Hard water Pike

[zmerchant7]

Got out twice this week for my first two trips on the hard water for some Pike, and definitely wasn't disappointed! First day ended with over 40 Pike up to about 32-inches and 5 Pickerel on the ice, the second day was considerably slower with only about 20 Pike and a handful of Pickerel on the ice, but the day was topped off with a nice 36+

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s296/zmerchant7/2016-01-23%2019.49.09.jpg

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s296/zmerchant7/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-01/2016-01-21%2015.40.30.jpg

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s296/zmerchant7/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-01/2016-01-21%2015.44.04.jpg

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s296/zmerchant7/20160121_141158.jpg

[Chrisper4694]

Nice bro

[Skunk City]

Very nice.

[njflyfisher]

Hey I seen you on the ice this week!! Nice fish! When I was leaving I saw you gaf a fish and then realese it. I'm just wondering why you were gafing fish if you were throwing them back. I also seen one floating belly up under the ice.

[Bruce Litton]

Fantastic!

[bigboy5522]

Nice job! Thats a crazy amount of fish

[stevejordan]

Hey I seen you on the ice this week!! Nice fish! When I was leaving I saw you gaf a fish and then realese it. I'm just wondering why you were gafing fish if you were throwing them back. I also seen one floating belly up under the ice.

probably just lip gaffing them. no worse than hookin em

[Delawareriver]

probably just lip gaffing them. no worse than hookin em

Big difference in a hook hole and a gaff hole through a jaw. No reason to gaff a fish you don't plan on keeping. Bocca grip works great for landing big toothy fish

[Esox Luciano]

Nice job! Thats a crazy amount of fish

Ditto. And from the details your boy shared & the pictures shown, it can be a crazy amount of dead fish as well.
Come on fellaz...VETS, newbies, use the search engine on these pages to get great info on previous threads & more recent ones(http://www.njfishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86336).

[RyanMac14]

Yeah did not expect this if its true. I really hope its not. Especially from a guy with as much experience as Zach

[Delawareriver]

Yeah jeez it's only a pike, most or which are pickerel size and hooking 40 a day who cares if you loose one or two while trying to land. Gonna let them go anyways. I land big muskies, countless pike and big walleyes every season and never would harm a fish just to land it if I'm planning on releasing it

[bigfishy]

Hey I seen you on the ice this week!! Nice fish! When I was leaving I saw you gaf a fish and then realese it. I'm just wondering why you were gafing fish if you were throwing them back. I also seen one floating belly up under the ice.

I'm not saying this is the case but its quite possible that in THAT moment the glory shot was more important than the fishes overall health....Its a shame but i've seen quite a few ppl act this way in THAT moment.....Pictures and internent notorioty will have ppl do some questionable things....Not so sure that this is the case in this instance as i was not there to witness this....just sayin

Don't mean to offend Zmerch but if you are offended, oh well

[stevejordan]

Big difference in a hook hole and a gaff hole through a jaw. No reason to gaff a fish you don't plan on keeping. Bocca grip works great for landing big toothy fish

You can get a clean gaff job off on a pike under the chin without ****in it up if you get a good shot at it with its mouth open. I'd only do it if it was a big one that didn't want to turn up out of the hole... Most ice fishing gaffs are tiny and leave a smaller hole than a barbed hook. Yeah a bogas what you should be using and I'm not saying anyone should gaff and release but I didn't call him out on gaffing, I'm just giving him the benefit of the doubt that he was using it cautiously...

[Delawareriver]

I don't care how careful you are you are doing more harm then what is needed. Take a look at the pictures you can see blood in every picture on Zach fingers and coming out of gills.

[Mikey topaz]

All i know is if u know where evreyone has been puttin the smackdown on all these pinner pike as me and the boyz call em, and you whack a mid thirty outta there it should be handledwith extra care. Not to many big fish left in there it seems anymore. On the other hand maybe he wanted to eat it who knows he is allowed to harvest so can bust the guys chops. As far as landing method no need to gaff anything through the ice all big pike myself jigmans monster few years back after a few trial and error we found the best and easiest way to get these big boys was get the head through the hole reach ur hands in and grab em by the tail and slide em through!

