Excellent work and thanks for the report. I'm making a few trips this summer to the PO.
By any chance were you able to get a water temp? No biggie...just curious

The mainstem is 43-44 and the sloughs are 5-6 degrees warmer. The river is low and the sloughs are shallow and warmer.

Great fish, hope they were released to !

and if they were not who cares.nice fish

shrug, I guess nobody !, lets all keep every fish we catch, especially with the budget woes, maybe we can wipe em out ;-)

nice catch and thx for the report. Ignore the haters, nothin better to do than bag on good folks making good reports. tight lines!

All six got tossed back in the drink! I ate one Saturday night(3-4 lber) it was excellant. Harvesting fish is an effective way to manage a fishery, espcially on the PO River where the Pike have only been for 12+ yrs. The next time someones complains about me harvesting a fish, I am gonna harvest 5 and the time after that 10. All the carcasses will be photoed. I live on Eloika Lake and I haven't kept a bass in 5 years. I relaesed at least five 5 lbers last year. Keep squacking and you'll see some nice pics.

Nice post! Good to see some Pike action this early in the season, I also use large swimbaits (very expensive) but they work great on the Pike and I've had a few bass attacks too! Those 4-6lber's make nice fillets!

Fishelk, here's a better way to solve the complainer problem, as the author of this report you have the power to delete any replies you feel inappropriate and I see two I would.

Every year the WDFW holds an open forum where anyone in the state can give their two cents about how fisheries should be managed. They then take those public comments, combined with their own research, and create a small, easy to read pamphlet containing all of the rules that fishermen need to follow. Anyone interested in changing those rules should definitely look into the opportunity to comment on the WDFW website. As for fishermen who are following the rules from the pamphlet, and providing great reports on this site, they should be left alone and praised for providing us with very helpful fishing information. In summary, Max, please move your soapbox to another website.

Good call Hewes!

Good call Hewes!

Good call Hewes!

Personally, I saw no disrespect in MaxExp82's comment, just I plug for catch and release. And, for that he get's hammered as a "hater" and "ragging on good folks" sorry, I didn't see him being critical of fishelk in the post.

Even if we had a budget surplus I hardly think "saving Pike" would be on the WDFW's list of things to do. They're regarded as a trash fish here with no minimum size and no limit. People like fishelk do more to manage the pike fisheries in Washington than the WDFW ever will. If they had their choice they would probably want to poison every body of water that had pike, so be careful what you wish for. Nice pike by the way, and yeah those 3-5 lbers are some of the best eating fish there are.

I promise to eat no Bass! Just a few Pike.

It has begun. Fishelk, you are truly the preseason leader for King of the pike fishermen. I will submit my first entry soon.
Nice Fishes!! Happy fishing

that is one mighty lookin fish, nice catch, thanks for sharing

#14 spocanman says:
March 23, 2010 10:04 AM
Personally, I saw no disrespect in MaxExp82's comment, just I plug for catch and release. And, for that he get's hammered as a "hater" and "ragging on good folks" sorry, I didn't see him being critical of fishelk in the post.



thanks. I told him it was a great catch, being vindictive doesnt really help much, but go ahead and keep the fish buddy, if vindictiveness is your way.

Id love to see the carcasses to.





#15 Nik says:
March 23, 2010 10:12 AM
Even if we had a budget surplus I hardly think "saving Pike" would be on the WDFW's list of things to do. They're regarded as a trash fish here with no minimum size and no limit. People like fishelk do more to manage the pike fisheries in Washington than the WDFW ever will. If they had their choice they would probably want to poison every body of water that had pike, so be careful what you wish for. Nice pike by the way, and yeah those 3-5 lbers are some of the best eating fish there are.



That sounds like the same thoughts about trying to wipe out the walleye in Roosevelt 20+ years ago...
Ignorance is bliss. Someday People will realize PIKE is a VALUABLE SPORT FISH , that needs to be taken care of just like any species, ESPECIALLY BASS .




#16 fishelk says:
March 23, 2010 11:00 AM
I promise to eat no Bass! Just a few Pike.


And i dont disagree with that ! If i had to chose a bass or pike being saved, Bass hands down, but as i eluded to a moment ago, pike albeit a "nuisance" fish now, will someday be considered a glorious sport fish here. Mark my words.


Now, to twist this back to a positive light.;


Great fishing, and nice pic.

Max i think you're preaching to the choir about Pike as far as the patrons of this site are concerned. You should direct your feelings on pike towards the policy makers in our fine state. I certainly don't regard pike as a trash fish and 99% of the folks here would probably agree with me. Luckily for us, bass and pike, though largely ignored by the WDFW over the last 2 decades, are hardy, adaptable masters of their environment, and don't need humans holding their fins 24/7 to survive and flourish (I'm looking at you trout). Pike are flourishing in the PO river system on their own and it's because of this that fishermen like fishelk (and me) can selectively harvest them and enjoy such a wonderful resource. Note that even in Idaho the limit on pike is 4.

agreed!! ,. my comment was light hearted . didnt mean to stir up drama ...! Nothing wrong with selected harvest at all, i was just worried that big one got kept ! Since the day before a pike was kept by the same fisherman ! But obviously he knows what hes doing, and his son gets to enjoy fishing as well, hopefully for many many decades to come ! happy fishing all.

Thanks for the water temp info and again...nice fish.
I think its a safe bet that all of us here are very passionate about the pike fishery. WDFW/IFPAG will be meeting this summer
to discuss a potential slot limit and/or other options about the PO pike. Its by no means a victory for us but the very fact that they are scheduled is in itself,a nice foot forward. The trail is bumpy....but were on the right path.

