Are there any fish in Lower Fire Lake?????????

[jmoneyjock]

I've fished the heck out of it this winter with herring on tip ups, various spoons, jigs, and can't seem to find a single fish.  So I was just curious if anyone has any luck out there.

[Akhardwater]

That lake gets pounded pretty hard it would be a safe bet that there isn't much left in there.  There is a bunch of lakes in the valley that have better populations of pike.  It would be nice if FandG quit trying to kill them all and just dealt with the fact that they are here to stay.

[Fishgod]

That lake gets pounded pretty hard it would be a safe bet that there isn't much left in there.  There is a bunch of lakes in the valley that have better populations of pike.  It would be nice if FandG quit trying to kill them all and just dealt with the fact that they are here to stay.

It's this type of mentality that's the reason why they're even here. 

[Akhardwater]

I assure you I had nothing to do with the pike coming to south central and have done my part to help eradicate them.  The problem is outside of poisoning the lake completely, fisherman cannot completely wipeout all the pike in a lake.  Wether we like it or not they are here to stay so why not manage them and have some decent pike fishing instead of having a lake full of hammer handles.  Pike over 40 inches are going to kill way more pike than any fisherman so why not protect the big fish and promote a healthy pike fishery?  Pike were my primary fish of research when I was in school and with proper management they can coexist with other species.  Now I know certain lakes just won't support species coexisting with pike but the deeper lakes can most certainly support multiple species.  A good example would be big lake or memory lake.  Or we could just stock the lakes with tiger muskies  .

[bigmick!]

I have fished fire lake twice this year.  Both times I was skunked but every hole we drilled we saw fish with the camera!! Just no bites??

[CharlieBrn]

Fishgod, you couldn't be more wrong! Akhardwater hit it right on the head. He's obviously up on pike and their behavior.  Being from a state myself that has generous populations of pike, I can also tell you more often than not, these pike made their way naturally versus being planted. Do some research on pike migration and how they appear in places they have never been before and you just might learn a thing or two.  Pike that grow to the 40 inch mark Akhardwater referred to will not spend the energy chasing smaller fish. They feed on other pike that are referred to as hammer handles worthy of the energy it takes to consume them.  Being a taxidermist for over 35 years, I can tell you first hand I've mounted hundreds of pike and the majority of what I found in the stomach were other pike. Not to mention they are an excellent table fare and are just as easy to clean once a person learns how to remove the Y bone.  Personally, I feel they are better tasting than trout and target them as often as I can.  So, do your part if you really want to see these numbers of pike go down and take a couple home and give em a try.

[DannerAK]

Many of the lakes that now have pike are lakes that historically have reared salmon fry/smolt.  What should be the priority for these lakes: manage for trophy pike or try to rehabilitate the salmon productivity? 

Changing the management to focus on producing trophy pike is like giving up in my opinion.  If this is the case, what's next?  Walleye, perch, bass, crappies, bullhead, mudpuppys, blackfish, asian carp, etc., in these lakes?  The attitude that "they are here now, lets manage them to be trophies" is a slippery slope and we should not venture down that road.     

[Fishgod]

Fishgod, you couldn't be more wrong! Akhardwater hit it right on the head. He's obviously up on pike and their behavior.  Being from a state myself that has generous populations of pike, I can also tell you more often than not, these pike made their way naturally versus being planted. Do some research on pike migration and how they appear in places they have never been before and you just might learn a thing or two.  Pike that grow to the 40 inch mark Akhardwater referred to will not spend the energy chasing smaller fish. They feed on other pike that are referred to as hammer handles worthy of the energy it takes to consume them.  Being a taxidermist for over 35 years, I can tell you first hand I've mounted hundreds of pike and the majority of what I found in the stomach were other pike. Not to mention they are an excellent table fare and are just as easy to clean once a person learns how to remove the Y bone.  Personally, I feel they are better tasting than trout and target them as often as I can.  So, do your part if you really want to see these numbers of pike go down and take a couple home and give em a try.

Oh CharlieBrn, I don't even know where to begin with your post. Being from another state I can understand your confusion with this subject. This type of lower 48 mentality can only be rectified with education. I've been fishing Fire lake for 35 years, so I know I little about this system. First off, have you looked at the outflow barrier of Fire Lake? It's impossible for pike to enter from the barrier. Secondly, how did pike end up in the dozens and dozens of land locked lakes in Southcentral? Don't give me the "pike eggs stick to ducks and other waterfowl" theory. If that was the case, every lake and pond would have them, which is nowhere near the case. Those of us that are from here know that people have been seen and caught through the years dumping coolers full of pike. "Public Stocking" of various species has been a huge problem in this part of the state. As far as fishing for pike here in Alaska, I've been doing that for over three decades and enjoy catching them and consuming them, but that does not justify letting an invasive species spread like a disease through Southcentral. THEY DON'T BELONG HERE in Southcentral. Alexander, Hewitt, Donkey, Red Shirt, and dozens of other lake and rivers used to have banner runs of salmon. That's no longer the case due to pike. Alaska has learned the mistakes from the lower 48 in regards to letting invasive fish spread and unchecked stocking by the public. Are there salmon in your previous state? Well, here in Alaska there are and juvenile salmon cannot coexist with pike here in Southcentral. There is not even one documented case where they can coexist here in Southcentral. On that note, are you aware that Fire Creek has/had a run of Chinook and coho salmon? These pike are now in the Fire Creek system as well as the lake. "Since I couldn't be more wrong", As far as my knowledge with pike and how they interact with local species, well, I've done projects with pike for my job.

[Akhardwater]

Here's an idea.  How is it that in the interior where pike are native they coexist with the trout and salmon, or in any system for that matter?  The forage base in those systems can reproduce fast enough and with enough numbers to support pike predation making the predation on the trout and salmon manageable.  In most south central lakes there is or used to be natural populations of whitefish suckers stickleback ect.  So why not stock these species In an attempt to take the strain off the salmon and trout.  I have only limited aquaculture experience so maybe this idea isn't feasible or it just costs to much money.  There are other factors that come into play with this idea such as forage for the forage available space in the system spawning habitat these kind of things.  In order to control the pike you first have to manage the pike, and thinking a little out of the box is a step in the right direction.  Either way you look at it the pike are here to stay get over it.  Now let's start coming up with some solutions that will help the native populations.  Extensive netting, rotenone, sport fisherman, electro shocking,  predatory insects, and of course dynamite are all tools in our arsenal but I still believe there is a better solution out there we just need to find it.  Fishgod I'm curious to hear some of your ideas I know you have tons of experience and value your opinion and fact.

[jkw]

For what it's worth, when they rotenoned sand lake sure they killed some pike but also alot of big rainbows,  arctic char and Lakers that were still in there from years of stocking. IMO it was a mistake.