy you are going to see a lot more waters producing 30" plus fish that will be pushing 10 pounds. Like I said one should be very reluctant to eat the bigger fish anyway. And definitely don't feed them to your wife and kids.

[delcecchi]

To me the fact that the DNR went with a 40" minimum rather than the 24-36 protected slot or some other alternative indicates something about the lake. For example perhaps the reproduction of pike isn't very good. Or perhaps some other reason.

You would need some test net and reproduction data for the lakes in question to argue intelligently. At least that is my take. Without numerical data you have nothing to argue with.

[solbes]

If anyone is really interested in this topic, I highly recommend you check out the DNR's info on pike. Here's the link. Click on the large position paper at the bottom of the page. Starting on page 58 is their pike management plan.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fisheries/muskiepike_2020.html

The plan explains it better, but the 40" minimum lakes have low density populations with high growth rates. The 24-36" lakes have good reproduction going on, but slower growth rates than those with lower pike densities.

Jack, if you have given your speech yet, I'd check out the link.

[Jameson]

Would like your thoughts on lakes smaller than 500 acres with a 40" Northern Pike regulation.

I personally get annoyed with these regulations on such small lakes, and I'm giving a speech against them in my Public Speaking class. What are your thoughts? I need to try and persuade my audience why the regulations are bad.

Note: Everyone's entitled to their own opinion. Even if you can only think of good reasons, a couple bad reasons would help!

Thanks, Jack.

um, I'll try, but I do support having some lakes around that are 'trophy' lakes.

A 40" minimum makes it so no eaters are available. A 40" pike is too contaminated to eat. Personally I eat about 2 pike fillets a year, so this isn't really my opinion, but it helps your essay. Might have to come up with some witty stuff about how we shouldn't criminalize eating of fish.

A 40" minimum means that spear-fisherman likely won't spear anything under say 44". In a small lake without good forage this would be very difficult to achieve, thus making the lake a non-spearing lake for pike. If you can come up some numbers supporting this theory it might, might help you. Might have to come up with some witty stuff about how we shouldn't outlaw a long standing tradition.

A 40" minimum might result in high number of large pike, thus if the lake were to ever be stocked with muskie the 12"-24" muskie would be eaten by the large pike. Might have to come up with some witty stuff about how muskie stocking is good for a lake.

Good luck!

[jigginjim]

I know large pike eat small pike. Years back my uncle speared a 41" pike, it had a 21" pike, 3/4 gone on it's gut. If anything a slot 27"-40" protected slot. 1 over 40" and raise limit to 5 on pike less than 20" no more then 2 over 20".