Too many pike

[johnr]

pikepalooza

 

[dean nelson]

What the game and fish should do with lakes like that like Harmon is make it illegal to return the pike to the water. Other states do this all the time and although it's certainly not a cure all its definitely more effective then doing nothing. You don't have to take them home but you can't put them back. Normally there a dumpster near by if needed. See this most often when dealing with trout lakes.

 

[KDM]

What the game and fish should do with lakes like that like Harmon is make it illegal to return the pike to the water. Other states do this all the time and although it's certainly not a cure all its definitely more effective then doing nothing. You don't have to take them home but you can't put them back. Normally there a dumpster near by if needed. See this most often when dealing with trout lakes.

Now that idea has some merit. Though it's still a bit wasteful, you may not have to nuke the whole lake.

 

[Still_Learnin']

What the game and fish should do with lakes like that like Harmon is make it illegal to return the pike to the water. Other states do this all the time and although it's certainly not a cure all its definitely more effective then doing nothing. You don't have to take them home but you can't put them back. Normally there a dumpster near by if needed. See this most often when dealing with trout lakes.

My only problem with relying on a law like that (despite the great intent of it) is that a lot of people view it as wasteful to simply kill the fish. But at the same time, they don't want to take it home and clean it. So given the choice of take it home or throw it in the garbage, they would rather just put it back in the lake if they think they won't get caught. I'm not saying that everyone feels this way or even most people do. But there are certainly enough that it makes if difficult to manage a lake or enforce the law.

 

[dean nelson]

My only problem with relying on a law like that (despite the great intent of it) is that a lot of people view it as wasteful to simply kill the fish. But at the same time, they don't want to take it home and clean it. So given the choice of take it home or throw it in the garbage, they would rather just put it back in the lake if they think they won't get caught. I'm not saying that everyone feels this way or even most people do. But there are certainly enough that it makes if difficult to manage a lake or enforce the law.

You would never be able to rely on it but it certainly wouldn't hurt. The big problem would be a guy going fishing there catching 20 little pike and getting board and heading over to oahe or Froelich. Now how is a game warden to know where the fish originated from? With a lake as small as Raleigh they probably could have netted with the big spawning nets they run on oahe but would guess they figured this was a good time to kill two birds with one stone durning the draw down. The lake will be much better for it although I do find the stocking of perch a little questionable!

 

[Buckmaster81]

Raleigh Reservoir boat landing end of October

 

[johnr]

Looks like the battle is 3/4 done

 

[Enslow]

Count me in on this group. I do think pike have a slightly better flavor than walleye and I do know how to debone them I just hate messing with the slime. Walleye are so much easier I feel no need to clean a slimer. I do like catching pike of the trophy class though. I am not at all anti pike I just dont think they need to be in every lake in the state. Its nice to have a good bass lake or trout lake or walleye and perch lake without pike every now and then.

Oh im not a big fan of pike either. They can become a real nuisance. Everyone (including me) should clean more pike and give it away. Most people will take cleaned, boned, and packaged pike. Very few though will take uncleaned pike. In the summer i keep all pike 8lbs plus and clean them. In winter i release them though as the damn slime is horrible when cleaning indoors. My point is that we all want to keep the walleyes but not the pike and if we continue to release the pike there will end up being more pike than walleyes to catch.

 

[sweeney]

not if you poke their eyes out before you put them back :;:stirthepot

 

[Kurtr]

Oh im not a big fan of pike either. They can become a real nuisance. Everyone (including me) should clean more pike and give it away. Most people will take cleaned, boned, and packaged pike. Very few though will take uncleaned pike. In the summer i keep all pike 8lbs plus and clean them. In winter i release them though as the damn slime is horrible when cleaning indoors. My point is that we all want to keep the walleyes but not the pike and if we continue to release the pike there will end up being more pike than walleyes to catch.

I get to keep alot of pike to not so much that i want to my kid likes eating fish so he wants to keep pretty much any thing you can fillet and eat

 

[dean nelson]

Looks like they better make sure we are going to get some rain before they stock it again or else its likely to summer kill this year.

 

[camoman]

There's no way you could simply net all of the fish out of the lake, even as small as Raleigh reservoir is. Gill nets and trap nets are SAMPLING gears state agencies use to monitor fish populations. Not to mention gill nets are not a selective hear anyway, you would catch some pike but you'd also catch a bunch of the other fish they want in the lake. It's almost impossible to catch every fish in a lake with those two sampling gears anyway, and no electrofishing wouldn't work either. Pike do not shock easily. You could turn up the juice but you would have significant bycatch and lose a bunch of other species. That, and the amount of water you can effectively e-fish is so low you wouldn't be able
to even dent a population.

 

[BBQBluesMan]

There's no way you could simply net all of the fish out of the lake, even as small as Raleigh reservoir is. Gill nets and trap nets are SAMPLING gears state agencies use to monitor fish populations. Not to mention gill nets are not a selective hear anyway, you would catch some pike but you'd also catch a bunch of the other fish they want in the lake. It's almost impossible to catch every fish in a lake with those two sampling gears anyway, and no electrofishing wouldn't work either. Pike do not shock easily. You could turn up the juice but you would have significant bycatch and lose a bunch of other species. That, and the amount of water you can effectively e-fish is so low you wouldn't be able
to even dent a population

rotenone kills all gill breathing animals. They are not just killing pike here. They are wiping the slate clean and starting over.

 

[lunkerslayer]

not if you poke their eyes out before you put them back :;:stirthepot

Oh other animals like fresh to, just throw on the bank so other people have to smell what the scavengers to eat.:::

 

[Buckmaster81]

I would think the reservoir has to winterkill at the current water level....

 

[Lycanthrope]

wonder if this would kill snappers also, and other turtles buried in the mud. Ive seen snappers moving around under the ice several times when ice fishing small lakes in the past.

 

[dean nelson]

There's no way you could simply net all of the fish out of the lake, even as small as Raleigh reservoir is. Gill nets and trap nets are SAMPLING gears state agencies use to monitor fish populations. Not to mention gill nets are not a selective hear anyway, you would catch some pike but you'd also catch a bunch of the other fish they want in the lake. It's almost impossible to catch every fish in a lake with those two sampling gears anyway, and no electrofishing wouldn't work either. Pike do not shock easily. You could turn up the juice but you would have significant bycatch and lose a bunch of other species. That, and the amount of water you can effectively e-fish is so low you wouldn't be able
to even dent a population.

You are correct that nets would never get them all. I was talking only of the sample nets not Gill. The thing with it is they didn't necessarily have to catch all of them to be helpful. If they netted a few hundred pike that is more then enough to make a noticeable difference in the other fish populations. I'm sure the reason they didn't do that is the cost vs benefits equation. I'm sure there just isn't enough angler interest in that lake to warrant the man hours and equipment cost of a project like that.