Pend Oreille River Gill netting and article from the Newport Miner please read

[PDXFisher]

Like others, I will try to establish my pike bona fides first. The most fun I've ever had fishing is Pike on the fly. I've not yet fished POR for pike yet but I've been dreaming of it for three years. I spend a month every year fishing in Minnesota and Canada and most of the fish I catch are pike (I wish I could say muskie, but, alas). If I could, I would fish for them every day, and have considered moving somewhere that would be possible.

But none of this surprises me one bit, and it shouldn't be surprising to anybody else. Just look at the Path POR takes. It's connected to the Columbia. If there is a way for Pike to get into the Columbia from the POR, then I'm surprised they have let it go as far as they have. Washington and Oregon value trout and salmon more than all other fish combined. Pike to them are a noxious weed, an invader from another state. This is Washington's version of the asian carp encroaching on the Great Lakes. If you really love asian carp, it would be a great thing to be able to fish for them in more places. It's everyone else that gets to suffer. We all love pike, but do any of us really think it's a good idea for them to get into the Columbia? I've watched some of my favorite trophy trout lakes in Oregon destroyed by illegally planted bass (and I don't even fish for trout anymore). The bass guys love it, and now there's bass tournaments on Crane Prairie. If they allowed something other than fly fishing, I'm sure they'd have bass tournaments on Davis Lake as well.

There isn't much that can out-compete pike for food. They can coexist with other warm water species decently enough, but can you imagine the nightmares WDFW has about Pike eating salmon and steelhead smolts? Plenty of Oregon fishermen are already planning on killing every walleye they see for this reason (accurate or not). Selfishly, I would love to be able to fish for monster pike right off the dock where my boat is moored on the Columbia in Portland. I can also determine that this isn't the best possible outcome for the rest of the fish in the system, or the people who grew up fishing in it. In fact, it's pretty much code-red scary bad. If there was a way to keep them all in POR and upstream of the Columbia, then I'm all for letting it go pike crazy since it seems like the genie is already out of the bottle and can't be coaxed back in. However I've never been told this is the case and expect them to do everything they possibly can including all sorts of "nuclear options" to prevent a pike invasion of the Columbia. It saddens me, but this is a difficult situation.

[Don Wittenberger]

Please, please, please, people -- slow down, calm down, ease off the throttle!!!

Believe me, I understand your passion for pike, and I share your passion. I love catching those toothy critters, too! But I think there's a big misunderstanding going on here.

First of all, I know something about writing newspaper articles. My dad was a newspaper reporter, and so was I, before I became a lawyer. I went to one of America's top journalism schools and then worked as a newspaper reporter for a while, so I know how newspapers work. They're a business, and they stay in business by publishing articles about things the public is interested in reading about. A good reporter tries to get the facts right, and a good editor tries to get your attention, because that's what sells newspapers, and a newspaper company has to sell papers to stay in business. A newspaper article is not a scientific paper or a legal brief or a biological plan or anything other than a newspaper article.

The Miner article accurately quotes Bruce Bolding as saying WDFW would like to get rid of the pike. It does NOT say WDFW thinks it's possible or has a plan to eradicate pike. If you're reading that from between the lines, you're reading into that article something it doesn't say.

I talked with Bruce yesterday and he told me eradicating the POR pike is IMPOSSIBLE, they're here to stay, and WDFW has no plans to try to eradicate them. Ask yourself this, if WDFW believes it's impossible to get rid of the POR pike, why would they waste money and manpower trying to?

Something similar to this controversy erupted in this forum a few years ago when WDFW used gillnet surveys to count walleyes in Potholes. Certain people got worked up about WDFW gillnetting and killing Potholes walleyes. What the WDFW guys told me then was, there's so many walleyes in Potholes that WDFW's gillnet suveys couldn't begin to dent the walleye population; and, not putting too fine a point on it, if people couldn't catch walleyes at Potholes maybe they needed to become better fishermen.

