Northern Pike Summary Report 2015 University of Idaho

NO, it's not a muskie, but it's close...
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oly1
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Northern Pike Summary Report 2015 University of Idaho

Post by oly1 » Wed Jan 06, 2016 12:40 pm

Ok I have the full report and summary and will try to attach. Should start some lively conversation and Happy New Year to all.

Ok a little problem here. Thought I could upload attachment but won't let me upload a PDF or JPG. I have a one page document and a 101 page report. Thanks in advance. PM if you need to with an email address and maybe I can forward to someone who is a little smarter on this one. Thanks

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Fish-N-Fool
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Re: Northern Pike Summary Report 2015 University of Idaho

Post by Fish-N-Fool » Sat Jan 09, 2016 12:36 am

Send me the report I'd like to read it even if I cant figure out how to upload it.
send it to rick@fnflures.com

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Re: Northern Pike Summary Report 2015 University of Idaho

Post by Fish-N-Fool » Sun Jan 10, 2016 2:23 am

Here is a web based version or the PDF doc that anyone can read. It took me about 3 hours to figure this out so your welcome. :) About 90% of this is wasted space and useless info, but the 10% if you can find it is interesting.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_g2-M ... paTWM/view" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

oly1
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Re: Northern Pike Summary Report 2015 University of Idaho

Post by oly1 » Sun Jan 10, 2016 7:30 am

Perfect! Thanks for the help on this one.

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Re: Northern Pike Summary Report 2015 University of Idaho

Post by oly1 » Sun Jan 10, 2016 7:31 am

Perfect! Thanks for the help on this one.

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AJ's Dad
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Re: Northern Pike Summary Report 2015 University of Idaho

Post by AJ's Dad » Tue Jan 12, 2016 1:14 pm

oly,
Thanks for sending me the file on this study.
At first it was a little frustrating reading through this looking for the information I wanted. It's quite repetitive. However, I reminded myself that this is a thesis, and was written in the desired format for such.

After sifting through many pages of information I can see that it shows us a lot of exactly what we already knew (and some new information as well). Pike will certainly eat a west slope cutthroat trout, if one swims in front of it. One thing I did not find, and I do admit that I did not read every word on every page, is how many of the tagged cutthroats were found in any of the stomach contents of the captured pike. If that's in there and someone found it, can you please point out the page so I can read it?

One thing I noticed while reading, was the fact that the writer refers to Large mouth bass, Chinook, and kokanee, all three as being "Non Native Species". We all knew that a pike would eat anything that swims in front of it. What we didn't know, and in my opinion, still don't know, is what percentage of the cutthroat population is being eaten by the pike. It's very easy to point out that pike eat salmonids of all types, if they are present when the pike is hungry. In my opinion, all three of the aforementioned non native species would do exactly the same. Maybe a gill net study needs to be done on the Chinook to see how many cutthroats would be found.

There is mention of the fact that the cutthroats are not returning to Benewah creek. That doesn't mean they are dead. I'm not a trout expert but I believe a trout prefers relatively clean water. If those cutthroats have to go through the water in Benewah lake to get to the creek, it's no wonder they aren't going back. Benewah lake turns into a mud hole in mid to late summer, and I can't imagine any fish wanting to live, or even pass through there. If the cutthroats have been implanted with the Passive Integrated Transponder, the fish can be identified, but apparently not tracked. Maybe a radio tracking tag can be used to determine where the cutthroats are actually going. We may be surprised how many of them are actually surviving.

The writer states that he hopes the state will use the data he gathered as a starting point for monitoring Northern Pike and smallmouth bass in Coeur d’Alene Lake to make better informed "management "decisions. The problem is that so far, locally, we haven't seen any management decisions made, in other pike inhabited waters, ie. the PendOrielle river. What we have seen, is the information gathered has been used to blame, euthanize and eradicate the pike population. The state of Washington made it very clear that they do not want to manage a pike fishery. They simply want them "GONE" It will be interesting to see how the state of Idaho uses this information. Will they use it as a tool to manage the pike, or will they use it as a tool to convince the world that the pike are solely, or at least substantially responsible for the depleting populations of West slope cutthroat trout. I am not trying to say pike aren't at least partially responsible. That would be foolish.
Maybe the next step could be to gather data on how many smaller pike can be found in the stomachs of the larger pike, throughout the lake. I see some data on page 90-91 that show very few but I can imagine those numbers would be bigger in a lake wide study.

