Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 29, 2024, 05:58:08 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Recent Topics

[March 27, 2024, 12:49:04 PM]

[March 27, 2024, 07:37:59 AM]

[March 26, 2024, 09:10:45 PM]

[March 25, 2024, 05:15:36 PM]

by Spot
[March 25, 2024, 02:39:54 PM]

by PNW
[March 24, 2024, 07:14:07 PM]

[March 23, 2024, 10:59:04 PM]

[March 21, 2024, 06:23:10 AM]

[March 17, 2024, 06:42:23 PM]

[March 17, 2024, 08:44:53 AM]

[March 15, 2024, 06:45:09 PM]

[March 10, 2024, 05:55:18 PM]

[March 10, 2024, 11:20:08 AM]

[February 29, 2024, 07:05:43 AM]

[February 26, 2024, 01:31:23 PM]

Picture Of The Month



SD2OR with a trophy fall walleye

Topic: Hungry hungry pike  (Read 2924 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

pmmpete

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Missoula, Montana
  • Date Registered: Jul 2013
  • Posts: 1989
I went snorkeling and spearfishing for pike this weekend, and got eight.  All of the fish in the pikes' stomachs were kokanee except for one, and a particularly hungry pike had three kokanee and a juvenile kokanee in its stomach.  The exception was a cannibalistic pike which had a smaller pike in its stomach.  The eaten pike was over half the length of the eater, which is long enough that its tail was visible in the eater's mouth.






YippieKaiyak

  • Lingcod
  • *****
  • Location: Hillsboro, OR
  • Date Registered: Feb 2017
  • Posts: 349
Wow, that's crazy.  Thanks for sharing the pics.  How big are the pike?  I can see they're bigger than the food but I'm not familiar enough with pike to have a sense of overall scale of the eater versus the eaten.  The little fish look like what I would expect, the other pike seems huge to have been eaten.  Did they come out of the bellies in the direction in the photos?  Ie, the pike was eaten head on, but the kokanee were eaten tail first?
Kayaking without wearing a PFD is like drunk driving.  You can get away with it for a while, but eventually someone dies.


pmmpete

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Missoula, Montana
  • Date Registered: Jul 2013
  • Posts: 1989
The pike in the first picture was 25 inches long.  It swallowed the kokanee head first, as predatory fish always do, but I noticed that the skin on one side of each kokanee was digested, but the other side was still silver, so I flipped them over so the silver side was up to make a more attractive picture.  I should have left them with their heads pointing towards the tail of the pike.

The pike in the second picture was smaller, as you can tell by the fewer spots on its side.  I think it was 18 inches long.


YippieKaiyak

  • Lingcod
  • *****
  • Location: Hillsboro, OR
  • Date Registered: Feb 2017
  • Posts: 349
Thanks!  I was really curious when I saw the kokanee pointed the other way. :)  Still surprised at how big the eaten pike was in comparison, but I've had tiny fish crush big baits before so I guess it should be expected.  Isn't sneaking up on a pike with a spear pretty hard to do?
Kayaking without wearing a PFD is like drunk driving.  You can get away with it for a while, but eventually someone dies.


PablitoPescador

  • Plankton
  • *
  • Location: Bozeman, MT
  • Date Registered: Nov 2015
  • Posts: 6
Nicely done! That definitely helps out the kokanee fishery. I'm guessing this was Seeley? Have you ever tried to target kokanee there?


pmmpete

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Missoula, Montana
  • Date Registered: Jul 2013
  • Posts: 1989
Isn't sneaking up on a pike with a spear pretty hard to do?
Yes.  You have to snorkel around slowly and stealthily, looking constantly through the weeds to the limit of visibility. Sometimes you'll come across a pike which will sit still while you take a shot at it, but usually they start moving away or blast away as soon as they see or sense you, and you only have a second or so to snap off a shot.  It's a lot like jump shooting birds in foggy weather.

Nicely done! That definitely helps out the kokanee fishery. I'm guessing this was Seeley? Have you ever tried to target kokanee there?
For some reason I haven't fished for kokanee on Seeley Lake, but I have done a lot of kokanee fishing on Salmon and Placid Lakes.
« Last Edit: May 30, 2017, 01:12:29 PM by pmmpete »


Trident 13

  • Salmon
  • ******
  • Location: Kent
  • Date Registered: Jul 2016
  • Posts: 791
Pretty impressive!  Your next test will be using light tackle snorkeling techniques:-)


ballardbrad

  • Salmon
  • ******
  • Kayak Fishing Washington
  • Location: Ballard, WA
  • Date Registered: Aug 2010
  • Posts: 626
Amazing fish.  I was bass fishing last week and a large tiger muskie followed in a bass I had on the end of the line.  I quickly switched gears and had a rod with a 7" muskie lure on it.  After 3 casts I got him to follow and got him to hit after a couple figure 8's.


Trident 13

  • Salmon
  • ******
  • Location: Kent
  • Date Registered: Jul 2016
  • Posts: 791
Bigger boat, more tools, cut-proof gloves.



Helium Head

  • Lingcod
  • *****
  • Location: Outer NW Portland
  • Date Registered: Mar 2016
  • Posts: 366
I grew up in Canada fishing for pike. Was walking along the shore one day and saw in the distance a fish washed up in shore.  Looked to be about a 30" pike. Getting closer I had trouble figuring out which end was the head.  It was a 20" pike that had swallowed another 20" pike head first and evidently choked to death on it.  I also got a pike to bite a rock on the end of a string.  Was fishing on a boat with cousins and so had to share my rod.  Got bored and started playing with a rock in the water.  This smaller pike started going after it.  "Dad, I'm catching a fish with a rock" was not believed till he finally came over and saw for himself. He threw his hook in and caught the pike!
Hobie Revolution 13 olive
Hobie Revolution 13 yellow


 

anything