Rules and Registration for Pend Oreille River Northern Pike Tournament

[kevinb]

Correct,it is illegal to bash/mutilate and then return pike or any other fish back to the water.
This falls under the Statewide General Rules of Harvest and Possession.

Still not sure if I will make it out due to some overtime scheduling. Ski was kind enough to offer me a spot.
If I'm able to attend and "Actually" catch anything,I'll be C&R'ing my fish.

[Gone Fishin]

For any body who is curious,
It looks like it may be possible to launch at the Outpost, just north of Cusick. That would be ideal. I believe they are closed down as far as business goes, so lodging most likely will not be available there. I just spoke with the Riverview Bible Camp which is right at the river bend north of cusick. Their launch will probably not be usable that time of year but it is possible that I can set up lodging there. It would provide us with usable facilities. I have to speak with them more in a few days but this would eliminate the run from ruby or blue slide to the fishable sloughs. This will save time and gas for all involved. Not concrete yet but possibly in the works. If this does not go through it will most likely be cusick or usk. I will be putting together a list of other lodging around the area, probably later today.

As for what Kevin said, I think we will find that a majority of the people fishing this tournament will be releasing their fish. Most of the people I have spoke with that have the intention of entering are releasing them all. I was really impressed when I spoke with the Pend Oreille Valley Sportsmans, and he told me most of the guys up there release all their fish unharmed so they would not be interested in killing them for a tournament. When I informed him that it will be catch and release for all tournament fish, with the option to keep smaller fish, he said that there would be interest in the tournament up that way. I was happy to hear that a lot of the locals are on the same page as most of us when it comes to catch and release of these fish!

[Gone Fishin]

OK, if anybody; is anxious to make reservations someplace, here is a list of possibilities. Not all inclusive but most.

Laurie's RV Court RV Park
509-445-4003
Cusick

Ruby Creek Lodge
509-445-7829
Cusick

Blue Slide Resort
509-445-1327
Cusick

Golden Spur Motor Inn
509-447-3823
Newport

Lakeview Motel
509-447-3664
Newport

Newport City Inn
509-447-3463
Newport

North Skookum Campground
509-447-3943
Newport

My suggestion would be to stay as close to Cusick as possible just because it makes a shorter trip in the morning and at the end of the day. I will know in the next couple of days if the Bible camp is going to let us use the facilities there. This may include a hall to gather in as well as possibly lodging. Otherwise, Blue Slide and Ruby Creek are not that far up the road from the bible camp. Even if lodging is not available at the bible camp I think their beach and a hall might be, which would make it a good gathering location. If this falls through we would still launch from cusick or usk, so staying close to there might not be a bad idea. i will keep everyone posted.

[kevinb]

[quote="Gone Fishin"]OK, if anybody]

Great information GF,thank you. I don't mean to drive this thread off a cliff but do you know what happened to the
Pend Oreille River Resort? Their website has been down for months..

[Lucius]

The Outpost boat launch is pretty small and I think it would be pretty crowded to launch from. I stayed at the Outpost last August while I was fishing the Pend Oreille river and i really think it could be a problem if you have 20 or so boats. Even if you were to get 20 boats in, I think it would be equally as difficult to find parking for everyone. Just some thoughts.

[Lucius]

Great information GF,thank you. I don't mean to drive this thread off a cliff but do you know what happened to the Pend Oreille River Resort? Their website has been down for months..

Kevinb,
The Pend Oreille River Resort is the Outpost. I talked to them when I was their in August and they told me that they changed their name.

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Gone Fishin,
I am still trying to figure out if I can fish the tourney or help out with the judge boats etc. I am a system engineer (aka computer nerd) and I have a big upgrade that weekend at Sacred Heart Hospital that I might not be able to get out of. We will see. I appreciate you listening to me and being willing to change the rules that you have the right to do what you want with. You don't have to do a damn thing that you don't want to and I appreciate you trying to make it work for everyone.

Guys,
On the WDFW note, I don't agree with everything that they do either but they are a great bunch of guys and try to do the best they can with the budget that they have. They have even let me do a ride along with them out at Newman while monitoring Tigers and that was a blast monitoring Tigers in the middle of the night under the stars.

My issue seems to always be centered around the small percentage that don't repect the fishery. Whether it is Bass, Tigers or Pike, all it takes is one good but stupid fisherman to go out and catch and keep everything that they bring to the boat time after time on the same body of water and they are the ones that we have to make up for by releasing fish. crappy but reality.


Hopefully I will see you guys up there in some form or another.

