Northern Pike fishing in some western Wa lakes

[Bodofish]

I guess we have different interpretations of "survive". I was not talking about dumping your aquarium in lake Washington and some fish will live for awhile type of survival.
By survive I meant establish a population. Like there are two species of bass, perch, catfish, crappie and many different sunfish in nearly every lake that's not high elevation throughout the state. These are all introduced species. They were not all planted by humans, birds and floods move fish as well.
Many lakes would probably be more productive being managed for 1 or 2 species, especially in Western Washington.
Instead we have the same "fish soup" all around.

Pike would not establish here, or they would be here. I though that was an obvious answer.

I dont see how you can say that. They are already in lake Wa, and from the reports I read, the population is growing. Plus its pretty obvious the musky survive just fine and grow quite well in all the lakes they have been planted in, so why wouldnt pike?

Pike would and that my friend is the problem. Pike live in lakes and rivers up into the Arctic Circle. If you want to catch big toothy fish, go for the Tigers. Being a Hybrid, the get traits from both so, they become the fish of a thousand casts just like their Musky cousins. If you want Pikes, head on over to the Pend Oriel.

PS: I do understand your questioning. Problem with Western Wash. lakes is they're very temperate by nature and darn near anything will survive and thrive big time here.

[AJ's Dad]

If you want Pikes, head on over to the Pend Oriel. ????
Don't waste your time fishing the Pend Oreille river for pike, at least in the Box Canyon area. They freaking killed them all. Remember???

[Bodofish]

If you want Pikes, head on over to the Pend Oriel. ????
Don't waste your time fishing the Pend Oreille river for pike, at least in the Box Canyon area. They freaking killed them all. Remember???

I don't think they did a very good job. When they spawn, they lay like 10k eggs each. And I'm pretty sure they're in the lake too which means they will never get rid of them. I have a friend that lives just up from the river and he sees people fishing all the time.

[hewesfisher]

There are northerns in Lake Roosevelt in the Kettle Falls area.

[Bodofish]

There are northerns in Lake Roosevelt in the Kettle Falls area.

I'm sure they are. Its all connected.

Good luck getting them out of there.

[AJ's Dad]

Yes. There are still a few pike in the Pend Oreille river. However. a day long trip to that body of water, even by an experienced pike fisherman will likely produce next to no fish, and if you do catch one, it will likely be very small. I believe they are still putting out their gill nets in the spring, so anything that escapes those nets will more than likely be so small you might as well catch a trout. Yes they are in Pend Oreille lake I just caught a twelve pounder there on Saturday. There certainly are pike in Roosevelt, but not a substantial enough population to make it worth a trip out there to target them. The gill nets have been deployed there to. Once again due to the fear of damaging the oh so precious salmon and trout population. The gist of this forum was that it would be nice to have a pike fishery in western Washington. I would love to see a pike fishery anywhere in Washington, but the WDFW will NEVER allow it. They have even disguised the killing of pike in Long Lake as an attempt to reduce the carp population. Ya right. They have known pike are in Long Lake for quite some time. They even said they weren't worried about them because they "Thought" they couldn't spawn effectively I there. I guess they're finding out they aren't as smart as they think they are. Now they're gill netting and killing more than just pike and carp.
Man. I tried to stay out of this discussion but I love catching pike and it burns me that our WDFW experts think the pike can't coexist with other species. Even when they have been doing it for MANY years in other states.

[spokey9]

It's more than whether or not they could coexist with salmon. I guarantee the big reason for wanting pike gone are the bucket bios that take it upon themselves to stock lakes. Mineral is great example, after the last treatment they gave that lake to remove largemouth, by the time it opened people had already restocked it with a handful of breeder sized bass. If they could put an end to illegal stocking I'd wager the dept would more receptive to stocking non-native fish in some of our lakes without access to moving water.

At least that was the response from one of the wdfw bios I contacted years ago about planting Brook trout in some of the lakes without creeks that are too shallow for rainbows to survive the summer heat in. Although they agreed with me that brookies would survive the warmer temps better, they couldn't control the fish because someone might get the bright idea other lakes could use them too.

