Do You Consider Pike A Nuisance? 2024
Shockwave reply :
A buddy and I went out tonight to try to get a night of fishing in before the rain hit. We went for bass, of course, but ended up CRUSHING pike instead. We didn't see a single bass but we landed over a dozen pike in just over an hour. We had to call it quits because the storms moved in earlier than we hoped they would but we had an absolute blast while we were out. We were talking on the way home about how we don't understand how so many people consider them a nuisance when they're so fun to catch and they taste so good! We didn't keep any tonight, and the toothy critters killed two spinnerbaits but I feel that it was well worth it! What are your thoughts on pike?
QUAKEnSHAKE reply :
I think they are a great fish to catch. Just dont like losing lures while bass fishing very happy every time I land one.
masterbass reply :
I don't fish tournaments so I just like catching just about anything. Pike are a blast and although I've never eaten one, I've heard they are a fantastic eating fish.
zeth reply :
One of my favorites to fish for. None here in Cali though.
Neil McCauley reply :
Not a problem if I'm fishing for em, otherwise I don't catch many. They usually aren't around the same weedbeds as the bass and panfish here.
Mostly the nuissance is if you're using light tackle and expensive lures, or they get treble hooked deep, can't be landed without a net, flop all over the boat, etc.
I don't eat them because of the mercury content, same with larger bass.
Jar11591 reply :
I like catching larger ones, theyre a lot of fun. But the small ones, like 18-26" are way more trouble then theyre worth. They go crazy in the boat, the trebles are always hooked really deep and they're mouths are still filled with teeth. No thanks. But any pike 30" or over is a blast. They fight like crazy, they're easier to hold and control and make a great photo as well.
wisconsin heat reply :
Fun fish to catch, if I don't have a pair of pliers on me, it can be a little troublesome. But most of the time they are fun bonus fish.
Senko lover reply :
I love pike. Unfortunately, don't have a ton in my waters. I think there's some pickerel in a small resorvoir down the road, but haven't tested it out myself. I'm sure it must be frustrating to lose lures, but I love catching them.
Sam reply :
Yes.
But they are fun to catch.
Dwight Hottle reply :
I love catching pike when they are mid teen and bigger. Smaller pike not so much.
fishballer06 reply :
On 7/17/2015 at 7:13 PM, Dwight Hottle said:I love catching pike when they are mid teen and bigger. Smaller pike not so much.
I can't stand those little hammer handles...
Rivers Edge reply :
A absolute blast to catch.
Shockwave reply :
On 7/17/2015 at 3:33 PM, Jar11591 said:I like catching larger ones, theyre a lot of fun. But the small ones, like 18-26" are way more trouble then theyre worth. They go crazy in the boat, the trebles are always hooked really deep and they're mouths are still filled with teeth. No thanks. But any pike 30" or over is a blast. They fight like crazy, they're easier to hold and control and make a great photo as well.
This I can definitely understand. They do go nuts in the boat and they bleed like it's a friggen murder scene.
Derekbass02 reply :
Pike are the reason I don't buy certain expensive lures but they are fun to catch.
CeeJay reply :
I'd love to catch a pike one of these days.
The only aquatic creature I really consider a nuisance are snapping turtles 
Shockwave reply :
On 7/17/2015 at 10:17 PM, CeeJay said:I'd love to catch a pike one of these days.
The only aquatic creature I really consider a nuisance are snapping turtles
Come on up to Milwaukee!! I'll take ya out to a couple lakes where we can catch em all day long!
CeeJay reply :
On 7/17/2015 at 10:51 PM, Shockwave said:Come on up to Milwaukee!! I'll take ya out to a couple lakes where we can catch em all day long!
I'd definitely enjoy that
Some day I'd like to travel around the country, meeting up with you guys and catching fish I've never caught before. It's definitely on my bucket list.
WIGuide reply :
I don't consider them a nuisance fish unless they get on that tungsten bite or any other expensive bait bite haha. But seriously they're a blast to catch and delicious. The only time they seem like a bummer is when you're in the middle of a bass tourney.
A-Jay reply :
LOve to catch them - any size.
Hate loosing baits & terminal tackle.
And watch out for the fangs . . .
A-Jay
RoLo reply :
Well, I can understand why immature pike might be considered a nuisance.
That is, the grass snakes that are derisively dubbed "hammer-handles" & "snot-rockets".
On the other hand, large old pike are a horse of another color, and behave like a different species of fish.
Big gator pike do not spend the summer in shallow weedy bays, but generally inhabit deep open water
beyond the outer weed-line. In lakes that support pelagic forage fish,
gator pike feed on ciscoes, whitefish and smelt, much the same as lake trout.
Gators over 35" are powerful fish (peel line off the spool) and are hard to come by,
the stuff that makes a superb target species. Back to the 1970s, Al Lindner confessed
that his favorite freshwater game fish is a "trophy pike" over 12 pounds.
