Pike opinion

[ferrari175]

I am from Maine and we have quite the pike debate, Midwestern states consider this fish a game fish and alot of C&R is encouraged and enforced in maine, most people kill them.  I understand that in Alaska  you guys have had them introduced as well and am wondering what the fishing community thinks of them.

[akjw7]

we have both native and introduced populations - along with both attitudes - I love to fish em and eat em!

[groundsluice_pete]

I love to fish pike and would much, much rather fish them than planted rainbows. Having said that, I would hate for them to wreak havoc with the salmon fry, which apparently they do. If people would leave them in landlocked lakes it would be cool, but unfortunately, they practice bucket biology and move them on to their favorite neighborhood lakes which may have an outlet to other lakes, streams, and rivers.
Pike are now a fact of life in Southcentral Alaska, where they were once unknown. I doubt that they will ever get them all, so I hope they reach an equilibrium as they have in other parts of Alaska and other northern areas.

[akjw7]

better said than my post!

[groundsluice_pete]

Dude-
I am "sayak" on the camper site and Alaska Outdoors Forum. You should invite me up for some real "native" pike fishing instead of this hit n' miss stuff we have down here.

Just kidding (my momma taught me it was rude to invite myself).

[akjw7]

ha! i think I new your alter ego at some point before I forgot it!  nothing like fishing pike on wild rivers flowing to the Yukon where they toothy critters equalized over who knows how long. neat to catch huge pike in large numbers with salmon, grayling, sheefish, whitefish, etc all in the same river system living in harmony (well...close to harmony!) 

[Dirtofak]

Dude-
I am "sayak" on the camper site and Alaska Outdoors Forum. You should invite me up for some real "native" pike fishing instead of this hit n' miss stuff we have down here.

Just kidding (my momma taught me it was rude to invite myself).

Yer sneaky....

[akdube]

I think for the most part the folks around here dont like the pike in this area. since our salmon runs have been going down hill its easy to say the pike have had an effect on those runs. Did they? Who knows. But as a general rule around here they are disliked and I know of many that are caught and tossed on the bank and left. There is no size or limit up here. Personally I like to fish through the ice for them. Generally there is alot of action and since there is no live bait up here that means it is one of the only fishing opps using tip-ups. We use tip-ups for other fish but it aint like back home. Originally from stinkin lincoln.

[groundsluice_pete]

Yer sneaky....

Well, unlike some folks (not you I trust) on another outdoor site we both frequent, I only have one screen name per forum. I was groundsluice_pete on here and AOJ long before I was sayak on AOF. So there.

[akjw7]

the sad part is that I think as far as close by opportunity to catch pike in decent numbers goes - the south central folks have better pike fishing than we do...

you really have to get out to the yukon tributaries and some of the further out lakes up here though for some good pike fishing (= need a boat!)

[Barleydog]

More pike please!  I would much rather catch pike than little rainbows...  Heck, our only decent pike lake has been shut down to harvest for years now, (Harding.)  Guess we are starved for the opportunity to fish for pike around Fairbanks...  I say take some federal stimulus money, plow several thousand acres outside the Chena and create a reservoir for pike fishing!  So was the old plan for the moose creek area, but it hasn't came to fruition yet...  Guess until then we have the flats.
Southcentral vs. pike is very similar but not the same as Washington state and the northern pikeminnow (aka squawfish) debate.  Gotta blame something for poor stocks and bad returns, until then, keep allowing the sportsmen in to control them.

[Dirtofak]

Well, unlike some folks (not you I trust) on another outdoor site we both frequent, I only have one screen name per forum. I was groundsluice_pete on here and AOJ long before I was sayak on AOF. So there.

I am old, I can only remember one username and password for all the sites I visit. 

I have not searched high and low for pike in south central. I did talk to alot of people in my old job and of course fishing came up a lot. Several people said that pike fishing was declining in accessable lakes due to the higher pressures on them. A couple other reasons were that pike are quite tasty and they like the fight. I took a charter into a pike lake 2X. The last trip the pilot said he had just brought F&G out of Hewitt. They were doing a fish study and had a hard time even finding pike.

IMO - For valley pike fishing. Get a snowmachine and get off the road/river system. I am working on a trip in Feb/March. 

