Alaska Pike Fishing Set Up?

[Nick Muche]

Just a heads up for anyone coming to Alaska that wants to catch pike.....it is Alaska State LAW to remove pike from the water and not return if caught. These are invasive in most parts of Alaska and they reek havoc on salmon/trout populations. Please do your part and kill any pike you catch.......it's the law.

Um..... That is not entirely true, it only applies in the Valley.

Please release the big pike you catch in the interior as they are normally females.

 

[kwackkillncrew]

No you are absolutely wrong. That is only a requirement in south central not all of alaska. Also laws like that are ment to be broken. Please explain how populations of pike and trout do just fine in western alaska. Or how Big Lake west of wasilla has pike over 40" in it and the fish creek red run has hit the escapement just fine and has even been opened to dipnetting almost yearly. The pike are here to stay in South Central. Big pike eat little pike. with out big pike you end up with lakes full of hammer handles. Sport fishing will never get rid of the pike here so we might as well manage them and make a sport fishery of it.

 

[Nick Muche]

For those interested in the actual Regulations.. You'll find the the Live Release Prohibited only exists in the South Central District....

Southcentral Alaska Sport Fish Regulations, Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Southcentral Alaska Sport Fish Regulations for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game

www.adfg.alaska.gov

 

[JustSomeGuy35]

I'm not sure I've been anywhere with a reasonable pike population that didn't have at least a solid handful of bigger ones swimming around, even on some very small creeks.

The biggest pike I've seen so far came out of a small urban channel that drains storm water into the Mississippi. Me and my oldest daughter were fishing with minnows for perch. Her line had a nylon leader tied on but I took mine off because I thought it'd increase chances of hooking into one of the bass that were busting shad all around us. I made one cast, bobber went down immediately, set the hook and got bit off. I told my kid to cast to the same spot. Took her two tries before she got it there. Bobber went down immediately and she set the hook. The fight lasted just over 8 minutes and destroyed the drag on her zebco 404. It was a pike, 34" long, 9 1/2 lbs, with a foot long lamprey attached to its head.

We kept the lamprey in an aquarium for a year and then donated it to her school's science class. It was pretty wild looking.

 

[Rich M]

Just a heads up for anyone coming to Alaska that wants to catch pike.....it is Alaska State LAW to remove pike from the water and not return if caught. These are invasive in most parts of Alaska and they reek havoc on salmon/trout populations. Please do your part and kill any pike you catch.......it's the law.

Really?

They do taste pretty good. Have em for dinner!

 

[Rich M]

The biggest pike I've seen so far came out of a small urban channel that drains storm water into the Mississippi. Me and my oldest daughter were fishing with minnows for perch. Her line had a nylon leader tied on but I took mine off because I thought it'd increase chances of hooking into one of the bass that were busting shad all around us. I made one cast, bobber went down immediately, set the hook and got bit off. I told my kid to cast to the same spot. Took her two tries before she got it there. Bobber went down immediately and she set the hook. The fight lasted just over 8 minutes and destroyed the drag on her zebco 404. It was a pike, 34" long, 9 1/2 lbs, with a foot long lamprey attached to its head.

We kept the lamprey in an aquarium for a year and then donated it to her school's science class. It was pretty wild looking.

There was a place where a ferry crossed a river. I was fishing for eels for striper bait and this guy shows up. Tosses a 6 inch shinrer under a bobber about 5 feet from shore at the ferry slip. 20 minutes later he had a 40-inch class pike and was headed home. For whatever reason, I never went back to try that.

 

[Bear_Hunter]

No you are absolutely wrong. That is only a requirement in south central not all of alaska. Also laws like that are ment to be broken. Please explain how populations of pike and trout do just fine in western alaska. Or how Big Lake west of wasilla has pike over 40" in it and the fish creek red run has hit the escapement just fine and has even been opened to dipnetting almost yearly. The pike are here to stay in South Central. Big pike eat little pike. with out big pike you end up with lakes full of hammer handles. Sport fishing will never get rid of the pike here so we might as well manage them and make a sport fishery of it.