[Bodofish]

Yes. There are still a few pike in the Pend Oreille river. However. a day long trip to that body of water, even by an experienced pike fisherman will likely produce next to no fish, and if you do catch one, it will likely be very small. I believe they are still putting out their gill nets in the spring, so anything that escapes those nets will more than likely be so small you might as well catch a trout. Yes they are in Pend Oreille lake I just caught a twelve pounder there on Saturday. There certainly are pike in Roosevelt, but not a substantial enough population to make it worth a trip out there to target them. The gill nets have been deployed there to. Once again due to the fear of damaging the oh so precious salmon and trout population. The gist of this forum was that it would be nice to have a pike fishery in western Washington. I would love to see a pike fishery anywhere in Washington, but the WDFW will NEVER allow it. They have even disguised the killing of pike in Long Lake as an attempt to reduce the carp population. Ya right. They have known pike are in Long Lake for quite some time. They even said they weren't worried about them because they "Thought" they couldn't spawn effectively I there. I guess they're finding out they aren't as smart as they think they are. Now they're gill netting and killing more than just pike and carp.
Man. I tried to stay out of this discussion but I love catching pike and it burns me that our WDFW experts think the pike can't coexist with other species. Even when they have been doing it for MANY years in other states.

Nature seems to find a way.

[Fishin'Daze]

Good responses - it's nice to see others thinking about our WA fishery. Yea I agree that our current WDFW spineless officers will do nothing to change any fishery in any of our western WA lakes. So far stocking small trout in our lakes seems to make them believe they are doing a good job. Keep in mind though that Rainbows aren't natural to most of our western Wa lakes and are predators just as much as any Northern Pike. I think it's because Pike have large sharp teeth often people think they are more of a vicious predator. Put 10,000 or so Rainbows in a lake and I wonder how that effects the bass, perch and other fish trying to reproduce. Also why don't the Rainbows get bigger? Hmmmm....been fishing lakes that have been heavily stocked with Rainbows for years with no results in a quality fishery - just more small Rainbows dumped each year. It's obvious the Rainbows aren't self-sufficient - if so they wouldn't have to be so heavily stocked each year.

Maybe if we as a group want more of a fishery other than small Rainbows we can change some minds. let's face it Salmon/Steelhead fishing is in dire need of recovery. I've fished for these fish for many years and certainly miss the years where fishing was good to great. But I'm a supporter of a recovery time.

Given that what other fisheries do we have that offer a great fight and taste good here in western Wa?

Some say we have Tigers ........Yea we do but their called a fish of a thousand cast for a reason. If I made a thousand cast in a lake that had a healthy population of Northern Pike...........damm........ I would be one happy fisherman at the end of the day.

[jd39]

I'd love a pike fishery in western washington and a walley fishery if a suitable habitat for them is available over here. I also agree 100% it is too risky because of the idiot brigade known as bucket biologists. Those idiots would wreak havoc if these fish were readily available in western Washington waters for illegal planting everywhere.
Please read up on the mat-su valley and susitna river drainage in Alaska if you dont believe pike will negatively impact salmon populations. King fishing is closed almost everywhere in this area and cohos are not far behind. Illegally introduced pike are eating the fry and smolts out of existence. Pike are even native to Alaska but not these areas. In the native range the salmon, steelhead, trout and char evolved with the pike and so have survival strategies for pike. In the mat-su valley and susitna river system they did not evolve with pike and are not fairing well at all.
I like trout, fried or in tacos, I think they taste great. I bleed, ice, fillet, skin and then soak in cold tap water before vacuum sealing. My trout always turns out tasty and is typically the first to go at fish frys even when perch, kokanee and salmon are available. I still think perch is the best but always happy the trout gets gobbled up. To each his/her own I guess.

[spokey9]

The quality and taste of trout are affected by lots of factors. Since primarily the fish are stockers, the feed at the hatchery is probably the biggest one. Then there's water temps the fish endure and natural food available in a particular lake (snails really hurt the flesh quality imo). I have a few lakes I love the taste of trout out of. Lake Stevens has excellent trout, probly because they're planted as fry so the grow on a better quality food source. October & November are good months for good tasting fish, just avoid lakes with recent plants for the best quality.

[jonb]

I totally understand the sentament of wanting a naturally producing warm water fishery. I am from upstate NY origionally, which has world class pike fishing and arguably the best pike/pickeral/musky fishing in the world. Like you mentioned, 10-20lb pike are the size class we normally targetted and could reasonably expect to catch a dozen or more a day along with other species like walleye, bass, catfish etc. The lakes and rivers back east have WAY more fish overall due to having a balanced ecosystem still in place. The stocked trout lakes in washington are absolute crap by comparison in every way.

On the other hand, it's not all about us and our wants. The salmon and trout were here long before us and should be preserved. I would be for a moratorium on salmon fishing and for discontinuing the spring catchable trout plants for most lakes, sure plant a few, like green lake, but not every lake in western washington needs. Hordes of 9" stocker tiddlers.

Ive seen what lakes with no planter trout do when they are left alone in western washington. Big bluegill, lots of healthy bass and crappies. Or the cuthroat do well. It can be good fishing, all that needs to happen is have wdfw leave it alone and let nature take its coarse.