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Author Topic: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?  (Read 19192 times)

Offline thefishingweatherman

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #60 on: Feb 22, 2017, 08:13 PM »
man there's a lot of pike haters out there!!!

Given their tendency to take over whatever waterbody they end up in, to the detriment of most other species, containing them is not such a bad thing, I would say?

Offline spot

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #61 on: Feb 22, 2017, 08:28 PM »
man there's a lot of pike haters out there!!!

Pike are one of my favorite fish- I enjoy fishing for them, but we don't need every water-body in the state to be pike water. A bit of diversity is a good thing. I'm not entirely sure that pike in Waterbury would be the doomsday scenario a lot of people seem to be seeing, but we really do already have a lot of good pike water around.
May the fish be with you.

Randy

Offline lowaccord66

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #62 on: Feb 23, 2017, 06:44 AM »
man there's a lot of pike haters out there!!!

I think it's a general hate of invasives being spread more so than a pike thing...just so happens that's the species in this discussion.  I personally love them!

Offline peteinvermont

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #63 on: Feb 23, 2017, 07:05 AM »
I love pike too - but its getting harder and harder to find good trout waters, while good pike fishing is everywhere.

Offline EyERipLip

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #64 on: Feb 23, 2017, 07:39 PM »
Given their tendency to take over whatever waterbody they end up in, to the detriment of most other species, containing them is not such a bad thing, I would say?
The detriment of most other species??? Seriously I fish for trout in the same rivers and lakes as I do pike and find plenty of both. impo just more fun to catch a 40" pike than a 18" trout

Offline pokholes

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #65 on: Feb 23, 2017, 10:02 PM »
I love pike too - but its getting harder and harder to find good trout waters, while good pike fishing is everywhere.
X2 on that Pete!

Offline VTMatt

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #66 on: Feb 24, 2017, 05:21 AM »
The detriment of most other species??? Seriously I fish for trout in the same rivers and lakes as I do pike and find plenty of both. impo just more fun to catch a 40" pike than a 18" trout

Good analogy. Thats like saying lifting 40 lbs is harder than 18.  ???

Offline wmhunts

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #67 on: Feb 24, 2017, 06:26 AM »
Man you guys are getting fired up.
When I lived in VA I hunted illegally introduced wild boar in a small farming town
Damn that was the best hunting obsession of my life!
And I got a 440lb full body mount with 5" tusks after 4 years of killing.
Grow some monsters!! chomp on some grain fed, concrete tank, spineless bait fish!
Come on get on the ice fish!!

Offline shadylane

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #68 on: Feb 24, 2017, 06:48 AM »
Man you guys are getting fired up.

Poor ice season, people are a bit touchy haha

Offline spot

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #69 on: Feb 24, 2017, 07:19 AM »
Anybody wonder how pike ended up In the lamoille river  somebody dumped a ton of em into lake lamoille and after Irene they got pushed down stream into the river itself I've seen huge pike in the lamoille in Johnson

The difference between there and Waterbury is that the pike would need to travel upstream over a formidable concrete dam near the gorge and the mammoth Waterbury Dam itself and unless they sprout wings the only way they're going to do it is to be carried. I have caught a few small ones in the flats on the Winooski near Richmond, almost in Bolton, and some further down that were bigger in Williston (near IBM), but that's still a long flight from there to Waterbury, especially for a fish.

**

I shot a wild pig two years ago for a farmer in Elmore- big, ugly, mean, nasty critter. It was tearing up his property and he was worried about his little kids so my M1 Garand came out of the rack and took care of it- not bad eating, but I'd rather VT didn't develop a larger population of them.
May the fish be with you.

Randy

Offline thefishingweatherman

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #70 on: Feb 25, 2017, 04:43 PM »
The detriment of most other species??? Seriously I fish for trout in the same rivers and lakes as I do pike and find plenty of both. impo just more fun to catch a 40" pike than a 18" trout

If trout and pike are in the same river where you're fishing, chances are, it's either stocked with trout, or connected to a lake with a trout population. Pike love to eat trout, and basically, anything smaller than them. I like to catch big fish too, but that doesn't mean we ought to be putting pike everywhere. Yeah, you can still catch trout in pike water, but if it's a small waterbody, the trout tend to be severely limited in terms of numbers and size by the pike. Look no farther than Norton Pond in the NEK for an example of this.

Offline pikeaddict

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #71 on: Feb 25, 2017, 08:09 PM »
Look no farther than Norton Pond in the NEK for an example of this.

What does Norton produce for trout? Honest question.
I know trout and pike are in Bomo, Glenn, and Dunmore. All of which produce NICE trout. Is the problem you just end up with mature trout and that's it?
Don't pay any attention to my handle. Sound biology trumps my passion for pursuing a particular species. I don't think that we should have pike in every body of water. Well aware they have a taste for trout, and can potentially pose a threat. They are a formidable predator for sure.

Offline spot

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #72 on: Feb 26, 2017, 07:00 AM »
splash your toes in the water near a hungry pike and you could very well get your foot attacked... pike will eat anything.
May the fish be with you.

Randy

Offline JMailbox8

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #73 on: Feb 26, 2017, 07:06 AM »
What does Norton produce for trout? Honest question.
I know trout and pike are in Bomo, Glenn, and Dunmore. All of which produce NICE trout. Is the problem you just end up with mature trout and that's it?
Don't pay any attention to my handle. Sound biology trumps my passion for pursuing a particular species. I don't think that we should have pike in every body of water. Well aware they have a taste for trout, and can potentially pose a threat. They are a formidable predator for sure.

Norton Pond was a trout lake until someone dumped some pike into it, from what I understand.