[Deadeyemark]

Frank,
I share a bit of your concern and that is keeping fish in a C&R tournament. A C&R tourney is just that and that rule could very easily be adhered to.
Tournaments usually draw a crowd because of the money and the camaraderie, not the ability to keep fish. You can do that any time if you'd like. Tournaments also have a definite effect on the water and species fished so my opinion would be for a strict C&R event.
Another thought for the timing of this event is the Northern Pike's spawn cycle. Simply handling them full of eggs can be very detrimental not to mention the retention of pre-spawn fish. There won't be any reproduction from retained females or mishandled females. Just food for thought Keith.
It sounds like Keith has put a lot of thought and effort into this event and I wish him the best of luck with it. If I was fishing it, I'd be C&Ring everything in my boat.
That said, I'd be fishing it if I wasn't fishing the 30th Annual Potholes Open Bass tourney. Hopefully next year Keith can schedule it for a week or two later.
Have fun everyone. I wish I was there.

[Gone Fishin]

I realize that it could end up falling right in the middle of the spawn which is why I left the option open to change the rule about keeping fish. It is supposed to be in the 40's by the end of this week and into the 50's by next week in Cusick. If that weather pattern holds it will push those fish into the spawn before the tournament. If that weather quickly changes to cold weather again it could push it closer to the tourney. Im hoping that the weather warms and we will be ok. I really wanted to schedule it later so I could avoid this problem all together but it is hard to get the tournament anytime in may because of the bass tourneys. I would have done the last weekend in april but it is the same weekend as the CdA pike tourney. Like I said, i am hoping for the best and will monitor it closely. Talking withone of the biologists up there this week he told me that the ice was starting to recede off some of the sloughs.... good sign... I may just have to try and bump a bass tourney next year

As for the launch, Inland Empire Bass Club holds a 50 boat tourney out of the Outpost so I would imagine that we could get 25. I will be driving up there to make a decision in the next week or so. The key is trying to get a hold of the owner of the Outpost, the number has been disconnected. I have a guy from the bible camp that is going to find the owner for me.

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I realize that it could end up falling right in the middle of the spawn which is why I left the option open to change the rule about keeping fish. It is supposed to be in the 40's by the end of this week and into the 50's by next week in Cusick. If that weather pattern holds it will push those fish into the spawn before the tournament. If that weather quickly changes to cold weather again it could push it closer to the tourney. Im hoping that the weather warms and we will be ok. I really wanted to schedule it later so I could avoid this problem all together but it is hard to get the tournament anytime in may because of the bass tourneys. I would have done the last weekend in april but it is the same weekend as the CdA pike tourney. Like I said, i am hoping for the best and will monitor it closely. Talking withone of the biologists up there this week he told me that the ice was starting to recede off some of the sloughs.... good sign... I may just have to try and bump a bass tourney next year

As for the launch, Inland Empire Bass Club holds a 50 boat tourney out of the Outpost so I would imagine that we could get 25. I will be driving up there to make a decision in the next week or so. The key is trying to get a hold of the owner of the Outpost, the number has been disconnected. I have a guy from the bible camp that is going to find the owner for me.

Gone Fishin,
A buddy of mine has a cabin in between Ruby and Blueslide so I will ask him if he is going up there this weekend. He goes up most weekends. I will see if he can find a better number from one of his neighbors that live up there year round. He is one of the guys that was telling me that a bunch of the locals up there keep all the Pike that they catch.

[Anglinarcher]

Hey everyone, getting back to the gist of the thread, special regulations for the Pike in the PO river, I have done some informal research here.

FYI, you need to start educating people to the fact that the Pike are eating mostly White Fish, not their precious Bass. Now I love Bass, and fish for pike and bass on the same trips to PO, but per discussions I have had, a lot of people are taking the pike, gilling them, and tossing them back in as trash fish to protect their bass.

If you want to have big pike, you need to convince people that they are worth saving, not killing. Worse yet, if they are going to kill one, they should not be wasting it.

This is your challenge, and your problem, teach, preach, and let others know that the pike are NOT impacting the bass.

[Lucius]

I stand corrected. I guess I didn't think about the spring runoff. I did stay at the Outpost in August and the water was down substantially from the spring time (based on pictures i have seen from Inland Empire Bass Club).

Hey Anglinarcher,
I am sure I speak for all of us on this thread that we all share your passion about conserving the bigger pike. You hit the nail on the head when you stated that the challenges of persevering and protecting the trophy pike population on the P.O.R lies with the anglers that have a passion for the fish since the WDFW is experiencing extreme budget cuts and will not be able to perform studies on the pike at the P.O.R this year.

[Gone Fishin]

Frank, that would be great if you did that!