[stevejordan]

maybe he was trying to weed out the smaller ones lol

[Jigman13]

Birdman confirmed that my monster was caught again later that year during open water, too. So that beautiful 42+" dragon had a nice safe release!

[jimmythegreek]

no reason to gaff anything in freshwater unless you are definitely keeping it without question. Id hope by now guys start being men and not worry about a scratch on their finger or wet hands to avoid handling a fish.....if thats the case dont go ice fishing.....and I agree that you can gaff a fish and not cause harm but its in a certain area and when they come thru the hole you are not giving a damn, just reach in and grab the sucker when his head comes thru like we all do, or do the MikeyTopaz and reach waaaayyyyyy in and grab the pigs by the tail and slide em thru the hole......dont forget to yank on the initial strike extremely hard if Rocco is in sight of you lol

[Esox Luciano]

Soo, after reading more proper handling threads and responses given, had to come back here. This guy is a veteran, so there is NO EXCUSE!!
maybe he wanted to eat it who knows he is allowed to harvest so can bust the guys chops.
True Mikey...but he was seen releasing these fish after gaffing them out. How many more went belly up is a good question. As Mr. Delawareriver stated,there is blood in all these pics! If the numbers given by Mr. Merchant are correct,(hope they're not for the lake's sake), than a lot of pike died that day.
I search the Web a lot and seen more than a few pics of Mr. Merchant with fish in hand. With no ownership being shown...are we to expect every fish eligible for "that glory shot" was mishandled & possibly dead? With no response from o.p., I have to say yes.
You got caught out there dude. Pull up on your fishing etiquette!

[UglyStick]

You got caught out there dude. Pull up on your fishing etiquette!

http://digitalpublishing101.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Facebook-Like.jpeg

[Mikey topaz]

Just a heads up guy since i was the first one there this year along with FE on jan 7th we have seen alot of dead pike and pickerl not as worse as the great dealware river catfish massacre of 2015 but pretty close!!!

[UglyStick]

The ice pike slaughter makes me wonder the impact it will have on the spring trap netting NJ F&W does in order to get the brood stock to make the 2016 pike...

[Delawareriver]

Soo, after reading more proper handling threads and responses given, had to come back here. This guy is a veteran, so there is NO EXCUSE!!

True Mikey...but he was seen releasing these fish after gaffing them out. How many more went belly up is a good question. As Mr. Delawareriver stated,there is blood in all these pics! If the numbers given by Mr. Merchant are correct,(hope they're not for the lake's sake), than a lot of pike died that day.
I search the Web a lot and seen more than a few pics of Mr. Merchant with fish in hand. With no ownership being shown...are we to expect every fish eligible for "that glory shot" was mishandled & possibly dead? With no response from o.p., I have to say yes.
You got caught out there dude. Pull up on your fishing etiquette!

Said it for awhile, just reading reports by Zach on different pages and websites they always came off to me about publicity and glory shots. Just like this thread started he had a good day on budd, wanted everyone to know but hasn't posted since. Being a good angler is much more then just being able to catch fish. I will also say he was fishing with the owner of behre bait and tackle on the day I saw them on budd, which really surprised me of all guys not to show some common sense.

[FASTEDDIE29]

FLAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!

PLEEZE PRACTICE CATCH AND RELEASE!!! Protect our PRECIOUS RESOURCE!!!:D:):p

[zmerchant7]

