6-19-11 FATHERS DAY BATTLE! CONCORD RIVER

Congrats to the Basstards, Landlords and Why Not Now. Great job to everybody. I've never fished there and probably never will again unless I'm looking for pike. Also Great job to Smoke on the Lunker. We had nothing to show and saw how busy that ramp was so we bailed around 1:30. See you at the cartopper Sunday

Geez... I had no idea about their back ligaments... I suppose I can see why since they are a heavier fish. I will change the way I handle pike in the future!! I hope I catch a lot more... they are a blast to catch! Thanks for the info.

Awesome day out there!! Weather was awesome! Contrats to the winners... Thanks to Smoke for making it happen... appreciate it. That boat ramp was crazy... Sort of organized chaos.

I got some video of one of the pike I caught today... a BEAST!!!


http://www.youtube.com/user/megad80#p/a/u/0/JCtvxGwjPz8

A nice pike no doubt! I don't want to be "fish police" but you really have to hold those things up the whole length of their bodies or you'll pull their back ligaments away from their backbones and they won't be able to swim anymore and die.

They're definitely fun fish.. post some pics of the 40" monster you pull out of there!

in some places in maine (maybe all??) law requires you to kill any northern pike you catch. i thought that was interesting.

and thats why those people live in maine..

Northern Pike were dumped into certain bodies of water in Maine by dumbasses who thought they were fun to catch. Maine takes their Trout and Salmon fishing seriously, and Pike decimate those fish populations. So basically in Maine they are considered not much more appealing than Millfoil. Hence the Killing of them when they are caught, in some places.

As a side note, I also think they are a ton of fun to catch. I just couldn't see myself driving one or two from pond to pond to make them easier for me to catch. .

and thats why those people live in maine..

haha yup.

and i didn't know about that trout / salmon thing.

The Pike in the Saint Johns river system were introduced by a dam in Canada that failed. What was once a great trout and salmon fishery is now nonexistent. There are now guides that have gone over to pike because they're so abundant.

Maine's fisheries are pretty fragile. Pike would do the same to trout/salmon waters the the smallmouths are doing. Time is a funny thing, though. I spend a lot of time in the Rangeley Lakes Region fishing fro brookies and landlocked salmon. The salmon were introduced to the area decades ago. That introduction caused a trophy brook trout fishery to land on its head. But now, salmon are a great quarry that people readily fish for.

I don't mean in any way to suggest that introducing a non-native species is good - I am steadfastly opposed to it.

Charlie