Pike Harvest

Let me tell you now, the CDOW is filling people with a load of BS. Pike rarely, if ever try to eat fish 1/2 their body length. Do you know what usually happens when they try to do this? They die. I studied this in college and a lot of this anti pike stuff is based almost purely on myth, and the hardcore groups like TU pushing their removal.
Pike have coexisted fine in 11 mile with trout for years. Pike have become the scapegoat for the DOW's poor management. They did harm spinney but that was purely because they became far too numerous. Also that coincided with a shortage of trout for stocking. So it wasn't all pike that caused Spinney to decline.
They have not harmed a single trout fishery in this state besides spinney. I am a pike man and I think that the anti pike attitudes in this state are sick. The DOW just uses them to cover their own rear ends.
I support keeping only a few pike under 30" to keep. I really think that the bag limit should be 10 pike in trout fisheries, with either a slot limit or only one fish over 30" allowed.
What really ticks me off is that the bag limits were lifted in non trout fisheries too. They still try to manage these places for trout, when pike are what they are suited for. They got the blame for no more trout fishing at Crawford, when in reality it was because no more trout were being stocked. They blatantly lied to the public. The introduction of pike to crawford helped the fishery become a wonderfully productive place by weeding out all the small perch. Now 12" jumbos are common, and the crappie are numerous and often weigh more than a pound. Thank you Mr. Bucket Biologist.
The preferred forage size for pike under 30" is 3 - 7". In reality, pike generally do not eat things greater than 1/3 their body length. That is what I was taught in college and my experiences show this to be true.
What the DOW is trying to do to pike in this state is unforgiveable. Whatever pike taken out of spinney should be placed into west slope lakes where trout are not meant to be.
Spinney will have ice fishing soon anyway. Within a few years. I am tired of this wonderful fish being blamed and taking the fall for years of lackluster management. They have no science to back any of this up. All they have is tainted, biased rhetoric based largely on fiction and legend.

I think pike harvest is a good thing, and in lakes with TROPHY fishing of other species extreme pike harvest is the right thing to do. However, anti pike biasness by DOW has caused a few great pike fisheries on the west slope fail. A classic example is Harvey Gap reservoir. It had trophy fishing for nothing before pike were put in there, had small rainbows, small panfish, and decent bass. Then pike were put in. The pike grew big, and with enough anglers and a SMALL limit to keep their numbers in check, the pike flourished. The fishery was amazing for pike, panfish, and bass. The pike did damage the stocker trout fishery, but it was just a stocker trout fishery. The trout can't grow big at harvey, the water is too warm and the trout really shouldn't even be stocked in there. DOW, like always, decided to kill pike in favor of a 10" mushy stocker trout. They lifted the bag limit on pike, just so a 10-12" put and take stocker trout fishery could come back. There used to be trophy pike, and a good number of them. Now what would you prefer, 10-12" mushy stocker trout or a 30" northern pike? Pretty much everyone would prefer the pike. Story short, since DOW changed the limits and regs in harvey gap, the pike fishing there is a small image of what it used to be. They aren't even very common in there anymore. :'( Now that is what I call mismanagement. This is why I think the blanket limit on pike (no limit at all), pretty much across the state is terrible. Like I said, if the fishery say has TROPHY trout that belong there, yeah harvest the pike. but if it can't support a decent fishery of anything else, pike can oftentimes be the perfect fish for such a place, like they were for harvey gap in its boom years of the early-mid 1990's.

TroutFishingBear I totally agree with you, some lakes still have their own regualtions on Pike:
Barr Lake - Adams County
Only 1 northern pike greater than 34 inches can be taken per day.
Cheeseman Reservoir- Douglas & Jefferson Counties
Only 1 northern pike greater than 34 inches can be taken per day.
Crawford Reservoir - Delta County
Only 1 northern pike longer than 34 inches can be taken per day.
RIO BLANCO LAKE SWA - Rio Blanco County
Only 1 northern pike greater than 34 inches can be taken a day.
Williams Fork Reservoir - Grand County
All northern pike 26-34 inches must be returned to the water immediately.