Anglin Archer, you are completely correct. If you look at the diet studies done so far, you will find that in order of most abundant fish in the stomach of the pike the top 3 food sources are: pumpkinseed, peamouth sucker and perch. Note bass is not in the majority of their food. I will look again and find the percentage that bass are eaten. I have seen a 30 inch pike sitting within inches of a 8-10 inch bass. They both saw eachother yet neither of them cared. Pike are opportunistic feeders, but they are also somewhat selective. There is so much food in that river that the bass and pike can co-exist and still reach trophy sizes. The problem faced here is indeed a bit of ignorance mixed with fear. It is much the same problem that Tiger Muskies face. With the muskie it is much more absurd than the pike because they are sterile and can be controlled quite well. There is very little risk of muskie damaging a fishery, and a greater chance that they will actually help it. Pike aren't sterile so the outcome is much more a mystery and does present some unique challenges as well as oportunities. I think it is something that only time and more research can tell us more about. My goal is to try and show people that pike aren't just a toothy terrorist but rather a very unique and very spectacular fish to catch.

[kevinb]

Hey everyone, getting back to the gist of the thread, special regulations for the Pike in the PO river, I have done some informal research here.

FYI, you need to start educating people to the fact that the Pike are eating mostly White Fish, not their precious Bass. Now I love Bass, and fish for pike and bass on the same trips to PO, but per discussions I have had, a lot of people are taking the pike, gilling them, and tossing them back in as trash fish to protect their bass.

If you want to have big pike, you need to convince people that they are worth saving, not killing. Worse yet, if they are going to kill one, they should not be wasting it.

This is your challenge, and your problem, teach, preach, and let others know that the pike are NOT impacting the bass.

Perfect..

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During the spawning period which can last from 4 to 6 weeks it is important to release the little ones too.

Look at this statistic:

Northern pike in the southern parts of its range spawn occasionally at one year of age, while the majority spawn initially at two years (McClane 1998). In Minnesota 1% were one year old, 84% were 2-5 years, and 15% were over 5 years of age at spawning. Spawning migrations are variable but pike have been reported to migrate up to 25 miles in streams.

Thought those of you that are on the frence about whether to keep them or not during the tourney might want to know this.

[kevinb]

During the spawning period which can last from 4 to 6 weeks it is important to release the little ones too.

Look at this statistic:

Northern pike in the southern parts of its range spawn occasionally at one year of age, while the majority spawn initially at two years (McClane 1998). In Minnesota 1% were one year old, 84% were 2-5 years, and 15% were over 5 years of age at spawning. Spawning migrations are variable but pike have been reported to migrate up to 25 miles in streams.

Thought those of you that are on the frence about whether to keep them or not during the tourney might want to know this.

Thanks tollefs, I'll be meeting up with Marc and Lotech Joe...among others this June and will be fishing
the river for pike. We'll have to meet up...I'll keep your hotspots quiet:-#

[KUP]

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During the spawning period which can last from 4 to 6 weeks it is important to release the little ones too.

Look at this statistic:

Northern pike in the southern parts of its range spawn occasionally at one year of age, while the majority spawn initially at two years (McClane 1998). In Minnesota 1% were one year old, 84% were 2-5 years, and 15% were over 5 years of age at spawning. Spawning migrations are variable but pike have been reported to migrate up to 25 miles in streams.

Thought those of you that are on the frence about whether to keep them or not during the tourney might want to know this.

Thanks tollefs, I'll be meeting up with Marc and Lotech Joe...among others this June and will be fishing
the river for pike. We'll have to meet up...I'll keep your hotspots quiet:-#

Sounds good!

[kevinb]

I'll keep you posted tollefs...I'm eager for some pike action!

[Kenster]

During the spawning period which can last from 4 to 6 weeks it is important to release the little ones too.

Look at this statistic:

Northern pike in the southern parts of its range spawn occasionally at one year of age, while the majority spawn initially at two years (McClane 1998). In Minnesota 1% were one year old, 84% were 2-5 years, and 15% were over 5 years of age at spawning. Spawning migrations are variable but pike have been reported to migrate up to 25 miles in streams.

Thought those of you that are on the frence about whether to keep them or not during the tourney might want to know this.

Hey Frank,

I am sure you shouldn't have to worry about the competiitive angler in this tournament, I have been there and it is truely the locals (non-native but local) that practice catch and keep. I am not gonna drive 400-500 miles and try to bring back a pike for dinner. Last I checked there was a Sonic or a McDonalds around Newport or Spokane if I or one of the Fishermen are desparate (plus I will bring beef hot dogs, they are precooked and can be eaten cold if necessary).

Hopefully I'll see you there.
Kenster