Spokesman Article

[dougw]

In todays paper.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/a ... ive-issue/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[YellowBear]

Thanks for posting this dougw.

[dougw]

No problem.

[Lucius]

38 lb pike...RIP girl, you will be truly missed by all us pike anglers. Pushing the 40lb record limit of which only 3 states can say there are a part of to include neighbor Idaho, Minnesota, and New York. The funny thing is, New York's and Minnesota fish were caught at least 7 decades ago (1929 for Minnesota and 1940 for New York)...Idaho was caught 2 years ago in August....the potential is here in the NW....

I salute you Big Pike

[YJ Guide Service]

RIP I agree what a shame....I dont understand whos going to fish the derbys if there isnt any fish left to fish for...I think thats 3 fish so far over 20lbs

[Mark K]

There is also a pic at Wholesale Sports of a guy with a POR Pike hanging from a rope on their dock. It is supposedly 54". If its not 54 its dang close.

[Natebg1]

Well I guess there is no denying that the Pend Oreille River can certainly produce Monster Pike! The terrible part to this whole ordeal is that more than likely anyone who fishes the river will be stuck to catching hammer handles for a while. As Lucius pointed out catching a 38 lbs gal only comes along every few decades so chances are certainly very unlikely any of us will ever see a size like that again anywhere within the Pend Oreille River. I am sure the people involved with the netting are extremely excited about this, unfortunately they continue to destroy there own economy for the mighty dollar. I am sure none of this will go back to the people who continue to struggle within Pend Oreille County and are the lifeline of the local towns. Well, I guess all that matters is helping the rich to continue getting richer and watch everyone else fall by the wayside. Way to go Tribe and WDFW I am sure you all are very proud!

I feel for Pend Oreille County and those who rely on the river for a living, I guess destroying people's livelihoods really isn't that big of a deal though. I hope the best to anyone who is trying to make a living from the river and I hope that you are able to bounce back or continue to make things work for your business. Maybe you could get a Canadian Fishing License and go down River, at least this would probably give you a chance to still catch a few big Pike since Canada LOVES PIKE!!!

Rest in Peace Monster Mama Pike

Nate The Pike Baron

[AJ's Dad]

Doug,
Thanks for posting the link to that article. It is very interesting to me to see the bycatch numbers. It almost makes me laugh when I see how many perch, sunfish, bass and crappie have been caught. In the meetings I have attended the "Experts" repeatedly said that their nets are specifically designed to catch pike utilizing a net opening size that would target pike. In fact I have even heard them say that the nets are supposed to target the mid range size pike and not larger ones. I was told, "Sure they will catch some of the bigger pike because they get into the nets and then roll, but for the most part they will mostly catch the mid range eating machcines". HAHAHAH !

How can a net designed to catch pike in the 18 to 26" (?) range manage to catch perch, crappie and sunfish?????? Give me a break!! If that's the best they can do at designing a gill net, they better go back to Gillnet Design School. Conner told the review that 90% of the perch survived being removed and released. That sounds great. I wonder how many dead perch will be swooped up by eagles and other predetory species.

The following words are not actual facts. They depict what I believe to be highly possible. (Then again I have a very imaginitive mind)
I can hear it now. Mr. Conner, can you explain the large quantity of dead perch, sunfish and crappie floating around in the Pend Oreille River lately? UUUHHH well we are planning a study to determine the cause of death in these fish. They were fine when we released them. Sure their gills were damage by our GILLNETS, but they swam away just fine when we threw them back in the water by the thousands.

A couple of week later---- We have concluded our study on the dead perch, crappie and sunfish in the POR. We have determined that these fish have been killed by a group of Rogue Pike that remained after we completed our eradication project. We have decided that these Rogue Pike are a new species to the area that have been illegaly been introduced into the river. We have concluded that these Rogue Pike are just trying to get back at us for killing THOUSANDS of their brothers and sisters. We have set a tentitive date to meet with the BPA and we plan to beg for MILLIONS of dollars to remove this highly preditory species. We expect that we will be successfull, again, as we have been working out lately. We stand for several hours per day holding our hands out with our arms extended. This will get us in shape as we pleed for MO MONEY, MO MONEY, MO MONEY.

I think there could possibly be a reality TV series about this issue. I think I'm going to contact Fox Network or someone like that. This would be at least as entertaining as that Duck Dynasty show or the Bayou Billionaires (I like that one), or Wicked Tuna. Maybe they could call it "KIller Gillnets Of the POR"


"Catch and release baby"
"Whether they like it or not"

[Mark K]

Or maybe it was all the mercury in the water that killed them

[Lucius]

The beaut was 48" long by the way...frozen

[Mark K]

Lucius, remember your talks with WDFW when they were telling you the river couldn't produce a fish like that? It obviously isn't too common up there but that river can definitely produce big fish.

[MarkFromSea]

I think this says pretty well how important the pike WERE to the PO: "About 4,000 angler hours were devoted to fishing the Pend Oreille River in the 1990s, he said. After pike numbers started mushrooming in 2006, the angler hours spiked to more than 70,000 in 2010, according to tribal surveys."
I'm kickin myself for not making it last year...... That recent tourney only had 3 pike caught......... PO is dead..... in Box Canyon..... Bass, in the nets....

[Lucius]

Lucius, remember your talks with WDFW when they were telling you the river couldn't produce a fish like that? It obviously isn't too common up there but that river can definitely produce big fish.

Oh yes I have never forgot. I also know of a pike that was caught that was 47" back in 2010 out of the POR as well. Pike will seldom grow to those sizes if they never get a chance to or if there is too much competition. I personally thought a lot of the big pike were no longer in the res after the results of last year's project which I heard the biggest fish caught in the nets was only 20lbs...

By the way where and when did you get that Tiger in your Avatar?

[Mark K]

I know of a 48" Pike caught 2 years ago, and just seen a pic of a HUGE fish caught last year.

That Tiger was caught on Newman last year in August. 41" and got her on the figure 8. That was pretty fun! Tiger lakes should be heating up pretty soon too! Just got off South Coeur D' Alene with AJ's Dad and we found water up to 62 Degrees.

[Lucius]

Nice...I have never caught a tiger in a figure 8, but I have caught 1 pike. 62 degs!!!! that is ridiculous, you guys must be having some warm weather up there!!! Did you guys catch anything?

[Mark K]

Yeah, its been nice. Water calrity is terrible though. All the run off is bringing all the mud down. I didn't catch anything, but Mark didn't do bad. He got 2 Pike, 2 LMB, and a Smallie. I'm just saving mine for the tourney next weekend.

[AJ's Dad]

That's a great attitude my young friend. If the water conditions don't shape up, we'll need all the help we can get.
However, if you don't get that new reel in by Saturday, I would suggest bringing along an extra. It's tough to put fish in the boat when you're "Denesting" a malfunctioning reel. (LOL)