This is what's happening at POR right now. Gillnet surveys are a standard technique used by biologists to count fish populations. That data is used to manage fisheries for anglers' benefit. There's no way these gillnet surveys can wipe out the POR pike! Even if the tribe and WDFW got together and tried to reduce the pike population through netting, which as far as I know isn't in the works, the most that'll accomplish is prevent the river from being overrun by stunted "hammer handles," which if anything improves the pike fishing because the fish that are left will grow bigger. That's what you want, isn't it? Big pike? Who wants to catch hammer handles?

I've worked with WDFW staff for several years now, and they're not evil people who are out to deprive anglers of fishing opportunities. As professional biologists, they'll say pike don't belong in Washington and they'd rather not have them here. And, frankly, I've gotta agree with them on that point. Washington isn't pike country, it's salmon country, and billions of taxpayer dollars are being spent to try to save what's left of the salmon runs in the Columbia River system. Not to mention other native fish species the state is required to protect by the federal Endangered Species Law. But the pike are already in the POR and the WDFW biologists tell me there's no way to get rid of them. So what are you guys so worked up about? I don't believe they're lying to me, do you? Everything I've heard from biologists who presumably know what they're talking about is that you're going to have pike fishing in the POR forever.

Someone -- I don't wish to say who -- told me the Colorado game department got so fed up about people complaining about something-or-other that they quit stocking tiger muskies in that state. I'm told there's been no tiger muskie stocking in Colorado for two years now. As I recall, Colorado's state record tiger muskie weighed over 44 lbs. I mention this to help you grasp what that state's anglers have lost as a result of hassling their game department officials. I don't know if this report is true or not, but it came to me from a reliable source, and I sure don't want something like that to happen here.

What I'm asking you to do is, to paraphrase Rodney King, can everyone please calm down?

[Fish-N-Fool]

I talked with Bruce yesterday and he told me eradicating the POR pike is IMPOSSIBLE, they're here to stay, and WDFW has no plans to try to eradicate them. Ask yourself this, if WDFW believes it's impossible to get rid of the POR pike, why would they waste money and manpower trying to?

Along with the spawning survey, the state and the tribe are planning two other pike studies this spring.
In late April, they’ll begin an index netting survey that tracks the abundance of pike over time. It’s a repeat of last year’s study, but the study area will be expanded to cover the entire reservoir. Last year covered the area from Pioneer Park near Newport to Riverbend with a few nets further north. If the state gets into controlling the population, this study will tell them if they’re accomplishing their goals.
While the index netting targets pike in particular, another reservoir-wide study planned for mid-May will look at all warm water fish. Pike are currently listed as a game fish in Washington, but WDFW is taking steps to change that listing to prohibited species. That will give some leverage to the fine for transporting the non-native fish.

Like I said I do agree it is impossible to eradicate the Pike out or the P.O., but if they are allowed to put gill net in all the bays from the state line to box Canyon dam like they said they were planing to, That will ruin it as a sport fishery. To keep from catching trout and other smaller fish the gill net have to have a fairly large opening, that way they try to only catch the larger fish. With gill net in ALL of the bays and slews in the entire river they could easily remove 80% of the large spawners.So they will remove and kill all the 10lb. + fish and the smaller one will be able to swim through the nets. With no large fish to spawn these smaller fish will compensate by maturing earlier and spawning sooner creating even more hammer handles. The Idaho fish & game told us about 5 years ago when the started a Mackinaw remove program that it would be a short term goal to get the Kokanee numbers back, and when they recover they would restock the Macks and Gerard Rainbows, but that was a bald face lie as in a public meeting I went to late last fall they admitted they have no plans to ever restore the Mackinaws and Rainbows that they still have the bounty on. Even though they admitted that the Kokanee numbers are vastly improved, So pardon me if I don't believe or trust what the Game Dept. has to say.
In the quote from the paper they say F & G want to make the Pike a PROHIBITED SPECIES !! If that doesn't throw up red flags I don't know what you think would. That would mean you could be fined for having any Pike in your possession, live or dead. This sounds to me like we need to pursue this with all our efforts or we will only have memories of fishing for Trophy Pike in Washington.

