River monsters
<p>Brittany O'Masters, 12, of Coeur d'Alene, caught a 33-inch, 11-pound pike in the Clark Fork River in Superior, Mont., on Aug. 4.</p>
<p>Dan Ries, who works at Kootenai Medical Center, recently caught this 25-pound, 43-inch northern pike on the Pend Oreille River. It was caught with a white Booya spinner bait. He was fishing for bass.</p>
They call them river monsters, these carnivorous dwellers of the weedy depths of area lakes and rivers. They are Esox lucius, also known as northern pike.
Aggressive and predatory, the freshwater game fish are popular among many anglers who target the species, but for fishermen who prefer trout or bass, the piscivorous (fish eating) pike are merely underwater competition.
"I used to fish for bass all the time. Then about 10 years ago, I tried going for pike," said Spokane resident Scott Volz, recorder and secretary for the North Idaho Pike Association.
One nibble, and Volz was hooked.
"They're so strong and powerful. It's just hard to fish for anything else," Volz said. "They hit really, really hard. It's like a train hitting your rod. They get your attention real fast."
The North Idaho Pike Association was established in 2005 to bring passionate pike fishermen together, and to focus on survival of the species and the sport in the region.
"We're trying to preserve the fishery. We catch and release everything," Volz said.
The group holds about 10 tournaments each year, covering northern pike hot spots in Eastern Washington, North Idaho and Montana.
Some of the hottest places right now, Volz said, are the Pend Oreille River and the Noxon Reservoir in Montana.
People often find Volz online, through the pike association website - www.northidahopikeassn.com - and call him for instructions on how to land and handle a pike.
The fish have razor-sharp teeth that point backward, so a pike's mouth is not a good place for a human finger trying to remove a hook.
Volz said they use jaw spreaders and a long pair of needle nose pliers to do the trick.
Catch and release anglers also have to grab the fish just right, he said, under the gill plate, if they want to put the fish back in the water.
Just two weeks ago, a man from Boise asked Volz for help.
"He has some relatives in Coeur d'Alene and has been pike fishing for about three or four years and never caught anything," Volz said.
Volz talked him through it on the phone and by e-mail, and the man caught a 15-pounder.
Volz has done well himself this year, bringing in eight fish that weighed more than 15 pounds each. The largest pike Volz has snagged himself weighed in at 20 pounds, and was 42-inches long.
"They're so much fun. We're throwing out these baits that are like 7- or 8-inches long," Volz said.
Mike Beard of Orvis Northwest Outfitters in Coeur d'Alene said the Chain Lakes are great for numbers of pike, but not necessarily big ones.
Beard, who targets them with a fly rod, said to look for pike in the weed drop-offs in about 10- to 15-feet of water.
They're ambush predators, he said, laying in wait for something to swim by.
"Hayden Lake has great pike fishing, and the state record was just pulled from Twin Lake," Beard said.
The new pike record was set Aug. 6 by Kim Fleming of Coeur d'Alene. His fish weighed 40-pounds, 2-ounces, and was 51.5-inches in total length with a girth of 22.75 inches. It was caught on a 6-pound test line and broke the old record by 5 ounces.
The U.S. record for largest pike is a 46-pound, 2-ouncer caught by Peter Dubuc in the Sacandaga Reservoir in New York state in 1940.
The world record largest pike, according to the International Game Fish Association, is a 55-pound, 1-ounce fish caught in Lake of Grefeern, Germany, in 1986.
The Idaho Chapter of the American Fisheries Society's website reports that pike are native to central and northeastern North America, but were illegally introduced into Idaho in the early 1970s. They were first planted in the Chain Lakes in the early 1970s, and rapidly spread throughout the Coeur d'Alene River drainage system.
Dale Odenbaugh of Fins and Feathers on Sherman Avenue in Coeur d'Alene thinks they've been around longer.
He has seen a photo from 1910 with a local fisherman holding a northern pike.
Odenbaugh said the best pike baits are spinners or jerk-baits, although "pike will still clobber them."
"Although popular with some anglers, northern pike have tremendous potential to devastate native fish populations, particularly cutthroat trout," states the Idaho fisheries society's website.
"The bass people hate them," Volz said.
He often hears bass anglers cursing the pike for taking their bait.
Volz said the pike are a necessary part of the system, to keep the smaller fish populations in check.
"They will coexist just fine," Volz said.