WDFW wants to stop the pike in Roosevelt. You can't make this stuff up.

[JLS]

Whats the continental divide have to do with it? I mean they weren't put into the PO by a bucket biologist.

Well, rivers on the east side of the divide go the Atlantic Ocean and those on the west side of the divide go the Pacific.  So by my layman's geology it'd be pretty darned tough for them to get from Dillon to the PO River unless they had wings or legs.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Whats the continental divide have to do with it? I mean they weren't put into the PO by a bucket biologist.

Well, rivers on the east side of the divide go the Atlantic Ocean and those on the west side of the divide go the Pacific.  So by my layman's geology it'd be pretty darned tough for them to get from Dillon to the PO River unless they had wings or legs.

The wings part comes into play from the Seagulls, Cormorants, Bald Eagles and such.

[YJ Guide Service]

Just telling you what WDFW told us on where the Pike came from that call the PO River home.

[KFhunter]

regardless where they come from....


I'm curious what steps WDFW is going to take to target and significantly reduce their numbers? 


If you go up north into Canada pike have a pretty sizable holding ground that's not affected by spring draw downs from the grand coulee dam, there is some limited shallows with vegetation, also there are 1000's of submerged logs from old timber mills that are still in operation and still float logs.  If they get past the dam in Castlegar they have the whole arrow lake system to infest..worst case scenario there.

Right now (to me) this stinks of a money grab super fund style.  Like Ridgeratt I too wonder how they can be successful in such a vast and complex system.

[HornHoarder]

I don't really understand all the hatred for northern pike? Sure they eat other fish, but I don't think they are ever going to wipe out a species... Over time I think things would balance themselves out. One of my favorite fish to catch, and eat!

[snake]

all pike matter

[YJ Guide Service]

Weather you like them or don't like them everyone has a right to choose if they like to fish for them or not. WDFW has only been successful in controlling their numbers on one small section of the PO River. The other areas still have a thriving population of Pike in it example the Boundary area, Long Lake. These fish now that they are established aren't going anywhere. Don't know if the state has the funds to do a super cleanup which would also impact all the other species in the river. Netting them takes massive man hours and resources to accomplish. If it wasn't for the Kalispels the effort up on the PO River wouldn't have been as successful as it has been. All the nets do is remove the biggest fish and the smaller ones still swim right through. The nets also catch all the biggest Walleye, Bass, trout and other fish everyone is looking to protect just remember that. 

[Huntin Hounds]

Its not about saving lake Roosevelt from pike. Its about keeping them out of the lower river where we spend ungodly amounts of money to keep salmon and steelhead runs. There is so much money that is made from commercial and recreational fishing just for those two species that if they were to be reduced to the point we could not fish for them there would be many towns and cities that would feel the economic hit. I live close to some amazing pike fishing in lake CDA and I know only a handful of people that actually target them. Everyone that fishes wants to catch salmon and steelhead. There are enough predators in the lower Columbia and we don't need another! If you want to catch pike go to a lake that already has them.

[Gobble Doc]

For them to try to eradicate the Northerns is just like them managing the wolves we have. Can't be done in that body of water.

I was going to make a sarcastic comment about how WDFW would probably start a radio tagging with the pike so that they can do biology studies.  Then I reread the news release and realized they already proposed it:

"WDFW and Spokane Tribe plan to accelerate their work in Lake Roosevelt in 2016 to include, for example, radio telemetry studies to track the movements of large pike and implement a reward program for anglers to remove pike from the lake." 

 

[grundy53]

They travel through Lake PO and then down to the PO River. They come out of Dillion not sure the name of the river to Lake PO..

It's the Clark Fork river.

Sent from my E6782 using Tapatalk

[YJ Guide Service]

Thanks Grundy that's correct. Huntin Hounds Do you think WDFW or anyone else will be able to keep Pike out of the river they are already in? They should have been worried about the Pike back in the 90's when something might have been done. The tribe was a supporter of the Pike back then, then 58 million dollars was put on the table to try and bring back a species that will never come back more than likely the Cutthroat and red band rainbows. These species were in the river when it was free flowing not like it is now a shallow reservoir that is warm and slow moving. Then all of a sudden the tribe is against the Pike. The Pike use to bring a lot of money to the Newport, Cusic and Ion areas when there were Pike to fish for there. 

[Huntin Hounds]

They will never get rid of them now but can sure keep the population low if an effort is made. Look at lake Pend Oreille with the macks. Knock back one predator and other species start to thrive again. Or we can have a predator pit like most of Washington where everything suffers. Like I said before I don't know many people that will drive to far to catch pike when they are in a lake right down the road but will drive a long ways to catch a couple salmon or steelhead.

[Dan-o]

I think you're overreacting.

WDFW hasn't even confirmed a breeding pair of Pike in the lake.

[KFhunter]

I think you're overreacting.

WDFW hasn't even confirmed a breeding pair of Pike in the lake.

It's the pea mouth squaw fish taking out all the salmon...

[Dan-o]

I think you're overreacting.

WDFW hasn't even confirmed a breeding pair of Pike in the lake.

It's the pea mouth squaw fish taking out all the salmon...

That is completely not PC.

Thankfully, we have lots of people working on rescinding the 1st amendment so we'll be able to deal with people like you who spout hate speech.   

Sorry.............   I am a low down dirty thread jacker.

So.........   How 'bout them pike?