Pike fishing in Oregon

J
joesnuffy
I'm jut wondering if there are any areas in Oregon where you can catch Pike. If so, are there any nice sized ones?

Here's the reason behide my question.

Back in the 70's and 80's, Phillips Reservior of Eastern Oregon was a great trout fishery. Many fish in the 20+ inch sizes were caught out of there. It attracted many people and helped support the local economies. In the 80's sombody decided that they would illegally plant perch in there. The perch have done quite well in reproducing and taking over the lake.

One of the problems is that there are TOO MANY perch. Several attempts have been made restore the trout fishery to what it once was but all have failed. Phillips Reservoir will NEVER be the trout haven of days past.

Now I know a lot of people like to fish for perch and enjoy eating them. I don't have a problem with this. The problem with the perch is that do to the quantity of them, there isn't enough food for them to grow to any decent size. 6 inches or less seems to be the average.

A lot of people want what was to be again. I just don't see it happening. The perch will never allow it. I think the approprite response is that we need to look to the future and not to the past.

So how do we deal with the pest? We are now back to my original question. Is there a good Pike fishery in Oregon? I bet I know where we could start one. Why doesn't ODFW plant some into Phillips Reservior. They would surly find a good use for the perch in there.

But won't they eat the trout as well? Yes, they'd eat a lot of trout. But I'm not trying to make it a trout fishery again. I'd like it to become a world class Pike fishery.

Once they are planted, what then? How do we make it world class? Catch and Release is the answer. Catch all you want, just make sure to release them. Let them become toads. Let them become trophies.

After the fishery is established I'd imagine a limited catch would be ok. Maybe something like the regulation on keeping Sturgeon?

I'd like to see Phillip's Res. become a destination fishery again!

***************

What do you think?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
T
Thuggin4Life
Sure sounds like a good idea to me. Maybe even like some tiger muskies thrown in the mix. Also this would help limit the perch so that there would be a greater chance for bigger perch to thrive. How to we start a petition? Or we could bring our own pike?
 
J
joesnuffy
Thuggin4Life said:
Or we could bring our own pike?

That is how the perch got there. It's illegal and the worng way to make a change to something.

Your right about the perch size though.
 
T
Thuggin4Life
Yeah I know, it was a joke. Besides it would be really hard to get a pike and keep it alive to plant it there. But on a serious note we should start some kind of petition.
 
C
chris61182
I would definitely oppose pike, pickerel, or muskie as the bucket biologists will just move them to other bodies of water in which they don't belong. Though the idea of tiger muskies is appealing, being infertile, even if moved they won't be able to establish any secondary populations.
 
K
kcm
The perfect pike fishery would be throughout the Willamette river. Put 'em in a river system and they would stick to the slack water and current breaks, much like lm bass. Sure, they would take a smolt when the opportunity arose, but their main diet would be n.pikeminnows, carp, and other destructive species. They're loners not schoolers, so a few large fish would populate large areas.
What is there to lose? The trout fishery is pretty much non-exsistant, and the native salmon/steelhead would benefit in the long run without packs of squawfish eating their young.
I know my opinion is not a popular one and the folks at ODFW would never consider it. I do believe their stance on "keeping the status quo" is not the way to go. Management by introducing beneficial species or at least allowing hatchery fish to spawn and diversify the gene pool would be beneficial IMO....
 
J
JeannaJigs
my two cents is that introducing another invasive species...to wipe out an existing invasive species...will just transfer the problem onto the new species when that one takes over and eats everything too. It's just not an intelligent means to an end.
 
B
beaverfan
JeannaJigs said:
my two cents is that introducing another invasive species...to wipe out an existing invasive species...will just transfer the problem onto the new species when that one takes over and eats everything too. It's just not an intelligent means to an end.

+1
 
C
chris61182
JeannaJigs said:
my two cents is that introducing another invasive species...to wipe out an existing invasive species...will just transfer the problem onto the new species when that one takes over and eats everything too. It's just not an intelligent means to an end.

That's why it would be best to use tiger muskies, hybrids are infertile and incapable of reproducing.
 
K
Kodiak
chris61182 said:
That's why it would be best to use tiger muskies, hybrids are infertile and incapable of reproducing.

Tiger musky were planted in the lower willamette in the mid '80's to see if this verry issue could be resolved this way.....It proved to be an epic failure. Pike in northwestern montana are a serious problem. they will travel through small streams 8" deep to find new grounds to spawn, they are voracious eating anything small and shiny in mass quantities. I have seen them destroy trophy trout fisheries in a matter of 18 months. They are horrible little creatures...PLEASE< PLEASE<PLEASE don't get any silly ideas about planting them in this state..any where. All it will take is one idiot to slip a few hammer handles into buckets and get them into a resivoir on the willamette system and we are hosed. They will hold in fast current as well as slack, and do verry well in cold water.....PLEASE DON'T!!!!!!!!
 
M
Mike123
Horrible idea to introduce ANOTHER non-native species... Be nice if we could get all the bass and carp and NPM outta rivers and streams where they are not native.
 
T
Thuggin4Life
Solution. plant tiger muskies who will go to the slack and kill these fish. And maybe they kill a few of the good fish but also eating the other predators is a give and take kinda thing. And tigers can't reproduce so they aren't gonna take over for long.
 
M
Mike123
I think it'd be cool to have them in ponds with warm water species only. I'd love to catch one of those toothy monsters!
 
K
Kodiak
Thuggin4Life said:
Solution. plant tiger muskies who will go to the slack and kill these fish. And maybe they kill a few of the good fish but also eating the other predators is a give and take kinda thing. And tigers can't reproduce so they aren't gonna take over for long.

Once again....tried it once in the willamette....epic fail....tiger muskie can't eat enough to be helpful, and is a temporary hinderance to the population only. It will take several years for them to reach sives big enough to handle a 12" pike minnow. We are better off transporting the smolt down river for a couple of years and deprive them of thier food source , while do exploritory underwater demolisions...and creating better stergeon fishing in the process!
 
M
Markcanby
A better option for your little lake over there Joe maybe Tiger Trout I hear have a aggressive nature almost as bad as a musky.
 
C
chris61182
Mike123 said:
Horrible idea to introduce ANOTHER non-native species... Be nice if we could get all the bass and carp and NPM outta rivers and streams where they are not native.

I do generally agree on the non-natives, but I have a slight nitpick, northern pike minnow ARE native.
 
M
mthoodrider
The bounty for northern pike minnow is $4.00 a fish. Not bad if you have the extra pole license you can fish for some good eating fish and for pike minnow, make some money on the side.
 
B
beaverfan
mthoodrider said:
The bounty for northern pike minnow is $4.00 a fish. Not bad if you have the extra pole license you can fish for some good eating fish and for pike minnow, make some money on the side.


I believe they aren't doing the program this year. I remember them saying last year was the last year for the bounty because PGE is no longer responsible for paying the bounty anymore. Plus it was only in the Columbia River so you couldn't use the two rods.
 
B
Basser@Heart
The pikeminnow bounty continues through 2010. As for the perch problem, I think a couple largemouth would fix it! Course they bring the same "problems" as any other non-native fish, but they're good eating and a lot more fun to catch than 6" perch.
 
M
Moe
IMO, I wouldnt mind having some tiger muskies in the willammette.
 

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