Pike eating eyes?

[james_walleye]

I've read alot on here about muskies eating walleyes on Vermillion and such but i've never caught a thread about pike eating walleyes. A little discussion on another thread has some people saying they think all the pike kept out of this little southern MN lake should be kept because they believe they will damage the walleye population. Its a lake that froze out a couple years back and as usual the walleyes are back really good. Alot of the pike survived the last freeze and there are some 15lb+ fish in there. Just looking for some feedback about this subject. I dont think the northerns forage enough on walleyes in this lake too make a difference. They are full of bullheads and carp when i have cleaned them. Any thoughts? Am i crazy?

[pray for the fish]

And there is probably some people saying more walleye fingerlings should be dumped in the lake to feed the northerns. I think it is next to impossible to "manage" a lake for multiple species. Nature does that all on its own. The northerns will eat anything they feel like,they and other fish are opportunists. People that fished Big Lake north of Cass thought muskies would wipe out the walleyes there too when they were introduced. Didn,t happen. If your little so.mn. lake is full of little hammerhandles though it will be hard to get a large walleye pop. started. But you say the walleyes are already back so I would say the lake is doing fine. Lots of walleyes and 15 pound pike you say? where is the problem? Some people are just never happy.

[RK]

Hiya -

Pike are really complicated when it comes to their population dynamics. When their populations get out of whack, it can really have an effect on the whole fishery. That includes affecting walleye populations. More significant perhaps than direct predation on walleyes though is overpopulations of pike putting excessive pressure on perch populations. When perch disappear, that's obviously forage that isn't available for walleyes. YOY walleyes are often next in line on the menu, for both pike AND mature walleyes.

As far as what either pike or muskies eat though, they eat what's most available, which is rarely walleyes.

cheers,

Rob Kimm

[james_walleye]

I dont think perch have ever been a major forage fish in the lake. The eyes and northerns that i have cleaned have bullheads and carp in them.

I kind of say the same thing....what is the problem these people have? I mean if the northerns havent affected the lake when the fingerlings were originally introduced than why would they have an affect now?

[Capt'nMorgan]

I caught a like this weekend and it a lil' pike in its stomach and the tail fins were still sticking in to its mouth. Weird.

[Pikeslayer]

Not so strange!

[mille lacs muskie bum]

Up here on the pond I saw a nice pike chasing a walleye about two weeks ago. I beleive that pike like fish that are slender like suckers,perch, small pike, and yes walleyes. A bass will tend to take more sunfish and crappies due to the round "bucketmouth".

[umsmallyz763]

What I understanding from what I've read in the past, most large predatory species of fish will, given the opportunity, choose a soft rayed prey fish over a spiny rayed fish ( i.e. sucker, fathead, smelt, over sunfish, perch ).

But, as mentioned before, they are opportunistic feeders so what ever prey presents itself at any given time I'm sure will get gobbled up.

A few years ago a friend of mine was fishing a lake near Ely that is known for big pike. He caught about a 20"g/t pike and being in a small 14' aluminum boat he put the fish on a stringer over the side of the boat. About 15min. later, a HUGE pike had the fish in it's mouth and was trying to rip it off the stringer. My friend tried to pull everthing into the boat, but the pike let go. When he put the stringer back in the water the pike came back about 2min. later and tried again. Relentless when it comes to an easy meal. The sme thing happened to me w/ a stringer of crappies and a big lm bass. He would touch any bait or lures but just wanted those crappies. Every time I went to put another fish on the stringer there he was, just looking up at the crappies. It was pretty cool.

I'm sure that pike will feed on anything, fish, frog, rodent, etc., given the opportunity.

Joe