23 minutes ago, Scott F said:

I'm curious as to what you think the DNR could do to help?

There was a lot of talk about this last spring actually. Here's a full article: http://www.startribune.com/dnr-proposal-reduce-population-of-hammer-handle-sized-northerns/291478171/

2 hours ago, punch said:

There was a lot of talk about this last spring actually. Here's a full article: http://www.startribune.com/dnr-proposal-reduce-population-of-hammer-handle-sized-northerns/291478171/

IF people actually would keep 18-22 inch pike, the proposal could work. The problem is, there is not enough meat on those fish after you remove the Y bones to make them worth the trouble to clean. Slot limits require people to keep small fish for them to work, which is why they seldom work with bass because people won't keep little bass. 

It just needs marketing, how does "Crunchy Fried Pike on a Stick" sound?  

On 2/18/2016 at 0:44 AM, Josh Smith said:

So, what do they smell like? Folks talk about the smell...

Josh

They smell like a wild animal more than a fish. A very pungent odor that the slime leaves. Very slimy fish.

On 3/12/2016 at 11:15 AM, Ski said:

On 3/12/2016 at 11:15 AM, Ski said:

These work GREAT !

Cheap, light, float, secure bite.

 

I use these also, they work great.  I try to handle the fish as little as possible as the pike /pickerel are pretty delicate.  I find with the crankbaits a lot of times I can turn them loose without ever getting them in the boat by just grabbing the hooks they have with pliers and turning them loose.  Every now and then you get the one who inhales your bait and get's it in the gills.  That's where the orange grippers come in handy, keep them out of the boat and bleeding all over the place.

Nice long pair of forceps work well for the deep one's.  With the grippers I find having the fish lean a bit on the side of the boat will relax them most of the time.  Also I always try to put my eyes on the bait as soon as the fish surfaces to see how it's hooked, if the line is close to the mouth I net them asap.

We have pickerel here, so they are almost all "hammer handles" in the pike world.  I like catching them, they have saved many bad days of fishing, It's cool when you get a day of them when they are aerobatic fighting.

On March 16, 2016 at 9:02 PM, Bunnielab said:It just needs marketing, how does "Crunchy Fried Pike on a Stick" sound?  

Pike really are a delicious fish. Aside from a few panfish here and there, they're they only fish that I consistently eat. I pick them apart like one would do if they were eating a chicken wing .

However, people don't want to keep dinky little pike in the 16-20 inch range. Have you ever tried to clean them? Bones as thick as 6lb line. No thank you.

Part of me wishes we just had a DNR directive to club/eat any pike we caught under a certain size, say 18", as if they were a rough fish. It'd be a useful experiment to see what would happen. Give it three years. I'd bet we'd see improvements.  

We have a healthy Pike population in the river near my house. They don't show up on the VDGIF site so I'm not sure if they migrated, got washed in during a flood or if someone put them. I always enjoyed catching them, and always relaesed them.

These last few weeks or so I have seen them flotaing in the river or rotting on shore. I ran in to a couple of guys on my way to the car who asked what if anything I caught. The topic of Pike came up and they admitted to killing everyone they catch claiming that they aren't supposed to be here and how it's ruining the bass population. They were d**n proud of it too.

This river many of you would call a creek. Crystal clear, max depth of 6 feet or so in spots and maybe 50 yards wide at the widest point. It has suffered from 2 major fish kills in the last 15 years, that all but wiped out the adult smallies and redbreast sunfish.

The other populations of fish are doing well despite what they say. Pike, Musky, LMB, carp and even the SMB are making a comeback. 

My question is, since vdgif doesn't recognize these as native would they even care if I called them? These same people even admitted to releasing the a few pike in the towns Koi ponds which the town was NOT fond of lol

Carp "making a comeback?"

5 minutes ago, Neil McCauley said:

Carp "making a comeback?"

That shouldn't read like that, but that is how I typed it lol. I mean the smallies are making a comeback. All of the other species are doing fine. 

It looks a bit like the first pic below.  Or, you can get a Fish Grip, as shown in the second pic.  They're nice for squirrelly pike under 10 lbs.  Over that, and I prefer to handle them by hand, so as not to hurt them.  10+ pike take a long time to grow, and when they're removed, they are usually replaced with a bunch of smaller fish in the population.  The really big ones cannibalize the smaller ones.

Dwight, now you have to get towed around in a kayak by one of these, lol.

 

Ah, pike, the fun but sometimes not so fun fish. Got them plenty up here in Michigan. There are times I go out with pike being my specific target. (I'll admit, I prefer a pike fight over bass anyday). Small adjustments can be made to accommodate this. On the contrary, whether you're fishing bass or pike, you're bound to catch both as they inhibit the same waters. As one person mentioned though, if you're landing bigger Pike/Muskie and are targeting Bass, move elsewhere. If you're landing little hammer handles, there are bass there too.

The only advice I have, to help not land pike when bass fishing, is to not use anything bladed as much. Stick with the finesse style of fishing if pike is plentiful. Spinnerbaits and in-line spinners are crack for pike it seems.

None of this is surefire but there are things we learn along the way to at least help.

I go 99 problems, but a pike ain't one.

typically,. i fish deeper when pike or even pickeral are present. Saves lures and time, But if i see a big one finning in the shallows, i'll toss a spinnerbait by it just for giggles. Ct river has some brutes in it

 

Just learn to "deal with it". On the Chip Flowage, I often targeted rockier areas and that was good for avoiding them, and finding some good smallies. However, they ain't afraid of slowly stroked pit bosses. Neither are musky like this little guy:

 

 

7 hours ago, the reel ess said:

I go 99 problems, but a pike ain't one.

Hahahahaha, good one.  Soon to be 100 problems when the pike start shredding your bass tackle!

10 hours ago, gimruis said:

Hahahahaha, good one.  Soon to be 100 problems when the pike start shredding your bass tackle!

No pike in SC. There are pickerel in a few places but nowhere I fish. Yet.