[AJ's Dad]

I had an informative conversation with Jason Conner who works with the Kalispel tribe on sunday evening. He plans to attend the Musky club meeting and has also told me he is willing to answer questions about the tribes position and plans with anyone that wants to give him a call. His number is in the article. When I asked him about the comment I had read here about bass reproduction in the POR being "Zero" he said that is not true. He did say that the largemouth bass have a very difficult time making it through their first winter as well as surviving till they reach about 3 years old, the time where they actually start to eat othe fish for food. The first 3 years or so, they eat bugs and zoaplancton (spelling) and they have a lot of competition from the perch and pumpkinseed sunfish for that food source. He told me that the netting and shocking studies are being done so the pike spawning period can be pinpointed. Once it is determined if netting will be an effective method to help control the pike population, not eradicate it, the fish can be removed before they spawn. If a trophy type pike fishery is going to be the case in the POR, the population groth rate is going to have to be slowed down. Some numbers he gave me were that a study done in 2004 (I believe that's the year he gave me) is the one that netted 25 pike. Another study performed in 2006 (again I hope I have the year right. I think I do), in the same areas and at the same time of year, for the same length of time netted over 200 fish. Others here have said this and I will say it again. Lets put our emotions related to our love for pike fishing, and no one has that love more than I do, aside until we have a chance to hear what they have to say. Go to the musky club meeting mentioned in earlier posts, and listen to what they have to say. Ask the questions you have, and see where it goes from there. I think we all agree that if the population growth of pike in the POR does not slow down, we will see an over abundance of the perverbial "Hammer handles" and fewer big fish being caught. Another thing he told me was that the state as well as the tribe have been in contact with the other states that are currently managing pike fisheries, for advice. One thing I would suggest is that fishermen start to keep and eat more of the 20 to 25 inch pike they catch. remember, not every 20" fish you release is going to turn in to a 20 pounder. If you are going to start keeping and eating more of these pike, eat a few for me. I hate the taste of fish, I just LOOOOOOVE to catch them. Happy Fishing folks, and stay calm.

[Anonymous]

this has been a great thread to follow. Thanks to all that are contributing and educating anglers that have no idea (in my case) about this fishery. I am planning to get out there later this year and am looking forward to seeing it first hand myself.
Ask WDFW good, tough questions and please keep the the wet-side of the state informed.

[Fish-N-Fool]

Hey Mark,
I know you believe what they say is true and I also know you have good intentions, so please don't take this as a personal attack, but I also know that the basic thinking of the WDFW & the KNRD is flawed. I am not (and most P.O. river Pike fishermen are not) at all apposed to managing the Pike. I just think there are far better methods of doing so then using the gill nets. I would be all for them netting if they were targeting the hammer handle pike, that I agree there are to many of , but that's not what they are after. They want to gill net the spawners which are the fish we should be keeping. If they want to improve the fishery as they say, then gill netting the trophy fish is not the way to go about it. It has been proven that Pike do not eat the native fish that they say they are trying to save, so none of their argument makes any sense to me. The large pike are controlling the number of squaw fish and perch in the river improving it as a fishery. What we need is a mandatory harvest maybe, that all pike under say 24" must be kept and all fish over 36" must be released. That would be an effective way to manage the pike without ruining it as a trophy pike fishery and thin the numbers of hammer handles in the river.
Just because the Fish & Game Dept. says they know whats best for us, its been proven many times over they can get it wrong too. The Idaho F&G has ruined Lake P.O. from poor management in the quest to save the kokanee. Saying the non-native Macks and Rainbows were the cause of their decline, what they don't tell you is the Kokanee are also a Non-Native fish!! The lowering of lake levels in late fall at their spawning time and the Game Dept. planting the Reeses Shrimp back in about 1968 is what caused the down fall of the Kokanee, as the shrimp eat all of the food source that the Kokanee fry need to eat. So I'm a little disbelieving of the management practices I see they have planed for the P.O. River
I see no reason if this is just a study like they say, why they would need to put nets every bay in the entire river system like they are planing to. You don't need to kill thousands of fish to do a study. They could get the same info from netting just 2 or 3 bays and those bays should be the ones on tribal waters that we are not allowed to fish anyway. While we all know they can never eradicate all the Pike, they could ruin it as a great Pike fishery it is now.
I would like to urge all of you to go to the meeting at the 5 mile Round table Pizza on the 22nd at 6PM and express your own views on this matter.