Nik, from post #20. As interesting as this post on the POR has become, you had me worried there for a minute. You stated that in Idaho there is a 4 fish limit on pike. I have been fishing for pike in Idaho for 20 years. I did not think your statement was correct so I got out my 2010 idaho rules book. It shows 12 gamefish and their limits ranging from 3 species with a "No Limit" label to 2,6, and 25. At the bottom of the page (pg. 9) it states "All species other than those listed above" "No Limit" and pike were not listed above. I don't personally keep any pike. However if there is something in the rules for Idaho that says 4 fish limit, I'm missing it and would be much obliged if you can tell me where to find it, just so I know. No big deal, I'm just curious. As for fishelk and his post, NICE FISH, and as I said earlier, you are the leader in the King of the Pike Fisherman race for the year. I will give them a try tomorrow. Hopefully I will have as good of luck as you have had. HMMM pike fishing? Catch a bunch, keep a few? I gotta believe that'll work. I'll bet you never imagined your post would create this much interest. Now that I think about it, you are not only the current pike fishing king, you are the current Fish Posting King! I haven't seen this much action on a post in a long time. Way to go and keep up the good work! Happy Fishing to all!

Nope you're right on; I was going completely off hearsay and I've never kept more than 2 pike on a single trip, so I just assumed the guy who told me that was right. You know what they say about making assumptions. i guess Idaho isn't quite as progressive as I thought.

Great-looking fish! Impressive. I've never tasted a northern, but I wouldn't mind trying one. Just never caught one or fished for 'em before.

Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! I half way expected someone to pick up a chair! LOL ....I love this sight, and I love you guys! Great fish...Washington has the best sportsmen on the planet.....I say next time we break out the big Sumo suits and have a smackdown! Happy fishin' to all

Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! I half way expected someone to pick up a chair! LOL ....I love this sight, and I love you guys! Great fish...Washington has the best sportsmen on the planet.....I say next time we break out the big Sumo suits and have a smackdown! Happy fishin' to all

Wow...good to hear that the Pike are in. I had a blast with them late last summer. I cant wait to get an early start this year. I wish I could have been on the water with AJ's Dad but had to work. Great job PIKE FISHING KING and Wa.Lakes POST KING!!!! LOL!!!

great catch thanks for the report have to go out there

The WDFW along with the Kalispel tribe biologist are performing a study on the Pike on the POR this coming spring. They're studying just about everything they can about the pike: diet, growth, population density, etc. Selective harvest for Northern pike is a good thing seeing as how a population of small pike can get out of hand very quickly. The medium to trophy (26"+) caliber fish are the true diamonds in the rough and believe it or not, really are not as prevalent as the smaller pike as one might think. I understand the point Max is trying to get at and it is something that I have been preaching for years. Minnesota had a problem of over harvest of the big pike and for the last 15-20 years have been trying to restore it back to what it once was. Check out the In-Fisherman article if you haven't already seen it: http://www.in-fisherman.com/content/pike-production-factors-0/2. In particular this quote which I find quite fitting considering the circumstances:

In a set of north-central Minnesota lakes, he found that about 9 to 10 pike longer than 14 inches exist per acre of water on average, compared to only a half of a pike per acre for fish longer than 24 inches. “Besides density, we can also look at production rates—the amount of tissue produced on an annual basis—to provide some indication of how much harvest a fishery can sustain,” he says. “It’s really low for the largest pike in a population. The second and third growth years made up 60 to 87 percent of the annual production, while pike age 6 and older averaged only 4 percent.
“That equates to an average production of only a tenth of a pound per acre per year for pike age 6 and older. Theoretically if you had a 100 acre lake and removed a 10-pound pike, you’d use up the entire production of large pike for a full year,” he says.


Yet as it has been pointed out that there are currently not slot limits on pike on the POR and therefore to each his own. But based on what fishelk has posted and stated, I have full confidence that he knows the delicacy of the larger pike populations and practices selective harvest as he sees fit. As can been seen by this post it appears there is not shortage of interest in Washington's Pike fishery and everybody appears to feel fairly passionate about this fish and this is a good thing. It is just that everybody might have a little bit of a different view on how they like to fish the pike fishery.

Fishelk, heck of a catch my friend. I am truly jealous as I am on the westside and can't fish or pike as easily as the eastsiders can. Keep those reports coming with pictures because it is all I have at the current moment in terms of pike action. Also, how did you cook up your small pike Fishelk? I know the best fish I ever had was some pike and walleye for shore lunch when I was on a fly-in Canadian fishing trip years back.

you pike people are a sensitive bunch!!!! can't we all just get along?

if you guys love pike so much you should fish the st.joe river in idaho. they are everywhere now! there are guys catching them in the swift water by huckleberry campground witch is ? 20 miles up from st.maries and 8 miles up from the slack water at st.joe city. dont get me wrong i love fish.i have not kept a fish other then silvers from loon and steelhead for a couple years now and thats counting mine and evans 60 days of strictly bass fishing last year. BUT... my family has had property on the joe for 25 years and i used to catch nothing but rainbow and cutthroat, then about 8 years ago the trout started to go down hill and all you caught were squawfish! now you go through the sloughs and flooded fields and all you see is pike. im not joking in one slough last summer there was over 100 5" pike in there!! i like pike but there are some places where there should not be a huge population of them. they can have the chain lakes and benawah but the from st.maries up the trout should rule.