I for one would be excited to see a slot limit put on the pike to help curb their population. As I and others have said in the past. Big pike eat small pike, and that can be a good management tool. It's done with other species. Why not at least start there with the pike. It seems it would be easy to put a rule in place that would not allow retention of pike over a certain size, say 30". That would leave the bigger pike in the lake to eat the smaller pike. Ya I know, big pike lay lots of eggs that make smaller pike.

I'm not going to let myself get all wound up and participate in a name calling, finger pointing, mud slinging battle like we saw when the issue at the POR was going on. I am however interested in other objective opinions, and information on this subject. I would really hate to see another pike fishery completely wiped out. I have too much money wrapped up in tackle to catch them, and a ton of emotional attachment to go along with it.

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Re: Northern Pike Summary Report 2015 University of Idaho

Post by Fish-N-Fool » Tue Jan 12, 2016 3:40 pm

I'm sure if you did a stomach contents survey of the Chinook that are already being caught "and kept" on a rod and reel would give you a pretty good idea of what they are eating and they would not have to do a gill netting study that would be killing other species as well. I would think the number of Cutthroat that Chinook eat would be far greater then the number that the Pike would eat. Just because of the amount of time they spend in proximity to each other compared to the Pike. Pike are ambush predators so in general you will not find them out in 120 feet of open water where the Chinook and West-slope Cutthroat spend about 99% of there time. I would think it would be safe to say Pike and Cutthroat occupy the same waters only about 1 to 2% of all there time in a body of water. Where as I would also say that Chinook and Cutthroat spend about 80 or 90% of there time in the same waters. That and the fact that Cutthroat trout are a very fast and nimble species in the water they would be one of the hardest species of fish for a Pike to catch. Why chase a fish what can swim circles around you when you can pick on the poor dumb and relatively slow Yellow perch or Sunfish that spends about 99% of there time in the same waters. As anyone that knows Pike they will eat pretty much anything that can fit in their mouth and that they can catch. This is why Pike feed mainly on Perch not because they prefer them, but because they are close by and easy to catch.

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Re: Northern Pike Summary Report 2015 University of Idaho

Post by AJ's Dad » Fri Jan 15, 2016 5:33 pm

I just got this photo from a friend. This is a good photo of a natural method of controlling the pike population, if the larger fish are allowed to survive.
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Re: Northern Pike Summary Report 2015 University of Idaho

Post by harleypiker » Sun Jan 17, 2016 5:59 pm

Interesting that the big pike swallowed the little pike backwards. He obviously knew that the little pike had no dorsal fin to puncture his gullet. Nearly all of the pike I have cleaned from the chain lakes over the past 20 years have had perch in them. Perch's fins bother them not. I remember one trout and a couple of bass in their bellies over that time period.
Incidentally, I have only kept the better eating 2.5 to 5 lb pike in the past. but last fall a friend convinced me to keep the little 18" to 22" that were only biting. Wow, what a difference. Can't tell them apart from walleye for flavor.

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Lucius
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Re: Northern Pike Summary Report 2015 University of Idaho

Post by Lucius » Tue Jan 26, 2016 6:45 pm

AJ's Dad wrote:I just got this photo from a friend. This is a good photo of a natural method of controlling the pike population, if the larger fish are allowed to survive.

Where and when was that taken? Was he ice fishing?

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Re: Northern Pike Summary Report 2015 University of Idaho

Post by AJ's Dad » Tue Jan 26, 2016 7:14 pm

I'm not sure.

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