Al stated that trophy pike are even rarer than muskellunge, the fish of 10,000 casts. I fully concur
Roger
CeeJay reply :
There's a great little read about pike called "Bruisers of the Weed Beds" by Ben East.
It's in "The Greatest Fishing Stories Ever Told" (from the Lyons Press Publishers) which is a good collection of fishing tales and anecdotes. I highly recommend it
nosdog2 reply :
Love catching them, love eating them.
Dwight Hottle reply :
On 7/18/2015 at 9:42 AM, nosdog2 said:Love catching them, love eating them.
The ones caught in northern Canada are actually better than walleye.
Josh Smith reply :
You know, I don't know that I've ever caught a pike. If I did it wasn't too big.
Would love to catch some one day. It sounds like fun!
Josh
AdamsEye reply :
My waters have Pickerel, the little cousin. I don't go out to catch them, but they are often found in the same spots as the bass. Some times they are a good tell tale for me to slow down a bit, they tend to be more aggressive then the bass. I do not set out to catch them, but would rather catch something.
They do like to shred plastics, and frogs, and line and eat paint! Which can be a real pain, but not as bad as going home smelling like a man instead of like a fish.
SirSnookalot reply :
The one nice thing about a 10# bass is it's a rare catch. When I fish I want the biggest fish I can catch, I don't have pike down here but I have species I target that go well over 40". A lot of people down here fish for cuda because they are so good on the plate and pretty easy to catch the smaller ones. I don't keep them so I only target ones that have good chance of hitting that 50" mark, it doesn't happen all the time. If I want a real fight, not that cuda is a pansy I'm gong after kingfish and wahoo.
Bluebasser86 reply :
No pike, pikeral, or muskie within a 2 hours drive for me unfortunately 
ww2farmer reply :
On 7/17/2015 at 10:10 PM, Derekbass02 said:Pike are the reason I don't buy certain expensive lures but they are fun to catch.
Same here. Unless it's tournament day, any tug on the line is fun. Flipping a jig in to the weeds and having a big pike smoke it is actually pretty cool. My two biggest pike on my home lake, a 13 and 15lber, were both caught on 8lb test + ML spinning gear. One drop shotting, one on a shaky head....talk about excitement.
Pikeral will blast a frog with 10x's more savagery than a bass, and I have caught a few tiger muskies in Conesus this year...IDK what it is about them, but the are a lot meaner than pike, and almost have a look to them that says "go ahead, just try and get your lure back". I have yet to catch a muskie.
K_Mac reply :
No pike in the waters I fish, but Kinkaid lake here in southern Illinois has a good population of muskie. While fun to catch, they are definitely a nuisance. I've caught many up to about 40". The real brutes always swim away with my favorite baits...
desmobob reply :
On 7/18/2015 at 7:10 AM, CeeJay said:There's a great little read about pike called "Bruisers of the Weed Beds" by Ben East.
It's in "The Greatest Fishing Stories Ever Told" (from the Lyons Press Publishers) which is a good collection of fishing tales and anecdotes. I highly recommend it
+1
That's a great story and a great book. (Lyons also has a "Greatest Hunting Stories Ever Told" that is a winner, too....)
It's hard for me not to love pike for their explosive strikes, violent fights and airborne antics. But after one of them swims off with a Megabass PopMax, my opinion of them suddenly changes (for a while).
Tight lines,
Bob
wytstang reply :
LOL you yanks have it easy, I'll take pike/muskie over gators any day. Today was the perfect morning (heavy fog) for some buzz bait fishing, called 3 small gators to my spot quick fast and in hurry.
bassr95 reply :
I love catching pike! Over populated hammer handles do get annoying though
BucketMouth15 reply :
Hell yes! Unless they are over about 24 inches. Those boys can run through soft plastics which makes me switch to hardbaits. Some days when bass aren't biting its fun to get some pike though.
BucketMouth15 reply :
Also I have fished a lake where to oil have really bad bloody tumors of some sort. Every since then I've not enjoyed pike as much.
Lund Explorer reply :
On 7/18/2015 at 6:47 AM, RoLo said:Well, I can understand why immature pike might be considered a nuisance.
That is, the grass snakes that are derisively dubbed "hammer-handles" & "snot-rockets".
On the other hand, large old pike are a horse of another color, and behave like a different species of fish.
Big gator pike do not spend the summer in shallow weedy bays, but generally inhabit deep open water
beyond the outer weed-line. In lakes that support pelagic forage fish,
gator pike feed on ciscoes, whitefish and smelt, much the same as lake trout.
Gators over 35" are powerful fish (peel line off the spool) and are hard to come by,
the stuff that makes a superb target species. Back to the 1970s, Al Lindner confessed
that his favorite freshwater game fish is a "trophy pike" over 12 pounds.