[Marc Martyn]

Just because the Fish & Game Dept. says they know whats best for us, its been proven many times over they can get it wrong too.

Thank you!:cheers:

Fish Lake out by Cheney used to be one of the best lakes for Browns and Brooks in the Pacific NW. WDFW killed it off because of the Gold Fish in the lake. They were never a problem for fishing. After the rehab, they planted Tiger Trout. Now the lake is literally overrun with sunfish. You can't even cast a dry fly on that lake now without catching one of those little dinks in 10 seconds.

The rivers of the Pacific Northwest have been permanently changed since the installations of all the dams. Gone are the glorious days of catching salmon in the Little Spokane River.

There seems to be a mind set that all fish in the Northwest have to be native species. Nonsense. When change comes, you adapt.

If the PO River were to become a world trophy Pike fishing waters between Newport and Box Canyon, think of what it would do for the local economies. Lord only knows that Newport and down stream could use an economic boost.

Sprague Lake is another example. There is the same mind set that it has to be a trout lake. In my thoughts, it would make a fantastic Muskie or Pike lake. I have to ask myself, who would fly up to Spokane from California to fish for 18"- 24" trout in Sprague Lake. However, if it were a trophy Bass, Muskie, Walleye or Northern Pike Lake, it would draw people from all over the country, perhaps the world. But, no, it has to be a trout lake. Ridiculous.

Leave the PO River alone and let the sportsman manage it and let it flourish.

[Don Wittenberger]

The rehab plan for Sprague Lake included a contingency plan to stock tiger muskies as a top-end predator 4 years after the rehab if other fish populations failed to develop as expected, but at this point it doesn't appear there will be tiger muskies in Sprague.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/licensing/sepa/2007/ ... k_mgmt.pdf

[Anonymous]

First off after reading some of what was said that came from the experts in the state who says there is a zero reproduction rate is off course, we see small bass fry every year up there. These are the same people who are telling us that they need to do these big gillnet studies every year now it seems. If we all forgot, they did a gillnet study last year and did the research on 755 fish then and they did stomach surveys at the same time. Also i see where it says from the experts that the Pike eat the bass not the bass eating Pike, I also have seen baby Pike in Bass stomachs. I know most of the Pike i have cleaned have had perch,crappie and sunfish in them rarely ever a Bass and have never seen a trout in them. If you look at a Pike they prefer a fat,lazy,stupid fish compared to fast, smart fish. We tried last fall to give a report that we obtained from the Minnesota Fish and Game on how they control Pike and what works for them and it all fell on def ears. The people that are coming to the meeting on March 22nd at 6:00 at the 5 mile heights pizza are they people that are the head biologists for the PO River so its not just someone from the westside who has never been to the river. I also agree theres got to better ways to control Pike populations and i for one am all for the slot limits. I also agree we dont want them in any of the other Rivers but why arent we as concerned about the fish that are in Long Lake that are only 2 dams away from another body of water. I also agree I dont want to see hammer handles in the river as the only size Pike to catch, but i think theres more to this story that the experts dont want us to know. I have personally been told a couple diffrent stories on what the plans are, so what do we believe? We all know that this is either driven cause of money, what the tribe wants or Federal concerns...Just cause your supposely a expert doesnt mean you know whats best for this fishery. I dont want to see the effects of us expressing our opinons about Pike effect the Muskie fishery, but if thats the way our state is going to react to us wanting to be more informed about whats going on with our fishery on the PO River were not going to let this go. Were not going to just turn our backs and say ok because your the experts were going to believe everything were told. As we all know you can believe everything on the internet too......

