Silver Pike

[grumpymoe]

posted this pic from last friday of a silver pike caught at lake dauphin....the subject came up here a day or so ago about silver pike....also known as blue pike....here it is before filleting....Grump                                                                                 

[Caroga Kid]

Nice fish....Did u gut those without cuttin the belly's open?

[grumpymoe]

just bled them out on the ice.......Grump

[bonkfan14]

silver pike i think are an instinced fish of a walleye... silver or blue pike i think was a walleye but im not really sure i know we had them here in the oswego ny area in lake onterio but havent seen then in 50 yrs or so

[big big rdg]

Nice fish Ive never seen a silver pike before

[gresto]

Grump,

I've eaten pike and chain pickerel before and consider them excellent table fair, better than bass.  Do you agree?

[grumpymoe]

I've tried bass a few times....the first time identically prepared and randomly mixed with trout and northern....not too bad at the time....the last go around, i decided to catch and release only....abit strong in my opinion.....likely due to the high diet of crayfish.....now chain pickerel/northern.....( i know this will always bring a good argument or two).....but one of the finer tasting freshwater fish around....as long as they are bonefree.....Grump

[shark]

Crappiedaddie,  the blue pike your talking about are not related to " pike " . Just a cousin of the walleye that was in lake Erie and surrounding area. There now extinct.


 Mark.

[MeadowPikeman]

i hear ya grump especially in the sheild lakes a few hours north of my home town we eat a lot of pike and no one complains just get rid of the Y bones and they are excellent eating!

[dogfish]

Hey Grump
That lake have any Muskies in it?  Those pike got the look of some hybridization to them.  Could be a characteristic of the lake but all but one some of the spots are kind of wavy stripes common in pike musky hybrids.

[Jiffy]

What a beauty ya thats a keeper.

[grumpymoe]

dogfish....good ole northern pike...all of them...no muskie in Lake Dauphin...no hybridization.....you can go to alot of different bodies of water......catch a few pike and when you compare them....you can always finds some markings that give that impression...Grump

[IceTroll]

Here is the silver Pike I posted from my Ft. Peck trip. I cant imagine they get any more silver than this.

Up until the time I caught this fish, I had never seen one with this much lack of normal color or pigmentation. I had no idea this was what others refer to as a blue pike. Interesting to say the least. This is absolutely not a hybrid fish either. There is no Musky in Ft. Peck. This is a 100% Northern Pike.

IceTroll
     

[grumpymoe]

yousa!!!.....what a nice northern!!!!....that one would eat all 6 in my pic...awesome....Grump

[MeadowPikeman]

ice troll what is the weight or length on that baby, nice fish, and when are you going back next year to peck its only 8 hour drive for me!!!

[IceTroll]

MeadowPikeman,
We go every year for 7 to 10 days the first week in February. This years trip was my ninth year in a row and I will never miss a trip. We catch alot of big fish like this including Northern, Lakers, Walleye and Ling. You can check out my two previous years posts in the picture forum. One is titled "Rocky Mountain Variety" and this years is titled "You gotta love the Missouri Breaks".

The silver Northern there was 19 lbs and 13 ounces on a very accurate digital hand scale. I didnt get a length on her because I wanted to get her back into the lake. I refuse to kill a trophy Northern like that unless its going on my wall. To qualify for that, its gotta push 30 lbs. I have hooked em that big at Peck but have yet to land one. My buddy landed a 13.67 lb walleye this year plus we caught quite a few mid teens Lakers.

I am going back the first week in May to fish Ft. Peck out of a boat. This will be my first trip to Peck where we fish open water. I certainly will let you know how I do. If you are interested in meeting us at Peck for next years annual ice pilgrimage, just plan on sometime right around the first or second week in February and we can get a more solid date sometime around the first of December. You will need an ATV or snow machine to really be effective because we really run and gun when we tipup fish Peck.

IceTroll
     

[MeadowPikeman]

yeah we'll keep in touch, my folks live only about 3 hours or so from glasgow MT. so its not out of the question to head down for a few days,  usually Feb is pretty slow at home for fishing so would be a nice time of year to get some big fish. i agree 100% on putting back the big northerns for sure gunna need one 50" at least before i get a mount done and untill then they go back. heres's a few better ones from the last year or so. all were released.

