2017 Pike tally

[Lucius]

Been awhile for me. Glad to see people putting pike in the boat!! I am thinking I might have to take a trip to lake sakakawea in Sept. We'll see. Keep at them guys....keeps me sane!!!

[AJ's Dad]

Sane? You were up at 11pm posting on a fishing website. Your sanity is long gone.
I released 4 more pike on Saturday. now up to 175 for the year. I got a couple of 30"ers and a couple of 27"ers

[AJ's Dad]

3 more over the weekend puts me at 178. Am I the only one left pike fishing this year???? Saturdays fish weighed 5lb 8lb and 10lbs. Not lots of fish but pretty nice ones.

[AJ's Dad]

I squeezed in a couple of hours of pike fishing last night with Mark K. I had verbally given up catching a pike. I announced to the fish that they had beaten me, and I was conceding to them that they had handed me my first skunk of the season, albeit on a short trip. 5 minutes before I was going to leave, I got a nice 28" 6lb 9ozer on a spinner bait, and avoided the skunk. 1 more fish gets me to 179.

[harleypiker]

Well, I tried for a Washington pike yesterday. Managed a juvenile out of the Columbia so I also barely avoided a skunk. My sis got 3 juveniles. The good news is that at least they are successfully spawning. My 2 year old grandson got ahold of my clicker and ran my pike tally up to hundreds! I might be on 13. Got to find a better state to fish pike, that's for sure.

[AJ's Dad]

Chuck,
I'm appalled that you think it's good that pike may be successfully spawning in the Columbia. (Not really)
Idaho is where it's at. The Cda system is there for the taking. Montana has some options as well. A friend and I are planning a trip to Noxon in a few weeks. We heard the pike are there in BIG numbers and we're ready to get dialed in on them. Keep at those Columbia river pike though, once you get them located you can let me know where they are. In the mean time I'll keep chasing them in Cda.

[harleypiker]

Oh, I know about the glorious CDA system. I've been going there since the mid 90s. But its a fair push from Colville, so I can hope for some local fixes in between. Where I have caught a few nice pike in the Columbia system, now I get no big ones and just 14 inchers. The big ones are not in my net and the little ones are slipping thru someone else's net. Sound familiar?

[AJ's Dad]

I put 5 more pike in the boat on Saturday bringing me to 184 for the year. Water temps barely made it over 70 by the end of the day. Weather forecasts are calling for dropping daytime temps after Thursday as well as overnight temps in the low 50's. That should help get the fall pike push going. Saturdays fish were again good quality except for one 18"er. I got a 29", 2 at 30" and a nice fat 36" 14 pounder. All on spinnerbaits in about 12 feet of water

[harleypiker]

I took a short run over to the Boundary Dam Res. Saturday but only had one small follow. Did ok there in the past but with the lack of fish to move down from Box Canyon it appears that prospects in Boundary might be slim also. Didn't stay till sundown, though. They often bite better there then.

[AJ's Dad]

I took Friday off and hit Cda again for pike. Brandon got 3 and I got 9. He decided that his 13 pounder was going to be big fish of the day and started bragging a little. I warned him that the day was not over yet, then about an hour later I landed a 14lb 9ozer. His fish was an inch longer but it's all about the weight.
9 more gets me to193 on the year.

[AJ's Dad]

I added three pike over at Noxon Reservoir on the 23rd to get me to 196, then 6 more yesterday to go over 200. Sitting at 202 for the year.

[AJ's Dad]

6 more pike yesterday, has my total at 208

[AJ's Dad]

4 more on Saturday brings me to 212 for the year. Looks like I'm the only one pike fishing. Did everyone else hang it up for the year? Spinner baits still doing the trick for me.

[farmer_aa]

I finally put the boat in the water yesterday. I fished in the rain for two hours. First picked up the crappie rod. It's hard to resist slabs on every cast, I think I caught about 40, half of which were over 10". The last hour fished pike. A new rod and reel and new swimbaits produced 4 or 5 hits but no hook ups. What can I say, guess I'm rusty. 47-48 degree water.

[AJ's Dad]

Crappie in the area + 47-48 degree water = BIG PIKE
Or at least it should. It's been kind of a weird year. I've been finding fish on every trip so far this year but haven't seen any high number days yet. I was fishing in up to 54 degree water last weekend. Hopefully the drop in temp will get the big ones going a little more. Good to see you're back out there.

[AJ's Dad]

3 pike yesterday has me at 215. Released one at a little over 10 pounds and 33". Lost another one at the boat that was a little bigger, maybe 12-13 pounds. Saw a few others follow on the day.

[harleypiker]

Well, I've been pike..ing and gripping. Only picked up three small ones in Minn. last week. Post cold fronts, post storms, high gale winds. A washout. Tried Mica Bay today. Beautiful cabbage beds where I picked them up years ago but not a bite today.
I believe I have forgotten how to fish!

[AJ's Dad]

Chuck,
I'm not sure what's going on. I have fished several spots that normally produce real well this time of year and I'm not finding fish. I can understand the lack of fish around sun up bay due to the gill netting that goes on there during the spring, but the others have me puzzled. I have still been finding fish in some of my other locations, but not in the numbers I have seen in previous years.
Weird

[harleypiker]

You'd think, especially the bigger ones, would be moving shallower with the cooling water temps. But the opposite seems to be true. I tried deeper 20 foot water also off the breaks to no avail. Maybe they have their seasons mixed up. Throw a calendar in the water next time you are out.

[farmer_aa]

I don't know what it is but when I'm really slamming the crappies it seems like the fall pike are tough to catch, and when it gets a little colder and the panfish switch off, the pike get aggressive. Not that I'm exactly on the pike this year, but I fished with the kids a week ago and the crappies were again big and hungry. We probably caught 40 plus in an hour, 23 over 10", and I fished pike for another hour or more and managed just one hit. Maybe I was fishing too close to the surface with a shallow running swimbait. But as I always joked with "The King," it's a little early.