IMO if Williams Fork slot was a little larger on the lower end and they had a bag limit then it would be a good standard. But I think that reservoir is going to be the dominate pike fishery in the state.

I have way more than book smarts fishingkats. I have plenty of experience fishing for pike and trout. As for teeth marks on big trout I believe it. I catch trout out of the Colorado river that have teeth marks on them from other trout. Trout will readily take baitfish 1/3 their body length too, especially in rivers and lakes with lots of suckers.
The fact is pike often choke on larger fish. I saw a 48" pike at crawford that had a 3 pound rainbow in it's mouth but it was too big for it to swallow and it died. It is primarly LEGEND that they try to often eat fish 1/2 there body length. It does not happen. They will try and that is why the trout have marks. But it happens in the river too.
I agree with large limits in pike lakes that have trophy trout. I do not believe in unlimited harvest. Period.
As far as showing the DOW that it would affect the economy, there is a better way. And that is a ballot measure. Then it goes directly to the voters and you take the power out of the special interest group, aka much of the DOW.

Call me crazy-I know my girlfriend of 11 yrs. does-but I like to catch pike.  I really like to catch pike.  They are a great sportfish IMHO, they can be caught on too many lures to mention here, and I've heard they taste good to boot, although I release all that I catch.  

We seem to be in a "hate the pike" mode here in CO on many bodies of water and I just don't understand.  I grew up back east where guys would fish for trout and throw smallmouth bass up on the bank because they were "junk fish" and encroaching on their trout water.  Beauty is in  the eyes of the beholder!!  Maybe it was a mistake to stock pike in some of these CO waters-remember when they were first introduced we were told they would eat the rough fish like carp and suckers and leave the trout alone.  Didn't work out that way did it?  

So on trophy trout waters like Spinney I think the trout resource is something we need to protect, but on many other waters, especially put and take lakes, I say the pike are here and God bless 'em.  A perfect example of what I am talking about is Martin Lake at Lathrop State Park.  They got largemouth and smallies, some walleye and wipers and stocker trout.  And they have some really big pike in that lake that I am sure are dining on the trout.  Which means you can catch a trophy sized pike there-they've already caught quite a few there this spring.  I'll take a 40" pike anyday over an 11" stocker trout.  Ed

fishingkats said:

well i see and hear what troutfishingbear and iceintheveins
are saying but you dont realize that money make things happen trout in the state of colorado is big money just like the snow is big money  
you need to show dow that taking the pike is going to hurt the economy up there that the pike are bringing in people to those lakes and area
because if you can prove it and show where business up there need the pike then you have a chance to change minds
and if you can get business owners to realize that they need the pike fishermen and women then you have a real good chance of having people listen to you
but other states have bigger pike and pike fisheries just like we have trout fisheries
so you have a battle on your hands because trout are easyer to grow in little streams and lakes in the mountains then pike

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I see your logic fishingkats, but I hate to tell ya its wrong :-\. Talk to the guys up in haiden, craig, and that area. The guys that own the baitshops and even the river guides. They all are mad at the pike removals, even the trout flyfishing guides liked the pike being in there. Talking to shop owners they have said their sales have dropped dramatically since the removals.
As for pike not growing big in colorado, that is a statement to laugh at. There are not many states where the state record is over 30 pounds, I believe only 10 states, and colorado is one of them. (30 pounds and change by Dave Vancleave out of williams fork) On the yampa river last year I caught two pike, an 11# and a 14-15 (appx)#. Colorado Pike are much bigger pike on average than in most places in the united states, if you'll look at the facts it is right there. I'm not trying to bash you fishingkats just giving you the straight facts, instead of the DOW's brainwashed information, alright? Like I said, not trying to be a problem, just thought you might like to know the truth.
Ed, I agree 100% with what you said.