[Anonymous]

Also something i took from the paper article is that they want us to fish for Muskies instead of Pike. I for one love fishing for both, but i certainly dont catch as many Muskies in the winter and early spring as i do Pike. I guess its kinda like they dont want us to build this fishery into a destination Pike area. I know for a fact people are actually coming from other parts of the country to fish for our beloved Pike, which is helping out the poorest county in our state- Pend Oreille County. I dont think anyone has a problem with them contolling numbers its the process and methods they want to implement is our concern. I fish on the river about everyday from April till Oct and the numbers that they say we have that are over running the river i dont see. I know we have large numbers of 18-26 inch fish in there and not as many big fish as we have had in years past. I think thats because everyones keeping the big fish and returning the small ones. I dont like to see that people are saying if we stir the pot we may loose another fishery because of it, since when cant you voice your opinon on what we the people want to see in our fisheries. Enough from me im done ranting till i figure out what the real truth is behind this and time will only tell that....

[Fish-N-Fool]

Just cause your supposely a expert doesnt mean you know whats best for this fishery. I dont want to see the effects of us expressing our opinons about Pike effect the Muskie fishery, but if thats the way our state is going to react to us wanting to be more informed about whats going on with our fishery on the PO River were not going to let this go. Were not going to just turn our backs and say ok because your the experts were going to believe everything were told.

Hip Hip Hooooooray!!! Tell it like it is Craig!

Enough from me im done ranting till i figure out what the real truth is behind this and time will only tell that....
.

But we love to listen to you rant!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

[Marc Martyn]

The rehab plan for Sprague Lake included a contingency plan to stock tiger muskies as a top-end predator 4 years after the rehab if other fish populations failed to develop as expected, but at this point it doesn't appear there will be tiger muskies in Sprague.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/licensing/sepa/2007/ ... k_mgmt.pdf

Thanks for the report, Don. Just as I remembered it.

During the 19th and early 20th Century Sprague Lake and the associated water bodies were
planted with warmwater species, yellow perch, largemouth bass, black crappie, brown bullhead,
tench, and carp.
In the 1970’s two salmonids species were stocked. Washington Department of Game (WDG)
stocked the lake from 1975 to 1978 with Chinook salmon. Not surprisingly, they did not
perform well and very few were detected in the creel. However, not to be deterred, WDG
stocked 30,500 legal sized (5 fish/pound) rainbow trout in 1977, . The trout showed excellent
growth rates, entering the creel at 11 to 13 inches, but by late summer of 1977 these trout were
observed in fish kills on Sprague Lake. The fish kills were thought to be caused by parasitic
copepods. The lake was considered to be a good fishery for warmwater species during the
1970’s, but the fishery steadily declined, until anglers were requesting that WDG investigate the
decline of the fishery.

You would think that after 40 years, they would figure out that Sprague Lake is not a very good lake for trout. If this lake were targeted for Pike, Muskie or Bass, and let to flourish, the resorts would be forced to expand dramatically and the town of Sprague would become a mecca for big game fish anglers instead of an old dried up farm town as it is now.

Below are two lakes, top a trout lake and bottom a Muskie/Pike lake. Maybe someday they will get it.

The same could happen with the PO River if managed properly.

Sorry for the momentary hijack.

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[Natebg1]

[quote="AJ's Dad"]
When I asked him about the comment I had read here about bass reproduction in the POR being "Zero" he said that is not true. He did say that the largemouth bass have a very difficult time making it through their first winter as well as surviving till they reach about 3 years old, the time where they actually start to eat othe fish for food. The first 3 years or so, they eat bugs and zoaplancton (spelling) and they have a lot of competition from the perch and pumpkinseed sunfish for that food source. He told me that the netting and shocking studies are being done so the pike spawning period can be pinpointed.

