Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Holy Northern Pike Batman!

Just in case anyone ever gets the idea of stocking Northern Pike to control the fish population... don't do it. I have never really thought about using Pike as a control species and never would, but I have heard a few people ask about the idea of it on this board and elsewhere. We all know that Pike are big eaters and can be big fish, they have a decent fight and some popularity as a game fish but for my likings just don't taste good at all. The really big ones are fun to catch but all in all just too hungry a predator with not enough payoff to be used in a small body of water. Well to give you an idea of just how hungry these things can get... I went fishing on the weekend with a buddy of mine with the intention of catching a few small LMB and bluegill to bring to my pond to round out my stocking numbers. Well apparently the pike had different ideas. I had a nice big fat 9"+ bluegill on the line.. had it right up to the boat and WHAM!!! a big 'ol 2 foot+ Northern grabs my prize, and swallows the dang thing whole! I end up fighting with this northern for about five minutes before we land it... then it spits the fish out, hook and all.. never having been hooked himself. I have to admit, it was cool to see and fun to catch.. really made the trip, but to swallow a hooked BGill just like that? Ouch. Thinking it was a fluke we continued fishing, moved to a new area and I get a 10" perch on the line... same thing... get it near the boat and we see a streak of fish under us and another 2foot+ northern is on my line ripping the perch to shreds... he spit it out and re-grabbed it about 3 times before folding it right in half. At least two more times I had a small fish on the line only to have my pole bend over and the line get chewed through. So my message for the day is this: Pike in big water can be voracious fun, but in a smaller controlled body of water they would dominate beyond belief. (Yes I am at work, and yes I am bored to death.... : ) )

Pottsy - Good story and examples. ALSO in a pond with bass, pike will eat MORE bass than bgill due to shape, size of meal for the least amount of effort. Pike can swallow a 10-12" bass a whole lot easier than a 6"-7" bgill. Fish are lazy, eat with the least amount of work or effort.

What about having a pond specifically designed for trophy pike/muskie fishing? Is this even feasible? Would it be easier to purchase the land surrounding a small lake and restock from that point? Thanks for any ideas or suggestions.

Couple questions for you.

How big of a pond you talking about for producing large pike?

What is your planned major forage items for growing pike from 36" to 48"?

It may not be as easy as you think to grow really big pike in even large ponds with large forage. I've seen research that says when pike get over 10 pounds they become a coldwater fish and bodies of water that don't have a coldwater refuge rarely produce really big pike.

As a taxidermist I mounted the state record pike for Indiana a few years ago. It was 48 1/2 inches and weighed just over 30 pounds. What a fish!

If you want to see a big muskie I just completed the Indiana state record musky and will have it on my website soon. She was 50 inches and weighed 42 lbs. 8 oz.

First off,
Northerns taste delicous, almost as good as walleye. When ever we go to the BWCA we always fry up a northern or two. The trick to it is fillet them into 5 fillets. Two from over the rib cage, two from off the tail, and one off the top of the tail. If done correctly you get 5 boneless fillets and better fishing than wall eyes. I just saw some pike spawning in a crick near my house. Only a couple feet of water but there they were in a sandy weedy eddy.

When pond owners ask me about northern pike in ponds, I usually respond with this line of thought. A good northern pike population probably will be no more than 10 pounds/acre. I have seen some higher, but a lot lower.

I ask the landowner what size of pike they would like to catch, on average. Usually, they'll say 3 or 4 pounds. Well, that means about 3 fish per acre, and let's say they have a 3-acre pond. An entire fishery dominated by 9 adult pike? Not much food value there, is there?

As already mentioned, northern pike can be eating machines, and when they are abundant, they can decimate a panfish population. They really knock back yellow perch, and in extreme circumstances will also affect bluegills. The problem is that the pike like to eat prey items that are 33-40% of their body length. So, a 24-inch northern pike will seek something like an 8-10 inch perch, the same fish that anglers want to harvest.

I used rotenone to renovate a gravel pit lake for a fellow a few miles from my hometown. He complained that all he had was stunted yellow perch and black bullheads. It was about 1.5 acres in surface area. We put in the rotenone, and very little happened. Then, up came three northern pike, all between 5 and 6 pounds. That about 15-18 pounds of pike in 1.5 acres of water (10+ pounds/acre). The pond also contained yellow perch, green sunfish, and black bullheads. These other fishes were NOT stunted. They were low density, all small fish, and very plump! The northerns had them all cropped down. I'll bet we didn't kill 20 pounds total for those other fishes. If they had been "stunted," it would have been hundreds or even over a thousand pounds. (By the way, this gravel pit now has a dandy smallmouth bass population, and the pond owner calls it his "aquarium" for fish watching.)

I will admit that lower-density northern pike populations don't cause these kind of problems. However, it's hard to control exactly what will result.

For most pond owners, the best advice is probably to leave out northern pike.

Dave

Wow, thanks for the info everyone. I guess pike are not for me, but what about Muskies? What about the following situation: a 10 acre lake, with max depth of 30-40 feet, first year stock golden shiners/mudminnows and walleye, next year stock perch, third year stock 1 16+ inch muskie fingerlings/ per 2 acre. Would this plan allow for good growth of those muskies, while keeping the perch/walleye populations going? I know this may take some time typing responses, and I appreciate it. I am very interested in starting a pond more for show, and growing a few trophy fish, instead of a pond for good eating. Oh yeah, one more thing, are 40 foot depths in central Ontario enough to get the lake to stratify?