Al stated that trophy pike are even rarer than muskellunge, the fish of 10,000 casts. I fully concur
Roger
Great post, just add one disparaging nickname to the list.
Edward Scissor-Nose!
Jeff H reply :
Not a fan. I can most certainly do without gators. If I never caught another in my life I'd be fine with that. Part of a really good day for me is NO gators caught and NO bite-offs. I would rather get skunked than catch a gator.
Shockwave reply :
Interesting mix of opinions and I can definitely understand the different views. Someone mentioned how they don't buy expensive lures because of the pike. I FEEL YA THERE!!! I don't buy expensive lures either because pike will break them off at the drop of a dime. They destroyed a couple spinnerbaits during that last outing. I didn't pay too much for them so the sacrifice was worth it!
Ratherbfishing reply :
Central Illinois has few (if any) pike so if/when I go North to fish, a pike seems to me a rare and exotic species so, no, they aren't a nuisance. They are pretty slimy though.
littlefisher reply :
When me and my dad were fishing weekday Bass tournaments, all the small ones I couldn't stand. There are so many in my area that I won't even think of buying expensive cranks or jerk baits for fear of losing them so often. I didn't mind catching a pig tho and putting it in the critter pot and winning a few $$$. Basically fun fishing I'm ok with them. Come tournament time, they could disappear and I wouldn't mind haha.
Jeff H reply :
On 7/21/2015 at 4:01 AM, Ratherbfishing said:They are pretty slimy though.
And they stink! Get that stinky slime all over your boat carpet and you'll regret it!
J Francho reply :
If by pike you mean northern pike, most certainly not. They rarely intersect with bass, though some lakes like Cayuga, you run into both on the deep weed lines. It's been my experience that when there's pike around, bass are scarce. I target pike quite often, and they're most enjoyable to fish for from a kayak. It's easier to release, and since you basically follow them (that means you are dragged around, lol) in the boat so they aren't too worn out and release is usually easy. You don't even have take them out of the water, since you're so close. Always have a fish grip or Boca handy, and a set of long handle pliers. Otherwise, I don't net them, no jaw spreaders, and goodness sakes don't grab them by their eye sockets.
Pickerel, you bounce them off the rocks on the banks for all I care, lol. I'm half kidding - eat what you kill.
DevinFishing29 reply :
On 7/17/2015 at 12:29 PM, QUAKEnSHAKE said:I think they are a great fish to catch. Just dont like losing lures while bass fishing very happy every time I land one.
X2
A-Jay reply :
The Nuisance fish were all over the place today.
A-Jay
Jeff H reply :
Might as well toss them gloves A-Jay
A-Jay reply :
On 7/24/2015 at 10:46 AM, Jeff H said:Might as well toss them gloves A-Jay
nice ~
I did, right into the washer with a scoop of Oxy-Clean . . .
A-Jay
J Francho reply :
Yeah and trade in the pants for a skirt. Man up and handle them with your bare hands! Lol.
SirSnookalot reply :
Any species of fish that has the potential to reach 40-50" and bigger are specifically targeted.
EvanT123 reply :
Yes and no. Like someone else mentioned. The little ones for me are a complete pain in the ass. The big ones 7-8 plus are a lot of fun and in my opinion are easier to handle.
My pb caught on a medium light spinning rod. Talk about holding on for the ride!!!!!!!
Last_Cast reply :
I like catching pike. Teeth suck but thats okay
I'd prefer a nice bass anyday, but they're fun to catch IMO
Last_Cast reply :
On 7/24/2015 at 8:20 PM, J Francho said:Yeah and trade in the pants for a skirt. Man up and handle them with your bare hands! Lol.
Agreed!
If you get slime on yourself, theres plenty of water around..
haha
Freak78 reply :
I don't fish in tournaments or professionally so I don't really consider any fish a nuisance. I'm out there to get away, relax, and catch fish and mr. Pike helps accommodate that.
Bankbeater reply :
It depends on whether or not my lure is damaged after the catch.
Last_Cast reply :
On 8/8/2015 at 8:23 AM, Bankbeater said:It depends on whether or not my lure is damaged after the catch.
well said
J Francho reply :
I'll trade one of these for a busted lure any day.
SirSnookalot reply :
I'll take the strike from a big pike muskie or barracuda over about anything.
J Francho reply :
^ Especially with moving baits. I love it when you almost get a rod yanked outta your hands.
SirSnookalot reply :
Sadly my cuda fishing may be ending soon. From no bag and size limit, it's changing to 2 a day with a slot 20"-35", over have be released un harmed, meaning gaffs are out and they bite thru nets. Our bigger ones 40 and over are gaffed, caught on tubes. Those are the hard strikers, 35 and under much easier, still fun.
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