I am very glad you put this quote above into the conversation. This is why I said at the beginning of this entire conversation, stock BIGGER BASS like the 5 + lbs range BASS. They are mature enough by that time to not only handle Pike but they are almost on a level playing field at that size. I also have a very HARD time believing that the WDFW doesn't know the Spawning periods for Pike, why not just do a little RESEARCH and maybe also ask some of the local ANGLERS who go out for Pike on a daily basis. I am almost positive they could more than likely get an answer to this. I look forward to hearing what some of these guys have to say at the meetings and what there reasoning is for making the decision for Gill Nets. Let's just say I talked to a few of my buddies who Gill Net for a living and they are certainly saying that there is a lot being left unsaid about what Gill Netting really can do and I will leave it at that. Let's just wait and see where the conversation goes, it should be very interesting to say the least. Craig keep us informed what you hear on your end and I will certainly pass word from this end after Thursday.

Nate

[Xwisconyfisherman]

The bottom line is if you put gill nets in all of the sloughs during spawning season you’re not going to create a trophy pike fishery.......All I have to say is Hammer handles...............Why not use a combination of electro shocking them and put a bounty on the little ones......say 3 bucks for a pike head (as long as it’s under 5lbs I’m sure you could come up with measurements)

[Natebg1]

Hey Xwisconyfisherman,

It sounds to me like You and I come from a very similar background with Pike fishing and have seen enough Hammerhandles in our day to know when enough is enough with these little buggers. I am all for taking as many of the smaller guys as you want, but the giants in the Pend Oreille I am sure would make any fisherman or women's heart skip a beat if they had one of these on the end of there line. Another thing that really confuses me is why the WDFW doesn't look at the positive aspect of having this fish in the river and take advantage of that and use it as a marketing tool to help with the economic recovery in that area. I can tell you right now I have some very close friends and family from the Mid-West that ALL want to come out here just for a shot at some Giant Pike in the Pend Oreille and they don't care about the cost involved to do so. I guarantee that if the WDFW looked at the projected impact of advertising the Great Pike on the Pend Oreille they might be shocked by who would come from near and far just to have an opportunity at one of these monsters. Talk about saving money on not having to go all the way to Canada and instead putting that money back into U.S. hands and even better in Washington State pockets. I understand this is Salmon and Trout country, but why not try and use this to the advantage of both the State of Washington and to the WDFW. I would venture to say that if more people from other areas of the Country knew how good the Pike fishing was they might consider never going anywhere else for Pike and I am one of those that can speak. I never even knew the Pike existed out here till last fall when a good friend of mine told me about them and I finally got my shot to hit the Pend Oreille for the very first time in my life and I will tell you that in 20 years of fishing for Pike I have never seen a better Quality fishery for size and numbers than the Pend Oreille River. That is a huge statement considering some of the waters I grew up fishing on, especially in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Washington State and the WDFW should take an example like myself to show others that this fishery really is that GOOD!!! Well, guess we will have to see what transpires over the next few days, but I can tell you this, love em or hate em the Pike are here to stay even if the Giants do get killed off, which would be a darn shame.

[AJ's Dad]

I believe we are going to find out that the bottom line here is that they do not want to see the pike make it to the Columbia river system. My guess is that they feel the pike could jeopardize millions of dollars a year generated from salmon fishing weather they are generated by commercial or recreational fishing. Yes I have to say, I am trying to believe the words I have been told, but you know the old saying. Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me. The conversation I had with Mr. Conner was very convincing. He has never lied to me before, so I am going to believe that his comments and concerns are genuine. Nobody can possibly enjoy pike fishing more than I do. I lose sleep thinking and planning for it EVERY night, so please understand that I want what is best fpor this fishery. The problem is, I don't know what is best. I only know what I think is best. By the way, to the guy that was trying to quote Rodney King earlier, what he actually said was, "Can't we all just get along?" I couldn't find your post when I looked back afor it. You were off a little on your quote, but I loved the post. I can't imagine Rodney out doing a little pike fishing on the Pendorielle river. Happy fishing everybody and I hope to meet you all at the meeting.