[PikeSticker]

I am from Maine and we have quite the pike debate, Midwestern states consider this fish a game fish and alot of C&R is encouraged and enforced in maine, most people kill them.  I understand that in Alaska  you guys have had them introduced as well and am wondering what the fishing community thinks of them.

The Southcentral Alaska introduced (illegally stocked) Northern Pike situation took AK anglers off guard. Since we did not have them available prior to the early 70's in most drainages the fishermen had no experience for catching them and the very few MN imports living up here failed to share their expertise. You know pike fishermen...tight-lipped bunch. So this gave the pike a chance to get a huge foothold in our waters with devastating impacts on a number of trout/char/grayling/salmon fisheries before we started a push to indoctrinate Alaskans as to the ways of catching or harvesting (darkhouse spearing, open water spearing, bowfishing) pike. (I even snorkel and spearfish for them in the summer.) Some fisheries, like those in the entire Nancy Lakes Rec. Area system and Alexander Lake/Creek are extinct and a number of lakes that use to be stocked with trout/char/grayling have been removed from the list or only stock catchable size fish to reduce the pike predation enough to provide a trout fishery.

I believe there are over a dozen states now that are on the list currently fighting illegally introduced pike populations in their most important fisheries. Its no different than the zebra mussel, asian carp or pythons/anacondas in the Everglades. The monetary impacts (or potential impacts) from invasive species are in the billions of dollars for these states. The Calif. Davis Lake pike introduction problem had the potential to impact a $5 billion recreational industry downstream in the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta are.

There are growing numbers of pike anglers and spearos here in AK and some of them take the time to get their friends or other family members interested in fishing and harvesting pike too. Its beginning to show some "self regulating" results in some pike fisheries that get a lot of pike fishing pressure, to the dismay of the super dedicated pikers.

Personally I'll take a fresh pike in the frying pan over halibut out of my freezer any day of the week.

[Drifter_016]

Personally I'll take a fresh pike in the frying pan over halibut out of my freezer any day of the week.

I will happily trade you all my pike for your yucky frozen halibut, pound for pound.   

[PikeSticker]

Ah, you inlanders are all alike~! Ha.  One man's "trash fish" is another man's "caviar", eh? 

For decades I couldn't imagine what possessed those midwesterners to sit on a bucket at 30 below in North Dakota catching walleye and perch....until my step mom's dad and buddy came to Alaska for a vacation dragging a cooler full of their frozen fillets. NOW I know why they do it. So for me Pike is that same delicacy compared to what our typical AK table fare is, sockeye/king/silver salmon and halibut.

BTW, your offer is tempting! 

[Drifter_016]

Ah, you inlanders are all alike~! Ha.  One man's "trash fish" is another man's "caviar", eh? 

For decades I couldn't imagine what possessed those midwesterners to sit on a bucket at 30 below in North Dakota catching walleye and perch....until my step mom's dad and buddy came to Alaska for a vacation dragging a cooler full of their frozen fillets. NOW I know why they do it. So for me Pike is that same delicacy compared to what our typical AK table fare is, sockeye/king/silver salmon and halibut.

BTW, your offer is tempting! 

You can keep that nasty salmon!!!              
Not a fan of salmon.   

[AkDan]

it was so long ago there was great pike fishing around the fairbanks area...I agree these last handful of years people have really hammered them.  Considering our next choice is 10" stockies....(minus a few places), I'd also rather chase pike..big toothy aggresive compared to panzy a@@ tiny fish..ugg.   Hopefully this state gets with the stocking program again....before the only thing we have left is the dwindling salmon runs and great grayling fishing thats bound to get hammered due to lack of anything worth chasing!

now if someone would only throw some walleyes in a few of our lakes....shew this convo would be 100% different!

[PikeSticker]

The good news for Alaskans is the extra pricing on our license that was to go to new/expanded fish hatcheries is nearing fruition. The Anchorage hatchery comes online this summer with the chance of some fingerlings stockable by August. The other hatchery being built in Southcentral comes online in 2011. And I believe there is some expansion going on in the Fairbanks area too.  With the need to stock catchable size fish in those lakes with pike it does take more room, takes an extra year of growing and more feed and $$. Part of the changing times.  But hopefully it should also equate to more smolt being stocked in the enhanced salmon fisheries like Ship, Bird, Ninilchik, Kasilof rivers and the lagoons at Seldovia, Whittier, and Homer.  And yes, I remember the good ol' days when the Interior was a Pike angler's dream come true. Hard to believe how it is now!

