Epic Lake Champlain Pike Weekend

[JMailbox8]

How do XL minnows compare to dink perch for effectiveness at catching pike? I feel like jigging up some dink perch for pike bait would be a better bargain.

[Crayfish2]

I've tried perch alongside XL minnows, and couldn't get a bite on perch for some reason.  They were little perch, too, like 4" or so.  Not sure if it was just coincidence or not.  I do see baby pumpkinseeds and bluegills in pike bellies all the time, though, so if you could catch some of those for bait I think they would work great.

I was gutting a pike earlier this year and pulled a live 'seed out of it's stomach!  I threw it in the hole and it swam away.  I've never seen anything like it!

[ice fiend]

Ive never had luck in champlain using perch as pike bait however in ny when i was fishing a diff lake i caught my biggest pike on a perch 14.13 pounds 38 inches idk why they dont hit perch on tip ups maybe theres so much forage they can be selective with what they want

[ice fiend]

 i love using sunnies bait for pike also work well on bass and bowfin but wheve i try the two side by side they always choose sunfish over perch as for big baits i know a kid in ny i went to college who uses dead herring on tip ups for pike he buys them after stripper season ends and the baits left over he dosnt get many fish as opposed to shiners but the ones he gets are huge the baits themselves are arounds 13 inches long or more

[jmaster69]

I would check the rulebook when it comes to herring man i do not think they are permitted in lake champlain...

The use, or possession for use, of alewife and blueback
herring as baitfish is prohibited in Clinton, Essex, Franklin,
Warren, and Washington counties.

The following fish species are the only approved species of
fish for use as bait in Vermont.

- Eastern silvery minnow           
- Fathead minnow
- Bluntnose minnow
- Emerald shiner
- Golden shiner
- Spottail shiner
- Common shiner
- Mimic shiner
- Creek chub
- Fallfish
- Blacknose dace
- Longnose dace
- Northern redbelly dace
- White sucker
- Longnose sucker
- Rainbow smelt
Hook and line may be used to take fish for bait.
• Baitfish may be taken for personal use only, with the
exception of rainbow smelt, which may be sold. Smelt may
be taken only by angling or ice fishing.
• A person may take, possess, transport, buy, and use as bait
only those species of fish listed above.
• Yellow perch may be used for bait in those waters where
taken and shall not be transported alive from those waters.

[ice fiend]

he dosnt fish champlain with herring he fishes ny lakes the baits are salted hes legal as he was a fishes and wildlife major like i was and ive never known him to break a rule. he's a member on here lastcast69

[Pike Panther]

Fantastic day for sure!  And excellent table fair no doubt.  There is nothing like the excitement of having a 10+ pound pike on your line because when you first hook that fish its hard to know if it is bigger than that until you see it in the hole...pure adrenaline rush!  I'm a believer in a slot limit...There is no doubt the pike population is currently healthy and numerous (We have 100+ fish days often) however, the number of large fish has gone down due to over fishing.  5 pounders taste the same as 9, 10 & 12 pounders.  My group fills up a jet sled at the beginning of the day.  At the end of the day we keep several 4-9 pound fish; We let everything over 9 pounds go.  How exciting would it be to go fishing if every time you went you were regularly icing 9+ pound fish.  Those are the ones that make you start to wonder how big is it?  If we did our best to throw back 33" to 36" fish we would all being catching big ones most of the time we went fishing.    Imagine how many teen size fish this would start to produce?   Once they are in the teen size then let the fisherman decide if he wants to keep it or let it go.  Seems like a win/win to me. 

[Crayfish2]

I would like to see something like a 28 or 30" minimum length, and a slot wouldn't be a bad idea either to make sure there are lots of breeders left.  The pike I catch have been getting smaller where I usually fish.  There are still plenty there, but I haven't caught any big ones.  Hopefully the biologists know what they are talking about when they say the pike population is healthy.

[Champlain Islander]

I suspect there might be a change coming on the pike length. I have been creel checked about a dozen times this year and the last time it was a biologist who showed up and I asked him what they were going to do with the data. He suggested that the results might impact future regulations and he was very interested in pike.

[pikeaddict]

Congrats, nice haul!

