TIGER MUSKY and Pike in Kawartha Lakes!! - Pics

[Abraxus]

If any one has or knows a good location on Balsam to catch pike, they should cough it up! lol I mean really, in this instance, no one should really be concerned about giving away their sweet spot. Trust me, you are doing the lake a favor! I have been fishing Musky on Balsam for over 3 years now. I love that lake! It would suck if the Pike got completely established there. Kill the buggers!

 

Although I have yet to catch a pike on Balsam, I have seen a Tiger caught. Pike are nuisance for Balsam and any one fishing there should treat them as such.

 

Ab

[fishermccann]

I have fished Cameron for over 30 years, have yet to catch a pike, but I can catch a Muskie almost every time out!

[mbac31]

Send me a PM and I will give the spots for Pike and what they have been hitting. I have been saving the GPS marks on my sonar everywhere I catch one.

 

Second note. I will be checking with the Ministry today to see if infact the catch limits still applies to an invasive species.

[johnnyb]

why PM? Just start posting...start a Kawarthas-Pik-GPS location thread

[Tom McCutcheon]

This appears to be hot debate.

 

How many of you filled out the FMZ17 survey in March?

How many of you attended one of the numerous public meetings with the MNR regarding proposed changes and management suggestions?

The MNR is trying to get a handle on this before it gets out of hand.

Lets let them and the biologists do their jobs with some guidance from anglers and cottagers. They do seem to be listening.

 

Cheers

Tom.

[johnnyb]

Yes! Exactly! Spoken like someone who is actually interested in getting something done

[mbac31]

I've been to the meetings, filled out surveys, went to meetings and kept records and have given all the time needed on various lakes for the recorders. They are currently on the Tri Lakes this year. They go in cycles. Please give them the time to let them do their job when approached. I would love to start this thread and maybe get it pinned.

 

The meetings are not enough as most guys like to talk but dont bother doing anything about it. Most guys never even heard of the survey or meetings. I would love to give the MNR a hand into doing stuff to better our lakes. If someone on here can get me into contact with someone who can arrange that I would be gratefull. Why dont we try and set something like that up. That I think would be a great idea for this entire site to maybe do something like that. Lets put our time into something we all enjoy.

 

2nd note: I just got off the phone with one of the Biologists at the Peterborough office. You have to infact abide by ther catch limits for area 17 Kawarthas invasive or not species but was encouraged to harvest Pike. You are not to harvest a Pike and let it go to waste, in doing so you are commiting an offense and can be charged.

 

just to clarify I had 2 other guys with me the day I caught the 9 fish.

Edited June 19, 2009 by smalliefisher

[jediangler]

Fishermccann, that's what I want to hear, thank you.

 

Let us know if you ever do come across one.

[Jonny]

I just got off the phone with one of the Biologists at the Peterborough office. You have to infact abide by ther catch limits for area 17 Kawarthas... You are not to harvest a Pike and let it go to waste, in doing so you are commiting an offense and can be charged.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

 

I was pretty sure that would be the case. It is illegal to let game fish spoil. As I understand it, if you catch it and kill it, you have to consume it. (Game fish only.)* That is one of the reasons, I believe, that carp is not classed as a game fish. You can kill carp (i.e. by bow-fishing) and you don't have to eat it. In places where you can bow-fish for pike, you have to eat the pike. That's my understanding anyway, never having bow-fished.

 

I would have been surprised to learn that the regulation for the killing of game fish would have been amended for one particular lake.

 

---

 

* AFAIK, you are not even supposed to throw out game fish that has become freezer-burnt in your freezer.

[Jigger]

One of the methods of control discussed in the draft I posted mentions drawing the water down around the time Pike would normally spawn, leaving their spawning bays on the dry side, and then raising the water tables to allow for those areas to be available to musky in their time of need. Seems like the most efficient way to try and control the Pike population.

[Slayingm]

Was doing some reading the other day about pike in the kawarthas and came across this pdf file. Talks about tigers being in Scugog, Balsam and Pigeon. As well as identifying pike in Stony as early as the 80s. Pretty interesting stuff. Pike invading the Kawarthas talk starts around page 7 or 8.

 

MNR draft

 

 

 

Hi Jigger: Thanks for posting the link to the MNR Doc.... upon futher investigation on my end it seems that pike have moved up the system and have been reported being caught in some other Kawatha lakes... I think this best think anyone can do right now is keep any Pike they caught (regulation limits apply)... they are a good eating fish.

 

Take care and Good Fishing... Greg.

[Bob]

I can't understand everyone demonizing pike. It's another fish to catch and it's native to Ontario. It's amazing they didn't spread throughout the Kawarthas as soon as the canal system was finished. What took them so long? In light of the many other waterbodies where they co-exist quite happily, why would the Kawarthas be any different? Their spawning seasons must overlap or there would never have been the first tiger musky so the idea of young pike eating up the young muskies seems a little off. Almost all fish are cannibalistic so why wouldn't last year's musky gobble up the newly hatched ones? Hmm, maybe that's why reproduction rates aren't huge. As long as there's enough forage to keep them going, they should get along fine. Enjoy the new fishery and eat them up. They're good. Seems to me that a two pound pike would make a lovely snack for a fifteen pound musky, maybe you'll find your muskies growing faster.

Edited June 20, 2009 by Bob

[Jonny]

I can't understand everyone demonizing pike. It's another fish to catch and it's native to Ontario. It's amazing they didn't spread throughout the Kawarthas as soon as the canal system was finished. What took them so long?

 

Good point about the spread. That kinda puzzled me too.

 

And pike isn't a "garbage" fish. Very few fish are. Good agressiveness, good fight, good eating, what's not to like?

