Non native species are planted into lakes all the time. The diffrence in those plants and the existance of Northern Pike in the state of Washington is that the state is not willing to "Manage" a pike fishery. We can plant large mouth bass or walleyes in a lake and put slot limits on them, but we can't do that with pike and create a fishery that lots of people desire? Pike fishing is an addicting passtime directly related to the excitement created when one of those big bruisers ( or een a small one) crushes a bait right in front of your eyes, and the power with wich they hit a lure. That along with the fact that if you're fishing in good pike waters, every cast has the potential to nail a fish larger than most salmonoid fishermen have ever seen on the end of their line. It baffles me why a dedicated bass or trout fisherman will spend countless hours hunting for a 6 or 7 pound fish, then complain that they caught a 15 pound pike in the process. In fishing, size does matter. "Bigger Is Always Better" period. I say fish hard and enjoy catching all kinds of fish.
Washington officials are simply affraid to create a lake with a pike fishery in a land locked body of water, because they are afraid people will enjoy catching them so much, they will illegally plant them in their favorite lakes. I'm not just making that up. I heard it at one of their "Public comment" meetings, prior to the pike genocide on the POR. Seeing the pike make their way into Lake Roosevelt like they have tells me they were obviously right about them spreading, but it doesn't tell me they are right about them decimating the trout and salmon fishery like they predict it will. I would be interseted to see factual reports on the stomach contents of pike caught in Lake Roosevelt. I don't want to see the pike wipe out trout and salmon in Roosevelt, but I would just like to see a quality trophy pike fishery "Managed" within the state. If they want to see pike controlled in Washington, make it illegal to retain a pike over 28" or so. You know what they say. "The only thing that eats a small pike is a BIG pike"