Offline thefishingweatherman

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #74 on: Feb 26, 2017, 09:05 AM »
I know trout and pike are in Bomo, Glenn, and Dunmore. All of which produce NICE trout. Is the problem you just end up with mature trout and that's it?

I think Pike tend to take over most effectively in shallow lakes like Norton. In deeper lakes, I suspect that the trout can find refuge from the pike in deeper water, which might explain Bomo, Glenn, and Dunmore. Spawning areas for pike might also be a limiting factor on them. But, in shallow brook trout ponds and lakes, the pike seem to go hog-wild.

Offline rbobby

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #75 on: Feb 26, 2017, 09:37 AM »
There's 2 different types of pike.
Common shallow water predator pike.
And there's your deep water "lake pike"
These are harder to target in winter months and there are not
As many.
These tend to get much bigger.
My guess that's what's going on there they've adapted to survive
In the deeper water feeding on smelt, perch and trout.
I like fishing there for trout in the winter ive always have done well.
So Im bummed there's pike in there.
You can't fish that lake during the summer months because it's getting destroyed by ski boats and Jet skis.
Nobody ever monitored the boats coming in and out of there so there's vegetation growth from other bodies of water already taking over.
They need to restrict large boats and Jet skis from that
 Lake it's destroying it.
But the state does not care because they make a lot of revenue off the state Park and water skiers camping there.
That's just my 2 cents.

Offline spot

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #76 on: Feb 26, 2017, 09:41 AM »
I think Pike tend to take over most effectively in shallow lakes like Norton. In deeper lakes, I suspect that the trout can find refuge from the pike in deeper water, which might explain Bomo, Glenn, and Dunmore. Spawning areas for pike might also be a limiting factor on them. But, in shallow brook trout ponds and lakes, the pike seem to go hog-wild.

I've caught pike down to 35-40 feet, but that's about it, and the norm is 5-30 feet, so I'd have to agree with the above. I think that Waterbury, being considerably deeper than that is probably safe from total trout wipe out, but places like Norton are less safe.
May the fish be with you.

Randy

Offline TRT

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #77 on: Feb 26, 2017, 12:33 PM »
Pike love all soft spined fish: smelt, trout, young of the perch.
 I fish for pike extensively, glad they are widely available. I truly hope guys
are not playing bait bucket biologists.

Offline varmonter

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #78 on: Feb 26, 2017, 06:26 PM »
Hmm i agree..i also caught a beaver there once.
It too bit me in the butt and took off with my oar.
I am thinking this was an isolated incident.probably
Needed a "pair" of oars...so watch for a beaver in a rowboat
At the rez.... ::)

Offline wmhunts

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #79 on: Feb 26, 2017, 08:04 PM »
How long does it take for a 14" pike to reach 40"+ and over 20 lbs in a reservoir with a good food supply?
I've got a spot on my wall for such a fish, and now know where to go, just need to know what year I should start the pursuit
Come on get on the ice fish!!

Offline pikeaddict

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #80 on: Feb 27, 2017, 06:20 AM »
How long does it take for a 14" pike to reach 40"+ and over 20 lbs in a reservoir with a good food supply?
I've got a spot on my wall for such a fish, and now know where to go, just need to know what year I should start the pursuit

A 14in Pike would be about 2 years old. 
You can use this as a reference.  Pike in Champlain in the 36-38 inch range are 9-10 years old, and 40-42 inch pike are an additional 3-4 years.  Pike in Champlain grow fast, other lakes/ponds may take them longer to reach those lengths.

Offline spot

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #81 on: Feb 27, 2017, 06:32 AM »
With the abundance of smelt and perch in handy snack-sizes, they would likely grow pretty well in Waterbury, just like the bass do.
May the fish be with you.

Randy

Offline TRT

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #82 on: Feb 27, 2017, 01:33 PM »
Magog - pike are going crazy in Magog. Eight years ago a real rarity and now a regular catch.

Offline Light liner

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #83 on: Feb 27, 2017, 02:46 PM »
Yes now catching them on the main lake every depth. I also noticed perch got bigger too.
But that's a big Lake probably much different.
Champlain
Memphremagog

Offline EyERipLip

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #84 on: Mar 08, 2017, 04:08 PM »
Go pike!!

Offline rbobby

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #85 on: Mar 08, 2017, 04:10 PM »
Any more been caught?

Offline woodab17

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #86 on: Mar 16, 2017, 09:11 AM »
How long does it take for a 14" pike to reach 40"+ and over 20 lbs in a reservoir with a good food supply?
I've got a spot on my wall for such a fish, and now know where to go, just need to know what year I should start the pursuit

Usually somewhere around 20 years for a 40'' 20 lb fish.

Offline TRT

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #87 on: Mar 17, 2017, 08:40 AM »
Pike growth rates also depend on climate all food being equal. Growing season North of 50 or even more extreme North of 55 parallel  in Canada take a lot longer to grow to 40 inches than fish below US border.

Offline EyERipLip

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #88 on: Mar 20, 2017, 09:37 AM »
Usually somewhere around 20 years for a 40'' 20 lb fish.
Actually the average life span for a pike is only about 7 years. Carp live to be 20 but fish from the esox family rarely get to that age in the wild.  The males tend to mature within the first 2 years to about 16/18" where as the females grow a bit faster on length usually reaching the 20+" size in about 3 years. On average a 35-40" pike is 7 years or older. In very rare cases pike  pushing high teens and 20 years old have been caught in the wild but not very common. They have been know to live upwards of 70 years in captivity

Offline rbobby

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Re: There's pike in the Waterbury reservoir?
« Reply #89 on: Mar 20, 2017, 12:02 PM »
Biologist looked over a big pike I entered in a derby he said he guessed the pike I had was 10-12 years old. It was a female.
10-12 years was about the longest they lived on the average.
Walleye on the other hand grow much slower.

 



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