[Drifter_016]

The good news for Alaskans is the extra pricing on our license that was to go to new/expanded fish hatcheries is nearing fruition. The Anchorage hatchery comes online this summer with the chance of some fingerlings stockable by August. The other hatchery being built in Southcentral comes online in 2011. And I believe there is some expansion going on in the Fairbanks area too.  With the need to stock catchable size fish in those lakes with pike it does take more room, takes an extra year of growing and more feed and $$. Part of the changing times.  But hopefully it should also equate to more smolt being stocked in the enhanced salmon fisheries like Ship, Bird, Ninilchik, Kasilof rivers and the lagoons at Seldovia, Whittier, and Homer.  And yes, I remember the good ol' days when the Interior was a Pike angler's dream come true. Hard to believe how it is now!

Does this mean my overly expensive non-resident license is about to get reasonable again or will they keep raping us poor tourist types forever?

[Barleydog]

More hatchery trout = fat and sassy pike!  Bring more stocked snacks please!

[Woods Wise]

Ferrari, you are sneeky coming over here to ask about Pike. KILL EM ALL!!!!

[akdube]

Does this mean my overly expensive non-resident license is about to get reasonable again or will they keep raping us poor tourist types forever?

only the cunucks will be charged more this year.

[maineduckhunter]

Ferrari, you are sneeky coming over here to ask about Pike. KILL EM ALL!!!!

YEAH!! .....KILL ALL THE PIKE!!!! Feed 'em to those BIG Alaskan Eagles!!!!

[PikeSticker]

YEAH!!  .....KILL ALL THE PIKE!!!! Feed 'em to those BIG Alaskan Eagles!!!!

Actually we have so many "quick learning" bald eagles up here that if you are an unknowing newbie and pitch your pike out the door of the shack on the ice instead of burying it or putting it on a stringer downhole, you may be surprised to find someone has stolen it. First thing to check is for swoosh marks in the snow. One day I had a string of tip ups spread over a hundred yards and flags were popping so fast I couldn't land, rebait, and hit the next flag quick enough. Had just pulled a chunky 4 pounder out on the ice and left it hooked and flopping while I started for the next flag. I hear my buddy hollering and looked around to see an eagle hauling off my fish with the tip up trailing across the snow. With the drag of the tip up on the snow I actually ran down that eagle close enough to get him to drop my fish.  Those eagles are just as adept at snatching your goldeneye off the river if you don't have a dog immediately on the retrieve or get the boat started. They just sit in the trees waiting for the shotguns to start blazing.

[ferrari175]

YEAH!! .....KILL ALL THE PIKE!!!! Feed 'em to those BIG Alaskan Eagles!!!!

Might I ad MDH if you read the post, pikesticker said that he would eat pike over hallibut any day so I doubt he wastefully leaves them on the ice for the birds. 

[PikeSticker]

Ahh, even a hammerhandle lives precariously in my neck of the woods -- too many friends that love pickled pike so its easy to pass those young'uns on to obliging neighbors. Gotta keep the ecosystem balanced~! 

[AkDan]

Pickled Pike YUCK!  My dad used to eat them....heck he still does YUCK!

An older guy I used to work with likes eating them so I'll save a few for him...he loves them.  I should try his, my dads was terrible, maybe it was the maker part lol

[PikeSticker]

Pickled Pike YUCK!  My dad used to eat them....heck he still does YUCK

Ho Ho MY sentiments EXACTLY~! I can't stand pickled fish of any species, lord knows I've tried. Just one of those things that remains foreign to my taste buds. Fortunately there are plenty of the opposites raising there hands for this delicacy so I actually have to ration the fish to keep all parties happy. I don't think the "recipe" and flavor varies that much from one chef to the next except for perhaps the amount of spices in the jars, but pickled is pickled in my mind.

[Fatcat]

Caught ya.

[bullhead bandit]

The taste of pickled pike is directly related to the amount of alcohol you've consumed prior to eating it.