Northern Pike in Utah lake

[bvpatten]

I was bitten by the Pike bug a few years ago at Yuba. But ly the word has gotten out about some of the best pike fishing in western United States! So instead of a peaceful trip to Yuba with hardly another boat on the water, I fear it will soon become the combat fishing center of Utah! So I have been excited about reports of northerns in Utah Lake! Now the DWR lists them as invasive with a catch and kill on any northern pike caught in Utah Lake, I feel this is a mistake. Yes I know, "What about the June Suckers! Think about the June Suckers!" In my opinion if it wasn't for the Federal money they get for protecting them the DWR wouldn't give a rats but about the dam things! And if the are sooo concerned about predators why aren't the calling for mandatory kills of Large Mouths in the lake? Anyway I would like to here some input on the northerns in the lake, are they a good thing or a bad thing? Having watched the steady decline of fishing in Utah Lake over the last 40 some odd years, I don't see how the introduction of a new predator could possibly do any more harm to an already devastated fishery.
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[Darkcloud]

Dont get me wrong, I love to fish for pike, but they would wipe out utah lake. Look at yuba, its hard to catch anything but pike. Not to mention the they don't do well in really warm water. It would be awesome to fish out my back door, but keep them in Yuba. I like to fish for the pan fish on spur of the moment trips close to home
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[Boatloadakids]

bvp-- I have been fishing UL for 50 odd years and I have never caught or seen a pike either. There must be a few in there or the DWR would not issue a catch-and-kill decree.
I also respectfully disagree about the "steady decline of fishing in Utah Lake." Seems to me like there are more varieties of fish now than there has been for many years. There are blue gills, perch, wb, lmb, cats, the ubiquitous carp, and even the mythical walleye, all in relative abundance. LMB tournaments that are common now were unheard of just a few years ago. I see UL as a great fishery -- without Northern Pike.

I defer to the professionals to manage the lakes fish species. If they say it is a no-no for pike, that's good enough for me.

Please... make the ice go away![]

BLK
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[bvpatten]

Just another idea, years ago the main predatory fish in Utah lake was trout, and the lake was deeper over all and supported a great diversity of fish and wildlife. Several factors have ruined the lake over the years. Sediment runoff from farming, pollution and CARP being the biggest factors. The first two have been addressed over time. We no longer dump raw sewage in the lake, discharge from industrial manufacturing is almost eliminated and better farming practices have taken care of them. The DWR is trying to cut into the carp population with removal efforts, but I have my doubts as to its effectiveness , they have been netting carp out of that lake for decades and we only have more carp to show for it. So here are a few ideas, start dredging the lake. It doesn't take a Ph D to figure out that deeper water provides more places for the small fish to hide.ie the june sucker offspring. tell the feds we need to dredge the lake to save 'em and let them pay for it! At last something I wouldn't mind seeing my tax dollars spent on! But I degress, Up the quota of carp to be removed and pursue efforts to eliminate ALL the carp. Catch and kill regs for carp, tag some of them and offer prizes, but get rid of the dam things or at least dramatically reduce the impact they have on the lake..Begin planting vegetation so to provide habitation for smaller fish and to clean up the water clarity of the lake. there are a lot of thing that could be done to restore the lake to its original state, but I believe if we worked towards that end it would do more for the survival of the sucker and would offer better ecosystem over all
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[bvpatten]

I am excited about the large mouths also, caught my first one on Utah Lake last year! and love the Idea that they are taking off! But I have to argue on the walleye population , I can remember spawns at Lincoln Beach when we would catch them by hand at night after fishing all day in the boats . my family would take their vacation times to match the walleye spawn in the spring and camp there for two weeks. great times and a lot more fish


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[Boatloadakids]

Get rid of ALL the carp and dredge the lake??
The cost to dredge UL would be mega millions of $$ if it was even possible to do. And getting rid of ALL the carp would be like the governments efforts to get rid of all the coyotes.

Dredge and eradicate ALL carp?? Noble but really, not very realistic or practical. How could a lake that big be dredged? I don't think it could be done in a way that would make a difference. Casting a dredge line from the shore all away around the lake would not drop the overall depth more than a fraction and there is no way to get heavy equipment on or in the lake.