Ok I’ll explain. The habitat in the places you listed is conducive for supporting all those species without pike becoming dominant. Fish habitat, just like wildlife habitat, plays a critical role in what species are present and potentially become dominant, or what balance they find. In places like western AK, the habitat is such there’s refuge from pike predation, and they’ve evolved together for thousands of years. Everyone likes to point to Big Lake and say “look, pike and salmon co-exist just fine!” Big Lake doesn’t hardly have any pike habitat, hence they won’t become a dominant species and the sockeye will probably do just fine with the presence of pike in the system. But for every “Big Lake type example” you have in SC, I can come up with a dozen others in SC where the trout/salmon are literally extinct or doing very poorly due to pike predation. How’s the salmon/trout doing in the entire Nancy Lake Rec area? How are they doing in Alexander Lake? Sucker Lake? Trapper Lake? Stephan Lake? Long Lake in Willow. They’re all gone and the fishery is literally 100% pike. All used to support healthy populations of trout/salmon and other native species. That’s why they’re a problem.

Also saying the big pike eat little pike and somehow “control” the population simply isn’t true. Yeah sure they might occasionally eat one of their own, but other pike are better at avoiding predation than a naive trout/whitefish/juv salmon or whatever. Cannibalism rates are actually extremely low in SC. And those big pike are almost always females pumping out hundreds of thousands of eggs each spring. Those big female pike don’t consume nearly enough other pike to offset the offspring they produce each year. Not even close. You get hammer handles when they eat literally everything else in the waterbody, leaving only bugs in the system for them to live on, then grows rates turn to $hit.

Anyways, depending on where in the state the OP is going, be familiar with the regs. They’re quite different in their native range (Interior/Western AK) vs. Soutcentral.

 

[Nykki]

I was taught to use live mice for Pike bait. Neighbor kid in Fairbanks showed me how that works. Haven't tried it in years but it worked very well.

 

[JustSomeGuy35]

There was a place where a ferry crossed a river. I was fishing for eels for striper bait and this guy shows up. Tosses a 6 inch shinrer under a bobber about 5 feet from shore at the ferry slip. 20 minutes later he had a 40-inch class pike and was headed home. For whatever reason, I never went back to try that.

It's funny that you say "for whatever reason" you never went back to try it because for whatever reason, I've never gone back to that canal with minnows again. I've been so focused on developing my lure game that I stopped fishing with live bait for the last few years. Now that I think about it, I've been catching way less fish the last couple of years too.

I miss going out with a couple dozen minnows and catching a pile of big perch, bluegills, a few 1-3 lb bass, and an eating sized pike here and there. My best days of lure fishing have never equaled an average day of fishing with minnows or shiners.

I think it's time I went back to my old ways of doing things!

 

[Rich M]

It's funny that you say "for whatever reason" you never went back to try it because for whatever reason, I've never gone back to that canal with minnows again. I've been so focused on developing my lure game that I stopped fishing with live bait for the last few years. Now that I think about it, I've been catching way less fish the last couple of years too.

I miss going out with a couple dozen minnows and catching a pile of big perch, bluegills, a few 1-3 lb bass, and an eating sized pike here and there. My best days of lure fishing have never equaled an average day of fishing with minnows or shiners.

I think it's time I went back to my old ways of doing things!

I think thats the progression. Bait to lures to flyrod to lures to bait again.

Back at bait myself right now. I will throw lures from time to time or troll but mostly fish w bait these days. Fishing saltwater mainly.

That bucket of minnows makes for a fun day and great eating.

 

[kwackkillncrew]

Ok I’ll explain. The habitat in the places you listed is conducive for supporting all those species without pike becoming dominant. Fish habitat, just like wildlife habitat, plays a critical role in what species are present and potentially become dominant, or what balance they find. In places like western AK, the habitat is such there’s refuge from pike predation, and they’ve evolved together for thousands of years. Everyone likes to point to Big Lake and say “look, pike and salmon co-exist just fine!” Big Lake doesn’t hardly have any pike habitat, hence they won’t become a dominant species and the sockeye will probably do just fine with the presence of pike in the system. But for every “Big Lake type example” you have in SC, I can come up with a dozen others in SC where the trout/salmon are literally extinct or doing very poorly due to pike predation. How’s the salmon/trout doing in the entire Nancy Lake Rec area? How are they doing in Alexander Lake? Sucker Lake? Trapper Lake? Stephan Lake? Long Lake in Willow. They’re all gone and the fishery is literally 100% pike. All used to support healthy populations of trout/salmon and other native species. That’s why they’re a problem.