[River-haven]

To All,
I just found this Forum on the internet this afternoon and am new at this so bear with me. I'm a retiree living at "Ground Zero" on the shores of the beautiful Pend Oreille River near Pioneer Park and consider myself an avid fisherman. When I saw the article in The Miner last week I was totally incensed by it. I didn't know where to turn. We don't have a fishery advocate (i.e. club) here in Pend Oreille County. I knew I had to do something but, I felt people really didn't care. Well, I care!! I tried to contact fellow fishermen and people in positions who I thought would react like I did. I got a few inputs. But, I knew we needed action. I remembered the washingtonlakes.com website and went there and was able to find Craig last Friday. I'm glad I did because he took action and it's reassuring to know there are other sportsmen out there that feel like I do. In the last few days I've had extensive conversations with both Jason Conner (Kalispel Tribe) and Marc Divens (WDFW) biologists directly involved in these "surveys." I questioned the need to target the big female spawners on their beds in the spring. We agreed that it would be impossible to eradicate the pike population now that they're entrenched in the river. I too, like a previous responder, question the intentions of listing the norhtern pike as a "prohibited species" in Washington?? I emphasized to them the importance of public outreach given the impact of their proposals. Marc agreed that they should meet with interested parties in both Spokane and Newport before their first survey in April. Regarding the pike eating themselves out of house and home....I don't think so. In fact, northern pike will eat their own if the opportunity presents itself. I'm a strong proponent of slot limits and if population studies are required, target the smaller fish rather than killing trophy pike on their spawning beds. I wrote the following article last week and submitted it to The Miner for inclusion in their newspaper. I was told it will be included in tomorrows edition of The Miner.


March 10, 2011
Why Not Pike?
The recent Miner article entitled “Who Wants Pike” (The Newport Miner, March 9) struck a nerve with me. In many ways I can’t say that what I read surprised me. Ever since the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) recognized that the Pend Oreille River system had northern pike they’ve come up with ways (in the name of science) to remove these “non-native” species from the river. In 2004 they conducted a “survey” to determine to what extent the northern pike have invaded this new habitat. According to the article, only 26 northern were found. During the 2010 survey “the count was up to 755.” Does that really surprise anybody? The Pend Oreille River is excellent habitat for the northern pike and, as a result of its introduction, it has thrived.
Two things really bother me about this latest survey. One is that gill nets were used to conduct these surveys. As anyone who has worked with gill nets would know, mortality rates on fish caught in gill nets are quite high. Unless these biologists were continuously checking the nets and releasing recently caught fish, most of these fish likely died of suffocation. While an undergraduate in fisheries biology, I worked for biologists in the Montana Fish and Game Department and have hands on knowledge of the effectiveness and lethality of gill nets on fish including salmonids and warm water species. Secondly, the fish are very tasty and healthy for you. During these times of a depressed economy, it seems wasteful to kill and dispose of these fine eating fish. Even if a few of the pike end up in the Newport Food Bank, much of the meat will likely go to waste.
Mr. Bolding (WDFW) is right to say that the northern pike is a “voracious top-end predator.” The State is concerned that the northern are big eaters and will reduce all other fish in the reservoir. He’s right! I’ve lived on the river since 1998 and consider myself an avid fisherman. In my estimation, the fishing on the river has never been better. The northern, according to the WDFW surveys are eating perch, pike minnows, suckers, pea mouth chubs and bass. So, with the exception of the bass, what’s the problem? Notice they did not mention trout being eaten, the species they’re so concerned about. Let’s face it, the Pend Oreille River, because of the high summer time water temperatures, is not suitable trout habitat. From 1998 to 2001 I caught lots of sunfish, stunted perch and an occasional brown trout. The bass fishing was fair but, in 2001 all that changed when I caught my first northern pike. I was “hooked” and continued to catch more northern that summer. But what was interesting was that all the pike were larger fish. I caught only five but they were all between 12 and 22 pounds. There were just a couple of us fishing for them at that time since very few fishermen recognized their existence in the river.
The article points out that “Dealing with pike will likely come down to manually reducing their population.” Marc Divens (WDFW) goes on to say, “The pike population may need to be reduced by half to start seeing a downward trend.” I ask you WHY? According to the article, this spring the Kalispel Tribe biologists will focus on the pike’s spawning season “to find times when they’re congregated in backwater sloughs.” He goes on to say, “The goal is to remove the fish before they spawn.”
Why is it that Lake Coeur d’Alene, Lake Pend Oreille, Hayden Lake and Long Lake have northern pike populations coexisting with salmonids and other species and no one’s panicking about it? Salmonids generally prefer deep, open and cold waters as opposed to northern pike which prefer shallow, warm and weedy waters for habitat. Hence, the populations exist with minimal detrimental impact on other species.
Outside of the fact that the meat is delicious, I’ve never seen so many fishermen actively pursuing the northern pike since I moved here. I believe that the next state record northern pike will come from the Pend Oreille River. This has become a “top notch” fishery and lots of people are coming to the river in hopes of landing a new state record. People pay the “big bucks” to go to Canada, and hire a guide to find quality northern pike fishing which we have right at our doorstep. Let’s not ruin it!

