Why kill big pike?

I was at the Lake City cleaning house on Monday afternoon. What I saw just made me shake my head. A guy from Iowa was in there cleaning two beautiful northerns. One was surely over 12-13 pounds maybe more. The guy I was with commented that it was a shame to kill big pike like this. The guy cleaning the fish assured us that there are lots of fish like this in Lake Pepin and it was no big deal. This thinking just drives me crazy. The guy went on to say that killing a bunch of 20 inch walleyes was just as bad. I say both scenarios are bad for the fishery. Is CPR just for the locals?????

I hear you loud and clear, sometimes I think out of towners (some) think that because they travel so far and spend so much money on their “vacation” that they are entitled to take whatever they darn well please, I see it up here in NW WI lake country, even worse, I saw a stringer of largemouth bass taken out of a 400 acre lake the other day, 10 fish all between 14 and 17 inches, the first letters on the boat were IL

If there is any consolation, they were out-of-towners. Not so local slob stock piling their freezers. I would much rather have a guy from out of town come in and take some fish once a year than some a-hola taking a limit every time they go out. CPR starts locally. But one thing everyone has to understand is they paid for their fishing license and part of that license is the right right to keep fish no matter the size as long as they abide by state and federal laws. You and I may not like it, but that fact will always stay the same.

Yep, I must have cleaned about 30 of those 20 pound pike. The do wonders for the grass in my yard. I figure since I don’t like the taste of fish I would just take as many as I could just to torque you guys off. Next week I am going to rape and pillage the smallmouth on EVERY wingdamn I can find and then go pointing fingers at all the tournaments that have a high mortality rate. Honestly I have only take 3 fish out of the river in my life but must admit that I have probably feed the turtles a hundred times over. Just food for thought.
jc

As a friend of mine pointed out in an email I have just stirred the pot. This forum needed a little life so I offered myself to the Pike Gods in exchange for a little excitement and can’t even get a “go pee in the wind” response.

Oh well, maybe you all know I was just joshing ya.
Jc

I agree w/ Jeremy’s 1st post, if we take all the pike out of the river maybe we wont have to deal w/ scum lines on our boats.

I would like to all of those slimy things.

must be a slow news day I think the river can withstand the pressure of the “meatheads”, but it is sad to see, although you are correct blue fleck, probably not going to change, on the other hand, I think lakes are more vunerable, for some species, as some do not have natural reproduction, and it is the “out of towners” who take their toll coming up for a week at a time staying at resorts, the resorts are always full and these guys end up fishing and taking more than the locals who tend to fish less and scatter their presence as in fishing many different lakes, I do know some local “meatheads” though too, bottom line is do your part individually and be OK with it

There were a lot of years that this fisherman targeted, caught and kept Northern Pike to eat. Here is my personal opinion on keeping a pike for dinner.

I like a pike that is about 7-8 pounds, give or take a pound or so. Anything smaller there just is not a whole lot of usable meat after all of the “Y” bones are taken out, anything bigger tends to be a little aged. (Mushy, not a real good flavor)

Using the table printed in the Minnesota Regs, an 8 pound pike is roughly 32-33 inches. That’s about right. I think a 30 incher is about perfect. A 12-13 pound pike is 37-38 inches and I consider that too big and would toss it back if not injured.

Now, with all that said, I think a lot of fishermen tend to over inflate the weight of a fish. For instance, a 30 inch fish is a 10 pounder when it actually weighs “on the scale” 6 pounds!

If the fish you saw being cleaned were in the upper 30 to 40 inch class, I have to agree with you 100%. If those fish were 30-33 inches, those were keepers and I have no problem seeing them cleaned. I would also agree that there are a sufficient number of that size pike in pool 4 for harvest.

….just my 2 cents worth.

J.

OK, I’ll do it…. Jeremy, go pee in the wind.

And you’re right, it is a little slow around here today. Dustin went fishing yesterday and caught some nice walleye on the lake. And he never fishes the lake. I’m surprised that he didn’t share that with us today. (hint-hint Mr. Stewart…lol)

In the end, I realized I should have just kept quiet.

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As a friend of mine pointed out in an email I have just stirred the pot. This forum needed a little life so I offered myself to the Pike Gods in exchange for a little excitement and can’t even get a “go pee in the wind” response.

Oh well, maybe you all know I was just joshing ya.
Jc

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Don’t have time to sit around and type a bunch of info like some guys, , besides it was a very short outing and the info will be shared in my next report

well…. if its that slow around here today…. Ive been “sitting” on this for way to long… one of our members here stuck a BIG Musky in one of our Local Wisconsin lakes about a week ago…. and I have the story and the pix…. hopefully he will show and tell soon!… or I just dont know how long I can hang on to it!!… its one beauty of a fish….

I understand. If you don’t get your 4 hours of TV a night you get cranky….lol To the point though, when there’s no fish talk taking place, giving Dustin a hard time is second best.

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I understand. If you don’t get your 4 hours of TV a night you get cranky….lol To the point though, when there’s no fish talk taking place, giving Dustin a hard time is second best.

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Can I substitute Rivereyes in for Dustin??? I like Dustin!

Teasing has nothing to do with “liking.” If I didn’t like him I certainly wouldn’t waste my time giving him a ration now and again.

Working along that philosophy, guys like Big B and big fish dude are a little “too close” if you ask me….lol

If you’ve never seen or heard those two go at it, well, you’re missing out and have no idea what I’m talking about. Kinda’ like a modern day grumpy old men thing with more beer and LOTS of raunchy humor.

20 minutes around those guys I’m laughing so hard I’m crying!

They’ll be doing their comedy routine at the GTG, with their first show starting around sun-up. But don’t worry, the late shows get MUCH better.

Four hours a night on FTR/FTL TV is much more fun than 4 hours of the o’l regular TV anyday. Thanks, Bill