Edited June 20, 2009 by Jocko

[Kerry]

I love pike fishing like the next guy but if I'm going to Balsam it's for musky not pike.I'll stay at home and fish Cooch or St John for pike.The Kawarthas have been managed for Musky.The more we can do to help the better.CNE is a good approach.

Kerry

[glen]

Thanks for the report Greg.

We dont need any pike in the Kawartha lakes. All you have to do is look at lake Dalrymple to figure that one out. Dalrymple used to be an excellent muskie lake now the small pike took over and there are very few muskie. Pike are slow growing and very few get to 40". Lets nuke them before its to late.

[Northhunter]

I can't understand everyone demonizing pike. It's another fish to catch and it's native to Ontario. It's amazing they didn't spread throughout the Kawarthas as soon as the canal system was finished. What took them so long? In light of the many other waterbodies where they co-exist quite happily, why would the Kawarthas be any different? Their spawning seasons must overlap or there would never have been the first tiger musky so the idea of young pike eating up the young muskies seems a little off. Almost all fish are cannibalistic so why wouldn't last year's musky gobble up the newly hatched ones? Hmm, maybe that's why reproduction rates aren't huge. As long as there's enough forage to keep them going, they should get along fine. Enjoy the new fishery and eat them up. They're good. Seems to me that a two pound pike would make a lovely snack for a fifteen pound musky, maybe you'll find your muskies growing faster.

 

They will directly compete with the musky, and change the natural dynamic of the lakes. These are populations of musky that haven't evolved and adapted alongside pike. My understanding is that where they do coexist in numbers, musky have their own "niche" in spawning time and location - they spawn deeper and later. Musky pops. that don't develop alongside pike breed more like pike but still like the slightly warmer temps (the two species are very similar, but still different - their breeding habits have the same relationship). No pike = no niche. When northerns do move in, they are breeding where the native musky are.. but earlier. It doesn't help that juvenile northerns grow faster than muskellunge. A northern will try to eat something 2/3's it's length.

The ones that live also directly compete with this new species for prey...and prey is also very different in the kawarthas than someplace like Nipissing. I could be wrong, but I don't think there are any cisco, whitefish, etc., present. That's a very different and very major food source that isn't there.

Just for fun, compare pictures of musky caught from the kawarthas with those from someplace like Nipissing, or the French, or St. Lawrence. It's something people might not notice unless you directly compare them and bring attention to it, but there's a reason they look very different.

Edited June 20, 2009 by Northhunter

[Jonny]

Although pike is one of my favourite sport fish, it was not my intention to downplay the concern about pike being invasive in the Kawarthas.

 

The question of how they got there, and why it took so long, is a good one, although it doesn't alter the fact. Isn't the Trent-Severn Waterway well over 100 years old? Something must have changed, or it might even be that someone intentionally introduced them?

 

What's the best guess?

[Bob]

In many cases, fish that spawn in shallow water are easily spread by wading birds such as heron. They wade through the spawning beds and some fertilized eggs stick to their feet. They fly to the next lake and these eggs fall off so now you have a population of fish introduced. Again, why did it take so long in the Kawarthas? Maybe they were there long before anyone started to catch or notice them. Nature is funny. If life can exist, it usually will. When I first started fishing Elliot Lake, there were no pike. There were lake trout, whitefish, smallmouth bass, catfish and ling. That was 30 years ago. In the last few years,there are pike being caught and not such small ones either. There are 2 or 3 being caught over 20 pounds every year for the last 10 or so years. Leads me to believe they were there for quite a while before anyone caught one. Doesn't seem to have hurt the populations of the other fish. Folks are still catching nice lakers and bass. Where's the harm? Some guys just seem right fanatical about muskies and they're nothing but another member of the pike family that tends to grow a little larger. So what?

[Northhunter]

I'm not fanatical about muskies. But to my knowledge there aren't exactly loads of lakes in Ontario where they exist without pike. Why change that to none.

Edited June 20, 2009 by Northhunter

[Terry]

pike don't like rapids so before the canal was built they didn't run the rapids, so it kept them from moving

 

plus pike, while they do move to different locations around a lake they keep the route for most of their life

they spawn in the same river each year and in many cases the same spot, they are not natural wanderers.

So the move into the kawarthas has been slow

[ricoboxing]

i have a conservation license, if i keep a tiger muskie, dosen't that mean im breaking the law?

[Billy Bob]

You want to keep the pike population down............have local pike tournaments where you want them controlled. This could be a win, win for the area as it will bring in money to the local economy and everyone is having fun fishing.

[Jonny]

You want to keep the pike population down............have local pike tournaments where you want them controlled.

 

Not a bad idea. But I wonder... if the numbers of pike are already at a level where they are being caught regularly, and enough possibly for a successful tournament, maybe fishing for them to control them is like the proverbial boy with his finger stuck in the hole in the dam.

 

I'm also thinking that fishermen's reports to the MNR about how many pike are being caught, and where, might help make a nice study about the spread and increase in the pike population, but it probably won't do much to halt the process. You'd have to catch a LOT of pike to make a dent, and if you catch lots, then there are lots more out there. It sounds like it could be a losing battle if the pike have found a niche and are determined to occupy it.

[Garnet]

I've caught pike in every area of Balsam lake and like eating pike. It's probably to late but I'm still going to eat everyone.

 

Garnet

[Bob]

Here's something else to consider: the Kawartha Lakes didn't even exist before the construction of the Trent-Severn waterway so how many muskies would have been around then? It's the system of dams and locks that created the lakes, before that there were just rivers with some wide spots maybe. Might have been a trout fishery at one time. Could be worth looking into the history of the area.