[Kyle_]

We catch alot of big fish like this including Northern, Lakers, Walleye and Ling.

Could you post some more pictures of Ling..Coolest fish around(im still lingless tho..never caught one  )
That is of course if you have pictures of them.

Thanks Icetroll

[IceTroll]

Icefishing_master,
There is one picture I posted of a Ling under the post "Gotta love the Missouri Breaks". Just search for it in the picture forum. Its the only one I took a picture of this year. It was unique because it swallowed a small sized smallmouth bass that I had hooked before I could get to the tipup. The Ling wasnt hooked, it just had the smallie swallowed. It was only around 8 lbs if memory serves but I have caught them over 14 lbs on Ft. Peck. I agree about them being a cool fish and as far as I am concerned......the best eating as well.

IceTroll
     

[MeadowPikeman]

what kind of baits do you guys use??? size?? here in sask we have to use dead bait but it seems to work well for pike in the winter most of the time. how many tip ups are you allowed in ND. have only fished there twice but both times in open water.

[IceTroll]

MeadowPikeman,
Actually Ft. Peck is in Montana and thankfully not in North Dakota. Not to take anything away from North Dakota because they have some of the best fisheries in the country but, ND does not allow 6 tipups like Montana does. Also, ND has an attendance law and Montana does not. We stretch our tipups over miles of shore line to cover the maximum amount of water. This year we were going on 20 mile round trip runs on the ATV's to check our tipups. It is alot of work especially when we leave them out 24 hrs a day. We use only live minnows because they seem to work better on Peck. I prefer a 6 to 8 inch Shiner, creek chub or sucker minnow. We have been using 35 lb test titanium wire leaders coupled with 30 lb test braided tip up line but this year I had three fish break my braided line like it was nothing. My buddies had some breaks too. Next year I am going to up the titanium to the 40 lb test and use some Cabelas Power pro super braid in the 150 lb test. The power pro 150 lb test has the same line diameter as the 30 lb tipup line I have been using and I am betting it wont break on a really big fish. Time will tell and I am always trying to build a better mouse trap so to speak. By the way, you got some dandy Pike there yourself.

IceTroll
     

[MeadowPikeman]

i have been using 40lb tip up line the last year or so has been ok so far but youre probably right about going with a superline for max. stength to diameter ratio. ya sorry i new Fort peck is in Montana just brain fog, i sure would be interested in a trip like that so we'll see what happens when next winter rolls around. Sounds intersting for sure as here in sask its 2 tip ups only, no live bait(minnows), and a fairly stiff attendance law i think only 25 yards or something like that. so would be neat to experience something a litlle different.

[IceTroll]

The more guys or gals we can get up there fishing the funner the trip is. Catch more fish too. Your welcome in my camp any time as is anyone that wants to experience Ft. Peck.

IceTroll
     

[MeadowPikeman]

where do you guys stay when fishing there, around hell creek ?? the only time i have ever fished there we stayed in glasgow.

[ol crawdad]

I caught an all silver pike in northern Quebec once.  Gonna have to dig thru lots of photos to find so i can post...

[IceTroll]

Been to Hell Creek twice now. We go wherever feels right and wherever the snow will let us get too. Some years are worse than others as far as snow. I have a self contained 4 season camper I drag around so wherever we stay, we live like kings. Hell creek is really the only place you can go that has lodging right on the lake except for the town of Ft. Peck which is right at the dam.

IceTroll
     

[grumpymoe]

  this started out as a silver pike thread.....then....som e fishing trips....some great pics.....ling....what else??? ...Grump

[MeadowPikeman]

sorry bout the hijack there grump

[IceTroll]

I second that grump. Didnt mean to steal the thread. Its way too easy to get off track when you get excited and just want to share some information. The big trips I take is all the fishing I get to do since I dont get to go on many day trips. Therefore I get a little passionate about it and sometimes get carried away.

IceTroll
     

[Barleydog]

WOW!  Sorry I'm a little late with viewing all the pics from this past year.  What a hijacking!  Nice fish guys!!!  Geez Montana has got to be the sleeper state in the lower 48.

Grump, Your silver pike is what I was trying to describe in the "blue pike" post.  Thanks for the post!  My sister caught one years ago and it was truely unique.  FIsh On!