[sparky1doug]

River-Haven, very well put and thought out. I believe you have captured the just of whats going on and at stake. As you can see your not alone in the concern and confusion. I too understand the difficult position the fisheries prople are in, they are good people. I see the need for population control of an expanding Pike presents. As a former gill net skipper in Alaska I can't see how you could net the sloughs without damaging nests of the fish your trying to protect. Perhaps in our upcoming meeting with them they can answer some of our concerns.

[Xwisconyfisherman]

Natebg1--
Just some thoughts…and rambling…
The hammer handle/and the snake are way to common back in MN and WI and the POR is truly a trophy pike fishery, but it won’t stay like that forever. I wish they would pass a law offering a bounty or requiring you to keep all the sub 25 inch fish(or the first 3 or X number you catch every day) and allow for 1 trophy fish to be taken a year(I’ve been a big fan of the idea of a trophy tag for fish for years and think the state could really benefit from the extra revenue it could generate) and even go as far as allowing you to bow fish them(just the little ones). They are in the POR forever and I think something like that would help control the population as well as maintain a trophy pike fishery

[Lucius]

I knew I left a great group of folks back in Washington/Idaho!! I am glad you all share the same obsession I do for this toothy critter and realize the great potential. Even though I live in colorado and have some great pike fisheries here in the state, I have been trying to figure/plan a trip back to the POR because I know it is one of the hottest pike fisheries going in the lower 48...period.

I truly understand and agree with the WDFW that the pike have to be brought under control and the population of smaller pike have to be brought in check. But targeting the pike during the spawn, the few big females (and occasional rare large males) will be drastically effected immediately with the serious potential of jeopardizing the quality of the pike. This in turn will hurt some of the true allies, if you will, the WDFW can have to help with the small pike problem. One being the big pike that actually eat the smaller pike when the opportunity presents itself (I don't know how often this happens, but I know the big girls can help especially when us humans can't get after the smaller ones). The second being the pike anglers themselves that consistently fish for these fish and want to help keep the small ones in check by harvesting what they can while preserving the trophy fishery that exists. I would have a little less apprehension towards the gill netting if they decided to perform the gill netting during the mid summer months when the bigger fish have pushed out in the open deeper water of the main river while the little ones are still in the sloughs. I am confident that I speak for ever pike angler is that we would like to see some public comment taken into consideration as well as some compromise. If you feel you must use gill nets, don't do it during the spawn. If you want us to harvest all the small pike we can, help us make it a better quality/trophy fishery by enacting protective slot limits for the larger fish on the POR. Speaking of protective slots, here is an article from in-fisherman I found about pike covering growth, habitat and management.

http://www.in-fisherman.com/content/pik ... actors-0/2