[pikeaddict]

For those mentioning a slot limit, I had an e mail conversation with one of the bio's, and a slot limit is something they are seriously considering for the future.
 
Champlain pike facts/info he shared with me:

They take an average of 9-10yrs to reach 36-38in in length, and would need an additional 3-4yrs to reach 40-42in (very little data on fish this size)
Females reproduce for the first time around 6-7yrs (approx. 30in range), but most prolific in the mid 30's

[HardWater518]

What is a "slot limit"?

[VTMatt]

What is a "slot limit"?

A slot limit forces you to release fish of a certain size. Say 30-35" must be released and you may only keep one over 35" but 4 under 30" meaning 5 total. That way people aren't over harvesting the breeders.

[HardWater518]

Thanks for clarifying that. Doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.

[VTMatt]

Thanks for clarifying that. Doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.

Carmi has a slot limit on walleye and it's a great walleye fishery. I don't see a slot limit on pike being a bad thing at all.  Especially since hey take so long to get big.

[Pike Panther]

I'm very excited to see post coming in regarding support of a slot limit.   I've been pike fishing for over 30 years on Lake Champlain.  I have honestly caught at least 4,000 pike in the that time frame.  My brother is 10 years younger than I am.  I'm sure he has caught about 3,000.  Between the both of us we may have caught (4) 12 pounders out of all those fish.  Never got one bigger than that.  Champlain is an amazing pike fishery.  I really believe a slot limit could give a few fish the opportunity to get into the teens and even low twenties.  There is no reason Champlain couldn't produce some 20 pound fish every year...the food base is there to support it.   Based on the numbers above, the status quo isn't going to let it happen. 

[lowaccord66]

Pike Panther while your numbers present a very large data set it's only anecdotal evidence on a small portion of the fishery..and I mean small in comparison. It would be unwise to consider the status of such a massive fishery based of that info.  Or equivalent to the fisheries bio asking 2 people what there catch rates are and then making a management decision based of their responses.

[Lord_of_the_Perch]

So we had an exceptional day on the hardwater this weekend. The biologist and game warden were both out yesterday and both said they hadn't seen anyone with success like this in a long time.In 24 hours we brought up at least 40 fish between 4 of us. Caught some  beautiful 5 pound largemouths to top it all off. Managed to catch about 30 bluegill and some perch when we had about 1 hour of downtime... Lets just say we found THE spot that day and it delivered. Ill try and upload some pictures if I can figure this out

After four pages of replies, let's take another look at that nice catch!

[jmaster69]

Thats what I was thinking Lord_of_the_perch! thanks!

So great to hear all this support!

[Bailbuster]

I'm very excited to see post coming in regarding support of a slot limit.   I've been pike fishing for over 30 years on Lake Champlain.  I have honestly caught at least 4,000 pike in the that time frame.  My brother is 10 years younger than I am.  I'm sure he has caught about 3,000.  Between the both of us we may have caught (4) 12 pounders out of all those fish.  Never got one bigger than that.  Champlain is an amazing pike fishery.  I really believe a slot limit could give a few fish the opportunity to get into the teens and even low twenties.  There is no reason Champlain couldn't produce some 20 pound fish every year...the food base is there to support it.   Based on the numbers above, the status quo isn't going to let it happen.

If the 12 to 14 's get kept it never will produce many, as I said earlier I don't care who keeps what ,but I do have an example , We have a local lake that has a or had a good number of big fish,one year 2010, a 25 22 and 21
were caught, and plenty 12 to 17 , word got out and the 10 and 12's were going home every weekend can't buy a big fis there now...

[Pike Panther]

The biologist must be doing something right or we wouldn't have as many fish as we currently do.  The catch from this post is a fine example of benefits we are being rewarded for efforts to clean up the lake.  It wasn't long ago when we were catching much less pike, they had fungus and at least 50% of them had lamprey marks for a few years.  I'm glad to see they are collecting data and talking to us fisherman.   It will be interesting to see what the conclusions are.  Good luck getting the big ones. 