Get all the Northerns out and continue with clean-up projects and UL will be just fine.

Just my opinion.

BLK
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[fuzzyfisher]

first off how do you think the dwr can kill all the carp in a lake that big? when they have been trying to kill all the utah chub in the state and have not been able to stop them from coming back anywhere?..

oh and BTW if anyone wants to know the DWR put the pike in Utah lake years ago. i guess they have changed they'er minds on that now that they are showing up? lol
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[Boatloadakids]

Fuzzy-- I did not know the pike were planted by the DWR ... interesting. I assumed they got there in a bucket.

bvp-- You're right about the walleye being more abundant years ago. I remember those times too. I caught some big'uns in the tributaries using some methods I'm not proud of and would just as soon not mention on this forum[pirate]. But that was long ,long time ago and before the tribs were closed. The walleyes seem to be more of a fickle fish than the other UL species and are more subject to the vagaries of nature and people.

Anyways, I still think UL is great fishery in spite of the years of abuse. With continued clean up efforts, many, if not most, by fishermen, the lake will be just fine.

Can't wait for soft water.

BLK
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[TroutBumDave]

Man, if only this guy had gone to school for years and then spent his entire career managing wildlife... We might be onto something!

Oh well, I guess we'll just have to leave it to the people who actually did go to school for this, and who have made their careers out of managing fisheries. How boring.
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[TT600]

When the quagga mussels come to UL in a few years will that clear up the water? I know the water in Lake Mead compared to Powell is very clear due to the mussels. Fishing not so good but that is another matter.
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[Therapist]

Sorry to burst your dream of UL, but what you see out there today is pretty much what UL has always been.

True, DWR did introduce Northerns back in the late 50's early 60's, along with pretty much every other species of fish, including Lake Trout. I doubt that many of those have survived and the current introduction is most likely from "bucket bios."

The dredging issue has been attempted and addressed several times. American Fork purchased a dredge in the 80's I believe and were dredging the AF harbor. What they found was that the bottom of the lake was so fluid that they were sucking muck from the main lake. It was not a feasible project.

No comment on catching Walleye during the spawn with your hands !! nuff said !! Crap, I have to go, my bull is starting to mount some of my cows and I have to go shoot them. My herd keeps getting smaller every year, can't figure it out !!!

[fishnate]

I'm not sure why we're even having a discussion about it. I assume pike are in the lake due to DWR regs. If so they are they in there to stay and the only thing now that will determine their success or failure is nature. We can't selectively eradicate them. The lake is too large for anglers to mass harvest them. Anglers just have to adjust and follow the law and kill any that they catch. I suspect the pike will do just fine in Utah Lake with ample white bass, bluegill, crappie, perch, bullheads, carp, suckers and chubs. Not sure how healthy they will be or how big they will get. Mandatory kill regs are likely for the endangered species issue to help keep the Feds off DWR's back. You're right the other predators don't voluntarily leave the June suckers alone. Fed Govt loves feel good, do nothing regulations.

I would love to see the evidence that pike were planted in Utah Lake years ago by the DWR.

Eradicate the carp? and dredge a 20 mile long lake?Wow, now there's a pipe dream!
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Yes, northern pike have been in Utah Lake since before I first fished it in 1961. I saw a 30 plus incher caught the next spring. But I do tend to believe that the current larger crop of pike is due to more recent "transport" from other waters.

There is also the possibility that a change in the lake during the last 10 years might have contributed to a pike spurt. The last drought ended at the end of 2004, with a record snowfall winter that filled Utah Lake to the brim. It had remained fairly full until about two years ago...when the current drought dropped the water levels. During high water there was more shoreline vegetation and flooded structure...pike spawning area and habitat. Plus, there was a great increase in all of the small food species...bluegills, perch, white bass, crappies, etc. Two or three good spawning years and good recruitment and feeding no doubt helped the pike prosper.

