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Results from fishing on sat. afternoon: - 3 hrs of fishing with one line - 4-5" BG's were used for bait - Simple hook and bobber rig 3 strikes were observed with one fish being caught, one lost at the dock, and one fish lost at the set. The fish caught was released The picture shows #065NP with the BG used for bait. 25% of its body length. I really want to catch some 6-8" BH and repeat this "experiment" next weekend. Sorry for the upside down pic.
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ahhhhh, your very first catch of your very own pike from your own pond.....NICE
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Here is a photo of the that 32 incher I caught on vacation.
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Nice fish ! How did you get that first NP to give you the bait back whole?
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Dwight,
That's a beauty. To me, there is just not a more thrilling fish to fish for than a NP, or maybe a musky - especially at that size, when using a big spinner, spoon, or plug just 6-10 inches below the water surface.
Ken
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Dwight nice one! I would love to see one like that being pulled out of my pond!! The look on a kids face when that came to the surface would be priceless.
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I caught it on a 5/8 ounce spinnerbait. They do like to kill the spinning blade!
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Ewest- Mostly luck I think. We have been using a 1/4 oz, black, long shanked hook, tail cutting the BG, and butt hole hooking. We had two others on but couldn't land them. My attempt at trying to make the BG look as natural as possible. Funny thing was he shook the BG as we dipped him and I almost went swimming trying to recover the BG. All in the name of science. If my buddies weren't already convinced about my fish obsession, they are now.
Last edited by mnfish; 10/05/12 10:19 AM. Reason: added text
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Pretty fish. Nice coloration.
Subscribe to Pond Boss MagazineFrom Bob Lusk: Dr. Dave Willis passed away January 13, 2014. He continues to be a key part of our Pond Boss family...and always will be.
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Pike are what really gained my interest in fishing as a kid when I caught one on a crappy rod with weak string. I had a steel leader on though, just in case.
I was in a canoe with no anchor. Got dragged all over a swamp for 10-15 minutes before it finally ditched me under a log. It was huge (not sure if it was a Muskie) and saw it several time in the shallows. Once I got close to it, it would take off again with my rod screaming at me. Had to reel in carefully to avoid snapping the line.
-LS
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mnfish
You have any updates for us on you Pike?
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Very confused right now. Ice went off my ponds Sunday of last week. Found 4 dead NP, 1 BCP, 2 BG in the top pond. The BCP, BG's number of winter deaths;pretty typical for winter stress in my ponds. What is puzzling are the pike deaths. I can't figure out why the pike winter killed. Last fall I stocked a total of 10 pike. I believe the water has warmed up enough that if I had a big winter kill I would see 100's of other species floating or laying on the bottom. I did place a trap in the big pond and caught BCP,YP,BG, and BH. I plan on setting the trap in the top pond this weekend
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I hate to hear about your fish, makes you wonder how long they have been dead.
I am sure someone will be along shortly to fill you in with some information.
Look forward to your trapping and hope you can get some pictures.
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How did the dead fish look - condition - fat or skinny? Some fish die overwinter due to starvation and not typical DO winterkills.
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Plus, northern pike are SO tolerant of low winter D.O. that low oxygen conditions killing them should take out all other fishes (other than fathead minnows, which are the toughest of them all ).
Subscribe to Pond Boss MagazineFrom Bob Lusk: Dr. Dave Willis passed away January 13, 2014. He continues to be a key part of our Pond Boss family...and always will be.
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EWEST - They seemed to be skinney and they appeared to be the smaller of the stocked fish. But its hard to tell. I also wondered about not eating for a cause of death.
Dr. Willis- I agree about the O2 not likely the cause. I will know for sure about the O2 once a place a trap and start catching or not catching BG,BCP,YP.
If lack of O2 is not the reason,I have a hypothesis but have no way of proving it....
1. Some kind of disease that wiped out all ten pike. I only found 4 but could easiley have missed the other 6.
2. The pond is 1/4 acre with 10NP stocked. That is a lot of top line predators for that size body of water. Is it possible the other larger pike "pushed out or made eating very difficult" for the smaller ones. Thus starving the littler ones
Any thoughts? I will probably never know, with so little information.
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If I recall you obtained the 10 NP from another nearby BOW.
They may have been stressed by catching them by hook and line, transporting them, placing them in water with a composition differing from their previous home. Some or all of these factors could have weakened the fish and they didn't recover or contracted some virus or disease.
Since you haven't found them all, I wouldn't count out the chance that the rest of them survived.
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Eating lunch and running some numbers on the pike pond... *Those 10 pike were in there for about 200 days before the 2013 ice out. This pond has little to no structure. Very little weed cover and very clear water clarity. Advantage NP for sure. With 16" of ice cover I figure about 300,000 gallons of water. *Assume each NP eats 1 fish a day *10fish/day consummed *Assume 200 days *2,000 fish consummed by NP *Assume 8 fish to equal 1lb *250lbs of fish consumed There might only be 4 NP and some darn big BCP left in the pond!!! Could this be right? There might not be anything left to trap
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Plus, if you have 4 NP left and they are 5 pounds each, that is 80 pounds per acre in a 1/4 acre pond! Pike typically do not exceed 10 pounds/acre and 20 pounds/acre is a huge amount.
Subscribe to Pond Boss MagazineFrom Bob Lusk: Dr. Dave Willis passed away January 13, 2014. He continues to be a key part of our Pond Boss family...and always will be.
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Yes, I believe we are around that 20lb/acre number. Not many but all in the 10-20 pound range.
You may be find that your pond is happiest with just one NP.
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EWEST - They seemed to be skinney and they appeared to be the smaller of the stocked fish.
Is it possible the other larger pike "pushed out or made eating very difficult" for the smaller ones. Thus starving the littler ones
That is absolutely possible ! They are called predators and that goes further than just eating other fish. They try to protect their area and food sources.
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Mnfish, do you mind to post a picture of your fish traps? Do cr. go in them? Thanks.
Two ponds, 13 and 15 acres on the Mattaponi River.
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Ken- check out the fyke trap thread it shows the trap I've been learning to use. I will be updating that thread as I get more experience and trap modifications. I just wish it would warm up here. Its snowing right now and the temps are high 30's low 40's. My water temps can't seem to break the mid 40's!! These pics are from last week.
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Mnfish, I have a net like that but haven't tried it yet. I thought you had a fish trap you used last year but it might have been someone else. I like your handiwork on the net.
Two ponds, 13 and 15 acres on the Mattaponi River.
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Not real sure what happened but I thought I would close this loop. This weekend I drew down the 1/4 Acre NP pond and sprayed Rotenone. Not many fish in this pond. I saw maybe 25-50 BH, 1 BG, and some FH minnows. Not sure if this pond winter killed or the NP ate themselves into starvation. Before draw down After draw down
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