Northern Pike

D

dmon

Inactive
I know this isn't exactly about hunting but I want to share these pictures of a Northern Pike that was caught. I don't know where they came from as I received them via email.

These "water wolves" will eat almost anything as you can see. I only wonder if this last meal was "peking duck" Either way enjoy as I wait for Northern Pike season to open in two weeks. God I love fishing for these toothy mothers
 

Attachments

  • fish1.jpg
    fish1.jpg
    49.9 KB · Views: 205
  • fish2.jpg
    fish2.jpg
    49.1 KB · Views: 185
They also hurt like the dickens when they bite your big toe!

As a youngster swimming in a certain lake in Upper Peninsula Michigan, I got fairly close to some reeds or rushes in a shady cove of the lake. Evidently, northern pike like little pink toes that wiggle by their hiding places. :eek:
 
If you want a fight lay into a dogfish, they screw up reels.

I stoped trying for pike when I found bowfin(dogfish) bowfishing. I almost lost my bow to a 7 lb 27 inch one last year, and I have seen them up to about 36 inches long (I just missed that big one last year).

I would say that a bowfin rivals a large say 34+ inch pike for fight and they are common enough to catch with the right bait.

Not meaning to say that pike are not a fun fish to catch. They just lack the reel ruining power that a bowfin has.
 
I remember a similar situation years ago in a fishing camp somewhere in Quebec.

The lake was almost exclusively pike and walleye, and I remember one of the pike my cousin landed had the legs of a small duckling still in its throat when we pulled the lure.

That was a good trip.
 
Interior Alaska and the sloughs and flats off the Yukon River where my gf is from in particular, has the best pike fishing in the world. We catch and throw back 15 pounders all day long. No one even considers keeping anything under 20 lbs unless it's caught in a subsistence setnet.

One of our regular campsites during moose season is on a slough that opens up into a series of lakes. Across the slough separated by a narrow ridge of land is a large lake we watch in the early moring hours for moose coming out to feed.

The lake as well as the slough are full of northern pike, whitefish, grayling and bourbot. It's also loaded with waterfowl. At night when you're snugged down into your sleeping bag, you can hear beavers tail-slapping and diving and you can also hear the splashes of the pike feeding on top of the water.

Every now and then following a splash you'll hear the ducks going ape $^!t where a northern snatched a baby duck from the middle of the flock. Folks routinely find ducks inside pike up there.
 
"subsistence setnet"

You mean gill net right? Because I don't know of any other type of net the is a "set net" other than a gill net.

We see large pike and musky on the Huron lake shores. The native fishing boats get them caught in the gill nets. When they pull up the nets and get these huge (by my standards) musky they bash them over the head with a baseball bat and toss them overboard. It is not uncommon to see a floating mass of dead trophy sized fish floating because the natives don't like what they do to the nets.

But I have never caught a large musky myself. But I know what they look like.
 
"subsistence setnet".

Yes they are gill nets. I used the term "setnet" to more or less indicate manner in which we fish them as opposed to drifting which is the method we use for salmon. They are anywhere from 25-50 ft long and are "set" stationary near sloughs or in large eddies.
The fish we catch with them aren't for commercial or sport purposes. It is strictly food gathering. I don't know of anyone who's wasted fish. Fish that aren't desireable for human consumption is usually given to dog mushers to feed their teams with. Nothing is wasted.
 
Well thats good.

I dislike gill nets just because of how I see them used. I don't know a sport fisher that does not find their "fishing" methods disgusting. It must not be anything like what your talking about because the size of the operation is so large here.


Its just the large scale waste that you see, but nothing I can do to stop it. If everything is use I don't really care one way or the other.

Anyway nice pike. Hope you get some when the season opens up.
 
I'm a sport fisher and I used to feel the same way about gill nets, but then I went out and crewed on a boat. If you're a sport fisher, great, I hope you enjoy it and don't worry if you don't come home with a fish or two every once in a while. However if you're a commercial or subsistance fisher, if you don't catch enough fish you have a serious problem, being either short on food or short on money. Imagine you're getting paid by how much work you do, if you've got a tool that can help you feed your family, pay your bills, and provide a necessary product, why wouldn't you use it? Also, from the point of the consumer, how often do you eat store bought fish? I can guarantee that if commercial fishing operations could no longer use nets and had to fish with a line and a pole, the price of fish would become so high it would be unaffordable for almost everyone. And as far as the large scale waste, I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about, every fish, not just what we were fishing for as we picked up sol on occasion, was kept. So remember, different jobs, different tools.
 
I'm a sport fisher and I used to feel the same way about gill nets, but then I went out and crewed on a boat. If you're a sport fisher, great, I hope you enjoy it and don't worry if you don't come home with a fish or two every once in a while. However if you're a commercial or subsistance fisher, if you don't catch enough fish you have a serious problem, being either short on food or short on money.
Click to expand...
Welllll..... you could always resort to this :D .

http://filecabi.net/video/troutfishingafgan.html
 
The problem with commercial fisherman is that they will keep on fishing until there is nothing left. They run themselves out of business. The sardine business on the west coast died in in the mid 1950's because of overfishing. In the Atlantic 20 years ago, the average swordfish caught weighed close to 200 pounds, now the average is 40 pounds.

Alaska has discovered that by limiting seasons and take, they have a renewable resource. They also limit the number of commercial licenses and the areas that are open to fishing. This is the only way to sustain fisheries. Left to their own devices, commercial fishermen would fish themselves out of a job.

I'm not discounting environmental concerns. Obviously, dams and clear cut logging affect salmon. As does pollution from runoff but, the commercial guys want to kill the very last one...
 
Not all of the commercial fisherman want to kill every last stinking fish because, as you said, they would be out of a job. Back in the day most people thought that the ocean had an unlimited amount of fish, now we know better.
 
Im glad you guys fish

If it wasnt for commercial fisherman I would never eat it! Ive been fishing a few times, and hate it... Sooooooooo many other ways to waste my time.. The only fresh water fish I'll eat is salmon.. And they spend half thier lives in the ocean... Nothing against those of you who like fishin, I wouldnt get to eat fish any other way.. I know somebodys gonna say, "You havnt fished here, or my way", but Id seriously rather be shooting!:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top