As has been pointed out, Utah Lake was never a deep blue mountain lake. It has always been a shallow desert pan pond. It does have some rocks and some deeper spots but the lake is basically shallow. In fact, it was a lot shallower until water users installed the control gates at the pumphouse area to maintain a higher water level and keep more water for late season use. During a nasty drought in the early 1930's it was observed that the average depth of the lake was only about 1 foot deep. That was when trout finally disappeared and the carp population exploded.

I can verify that Utah goobers used to call walleyes "pike"...which was a shortened version of the equally improper handle "walleyed pike". Can't count the number of times I had to restrain myself from mayhem when some local doofus would wade out in front of me...with a snagging rig...and ask "is the pike runnin'?" And when I tried to correct them that was almost an invitation to go fist city. Today it is rare to hear walleyes referred to as pike but you still have to clarify things with some folks.

Dredge Utah Lake? Har de har har. True, there are some areas that have a silt bottom. But there are plenty of other areas that have very little silt over ancient lava bedrock. A lot of the silt that comes into the lake each spring also leaves the lake via the Jordan River. Because the lake is shallow, any wind that comes up stirs up the silt and sends it down the river. That's why the lake always looks so muddy during a windstorm. But, contrary to common belief, the lake is not just a silt-filled, formerly deep rocky lake.

I found it surprising that DWR instituted a mandatory keep and kill regulation on pike. They may get larger but they probably do not constitute even a small fraction of the hazard to Junies that even the lowly white bass do. And walleyes. Every year after the fingerling Junies are released into the lake the walleyes have a glut. Every walleye within swimming distance of the mouth of the Provo has several small Junies in its tummy. The annual walleye feeding program. But no mandatory keep and kill on walleyes. Hmmm.

Those of us who know and love Utah Lake have learned to take what we can get...when we can get it...and to be properly grateful. Like all other Utah waters it is subject to cycles of ups and downs...in water supply and fish populations. All of the species have gone through periods of abundance and scarcity. I side with BoatLoad. I cannot recall any other time in my 50 years of experience on Utah Lake when there was a greater abundance of more species. Yes, there were better years for some species...and worse years. But that is Utah Lake.
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[MR.PIKE]

WALLEYED-PIKE. I just about swore out loud in front of my kids when I read tubedudes post. When I started getting into Northern Pike fishing a long time ago, some local older folks would look at me and say, "walleyed-pike!? I don't know why this irritates me so bad but it does
Anyway, my theory on why Northerns are starting to show up now are that they were always there. I think that all the carp and other fish ate a lot of eggs and were so thick that they over competed for food, their growth was stunted and their numbers were few. We are seeing a few showing up now I believe due to the carp removal plan now in effect. That's a lot less competition for food and lets not forget Northerns will eat their own. Just a thought.
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[GEEZER]

I read almost anything I could find about northern pike when they were first introduced into Basset Lake north of McGill NV back in the mid - late '60's. From what I remember, they are almost totally sight feeders and don't do well in turbid water conditions. That factor may help keep the population from exploding in UL. Anyway, let's hope so. Or else maybe quit killin' them carps so's that the water'll stay muddy.
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[GEEZER]

How about petitioning the UDWR to expand the catch and kill of northern pike in UL to include "catch and kill any person caught introducing northern pike into UL" as well?
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[Boatloadakids]

Man, I know what ya mean about the risks involved in trying to tell someone that walleye and pike just ain't the same fish. Just last summer I caught a nice 10 pound blue cat at Lincoln Beach and some yahoo tried to tell me there were no blues in UL and the fish was actually a big male channel!! Can you believe that? Some people just don't know there fish.

Probably best to just leave these matters alone and fish on.
BLK
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[FishMcFisherson]

This post got way off topic from the original post, but if you're looking for a peaceful lake with hardly any other boating traffic... I wouldn't go to Utah Lake.
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[fuzzyfisher]

you do know that there are no blue cat's in Utah lake right? they are a big river fish not a shallow lake fish.. lol yeah some people don't know what kind of fish they are catching!! [crazy] it was a channel cat no qustion!!
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[Coldfooter]

Damn, another ugly blue cat raised its ugly head in Utah Lake. []
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