[sonny88]

When I was a kid we used to fish Shelburne pond for pike with tip ups. We cut the holes with a spud so we didn't set too many. We'd always bring a fish home for dinner but there were guys there with garbage cans full of pike. Soon, there were no pike in Shelburne. We then found the great fishing on Colchester pond. What a tremendous fishery. Again we always brought home a fish or two for dinner but had learned it was possible to over fish and area. Guess what? It took a few years but the same thing happened...all of a sudden there were no pike.
I love to eat fish and i'm not a catch and release guy, but we all need to think about how many big breeder fish we need to be killing. I'm hoping my grandson can enjoy fishing on lake champlain but I worry he won't.
That's just my humble opinion.

[jmaster69]

We are truly sorry for taking UNDER our daily allowable quota. Truly sorry for NOT breaking any law and or regulations... Honestly sorry for your lack of judgment and common sense.

lol we were 4 guys who took 12 home in all... Do the math.... I didn't know taking 4 fish home would kill lake champlain's stocks!!! Vermont state wildlife biologist bernie must not have ANY idea what he's talking about!!! But you my friend woodad17 from ice shanty.com seem to know exactly whats going on!

And woodab I am truly jealous that your family is able to live off 4 pike for a year... My kids just won't stop eating...What's your trick? Mcdonalds fish burger?

I am seriously considering no longer sharing successful days on this site for the amount of BS that I receive for catching fish. You guys are ruining the sport of fishing.

You know what's killing our fish, industrial pollution, cow crap flowing into the lake from farmers,  cigarette butts on the ice, trash left on the ice, jerks using ILLEGAL bait and attractants in our waters, POOR SPORTMANSHIP, poachers, industrial erosion...  Give those people hell because that my friend is what is killing our water systems...

Not a legal group of guys out on the water once a month for a good time trying to feed their family who remove 4 fish a piece on a 2 day outing... The fisherman who goes out once a week and takes a fish or two a trip does just as much if not more removal of fish to the system then us...

Thank you have a nice day

[Will Vaughan]

We are truly sorry for taking UNDER our daily allowable quota. Truly sorry for NOT breaking any law and or regulations... Honestly sorry for your lack of judgment and common sense.

lol we were 4 guys who took 12 home in all... Do the math.... I didn't know taking 4 fish home would kill lake champlain's stocks!!! Vermont state wildlife biologist bernie must not have ANY idea what he's talking about!!! But you my friend woodad17 from ice shanty.com seem to know exactly whats going on!

And woodab I am truly jealous that your family is able to live off 4 pike for a year... My kids just won't stop eating...What's your trick? Mcdonalds fish burger?

I am seriously considering no longer sharing successful days on this site for the amount of BS that I receive for catching fish. You guys are ruining the sport of fishing.

You know what's killing our fish, industrial pollution, cow crap flowing into the lake from farmers,  cigarette butts on the ice, trash left on the ice, jerks using ILLEGAL bait and attractants in our waters, POOR SPORTMANSHIP, poachers, industrial erosion...  Give those people hell because that my friend is what is killing our water systems...

Not a legal group of guys out on the water once a month for a good time trying to feed their family who remove 4 fish a piece on a 2 day outing... The fisherman who goes out once a week and takes a fish or two a trip does just as much if not more removal of fish to the system then us...

Thank you have a nice day

          Best thing I've read on here in quite a while, 110% agree. Nice fish by the way!

[ICE_HOOK]

Have been a member since 2003 and this is the worst year for negative comments and slamming guys for any reason they can think of! Hope the 2015-2016 season is positive and better attitudes towards fellow fisherman !

[jmaster69]

I mean I have nothing to hide, I follow the rules, I share my spots with everyone! Nothing to hide and still get crap. All I am trying to do is spread the word that the fish ARE out there! My goal is to spread the joy of fishing and get people out the house and this is the slack we get...

[Lord_of_the_Perch]

Have been a member since 2003 and this is the worst year for negative comments and slamming guys for any reason they can think of! Hope the 2015-2016 season is positive and better attitudes towards fellow fisherman !

I am going to blame it on the lack of White Perch!

[Light liner]

I am going to blame it on the lack of White Perch!

I agree.

[jmaster69]

That's all my fault too... I took 4 pike so no more white perch... sorry guys

[ISLAND STORM]

Beautiful fish and great job!!!!