Also saying the big pike eat little pike and somehow “control” the population simply isn’t true. Yeah sure they might occasionally eat one of their own, but other pike are better at avoiding predation than a naive trout/whitefish/juv salmon or whatever. Cannibalism rates are actually extremely low in SC. And those big pike are almost always females pumping out hundreds of thousands of eggs each spring. Those big female pike don’t consume nearly enough other pike to offset the offspring they produce each year. Not even close. You get hammer handles when they eat literally everything else in the waterbody, leaving only bugs in the system for them to live on, then grows rates turn to $hit.

Anyways, depending on where in the state the OP is going, be familiar with the regs. They’re quite different in their native range (Interior/Western AK) vs. Soutcentral.

Good points. I wont derail this thread with any more ak pike politics.

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[Marmots]

The happiest moments of my life have been spent fishing for pike in interior Alaska.

For spinning gear, I use a medium power fast action rod with very heavy braid and a steel leader. Any tackle works, but rapalas and spoons probably work best. Silver minnows and spinnerbaits are great in dense weeds (which is why I use heavy braid).

I prefer to catch pike on flies, and i honestly catch bigger fish that way. Pike tend to slam lures during a pause in the retrieve, and a streamer has a lot more action than a rapala during that idle moment. Streamers also seem to seal the deal when figure-eighting a lot more often than conventional tackle.

I use a 9 wt fly rod with floating line, 1.5 - 6 feet of 40 lb fluro depending on conditions, and a one-foot 40 lb wire leader. I most commonly use a two foot section of flurorocarbon leader. These fish aren't line shy, lure shy, or afraid to take things on the surface. Toothy critter and other boutique barracuda lines are unnecessary, and hard to cast. You can use the same short and inexpensive steel leaders you use with spinning gear.

Casting a leader that is three feet in total length allows you to chuck big flies. I have seen pike take live muskrats and even rip most of the head off a scaup. So swing for the fences and use 7-9 inch streamers. My favorites are girl next door and chupacabras. Big dumb foam muskrat, mouse, and frog imitations are also fun.

 

[slick]

Not so fast AkRyan..

I suggest people look at the regulations for the specific body of water they plan to fish.

 

[AkRyan]

Ouch I'm still pulling out knives......so unless your visiting tundra or fairbanks you have to kill the pike.....read the regs also. Pike can be good to eat if they are caught in flowing waters.

 

[JustSomeGuy35]

Pike can be good to eat if they are caught in flowing waters.

Pike are delicious! Tastes kinda like perch to me. Both have an underlying sweetness to their meat. The best way I've eaten them so far is to marinate them in Frank's Red hot sauce, roll in Panko crumbs, and then pan fry in olive oil and minced garlic. Makes one helluva fish taco!

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I caught and released pile earlier today. Take
Me to jail!!!

 

[kwackkillncrew]

We pickle most of ours since they are all hammer handles. Also pickle the salmon strips with pin bones which my wife loves. F8 is a joke 1 day of fishing . They taste like salmon

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[AkRyan]

We pickle most of ours since they are all hammer handles. Also pickle the salmon strips with pin bones which my wife loves. F8 is a joke 1 day of fishing . They taste like salmon

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We fish a lake near f8 and pull out hogs. Try exploring and drilling holes at and "stream" entering the lakes. Most of them are connected through the swamps.

 

[Fordguy]

Pickling is great for small pike. Another way I've always liked is to pan fry the whole fillets in butter, and since they shrink when cooked, you can pluck out the y bones. Then break into bite sized chunks and dip in cocktail sauce- or keep the fillet intact and make some homemade tartar sauce with lemon, capers, mayo, dill and paprika and make a fish sandwich topped with tomato and a slice of cheese and lettuce.