Ok guys, so since all of you drama queens seem to like to act like you're still in high school, I guess I have some facts to clear up here.... first of all, yes, SOME fish were gaffed, and no they were NOT released... and by some fish, I mean a total of 4. The fish that were kept were put back down a hole ON A STRINGER so they didn't get wind burn. And before any of you guys start saying "oh, but you can't keep that many" just let me say that there were 4 of us fishing, and I'm assuming you guys can do the math on that.... as far as the observation of "there's blood in all the pics" that all of you forensic investigators seem to have made, none of you seem to mention the fact that "all of those pictures" are only of two different fish; one of which was indeed gaffed and is currently sitting at the taxidermist, and the other which was NOT gaffed, but instead got hooked in the gill and was kept because of the excessive bleeding. I hope that clears some of your assumptions of a "fish massacre" up, since you all seem to be experts on events that you weren't even there for and start s**t based on inaccurate observatons from a third party. Now that that's cleared up, onto the subject of you people out there that are accusing me of fishing for "glory shots" and having "poor fishing ediquitte"...... I'd like to point out that each and everyone one of you that has been saying that about me, has either never met me in person, or has only met me briefly, and either way have never even fished with me before. So how can you know why I take pictures with fish, or how I supposedly have "poor fish handling" skills? The fact is; you can't and don't know.... and both of those accusations couldn't be farther from the truth. Anybody that has ever fished with me before can vouch for me 110% that I take the best possible care for any fish that I plan on releasing, and that I am extremely responsible with what fish I do harvest to say the least. So if any of you little high school girls decide to start making accusations and rumors, whatever you want to call them, based on pictures of me in which I am clearly doing nothing wrong, either fishing ediquitte wise, or legally in the eyes of NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife; you should learn to grow the f**k up and keep your comments and thoughts to yourself, instead of bad mouthing someone you've never even met just because you "get that vibe" from them. And if you ask me, that's some of the poorest fishing etiquette you can have. If there ever comes a time where i am indeed doing something wrong, or in "poor fishing etiquette", by all means call me out on it and talk all the s**t you want about me, though i know that time will never come so you guys should learn to keep your mouths shut and your rude comments and assumptions to yourselves. Some of you may think I'm an a**hole for saying a lot of this, but it had to be said and I couldn't care less.

[zmerchant7]

P.S. thank you to the very few people on this thread that were able to keep their comments mature and didn't jump to conclusions

[RyanMac14]

Sorry that you had to go through explaining yourself even though no one had any proof of anything. Good to hear the real story.

[jrock]

Damnnnnnnnn that was great zmerchant. You know what's funny is that there are animal rights activists that feel fishing for fun in any shape or form is a cruel act. Putting a hook through any fish and risking killing them even with the best handling for ones own pleasure is a vile act according to them. And they have been known to blast regular anglers online the same way you were blasted because of their apposing views. Now my point isn't that I agree with them just pointing out that many poeple have different opinions. That being said there are a bunch of great guys on here with boatloads of fishing knowledge. Please don't let this one incident turn you off. You put some great reports up here and the round valley Facebook page. As long as you follow fish and game laws, all the other oppinnions are just that oppinnions. Check out my previous posts and you will see I've had knuckleheads comment on my post several times. Like I said looking past those I was able to meet some great guys on this site. Just remember fellows we all share the same love of the outdoors here. We should all be on the same team.

[Jigman13]

Prob a good time to lock this here thread up... seems like it has reached an unneeded precipice. Legally kept fish... not much else to say.

[liveitup1.75liter]

It was just getting good!!! 1 more thing.. if u see something going down go say something.. jus walking away doesn't do s***t.. Be advised..this only pertains to fishing tho!!!

[Esox Luciano]

Just remember fellows we all share the same love of the outdoors here. We should all be on the same team.
100%. And also on the same page. You were called out 2hrs after posting and respond 6 days later. Would be easy for any right minded person to think you're suspect. Agreeable? If you appreciate the outdoors and fishing like some here, you know our intention was conservational...we gotta make NJ thrive.

But, if what you said is indeed true...I for one definitely apologize, sincerely.
Pm sent

[zmerchant7]

100%. And also on the same page. You were called out 2hrs after posting and respond 6 days later. Would be easy for any right minded person to think you're suspect. Agreeable? If you appreciate the outdoors and fishing like some here, you know our intention was conservational...we gotta make NJ thrive.

But, if what you said is indeed true...I for one definitely apologize, sincerely.
Pm sent

Replied. I probably should have mentioned it, but haven't been on njf since I posted since I was busy (working and more fishing, go figure).. though thats still no excuse to say those assumptions are more true just becauae someone doesn't respond in my opinion. Though I will give the benefit of the doubt seeing as, like you, I'm sure most people were just pissed hearing that I supposedly killed fish for no reason. Which obviously would have been a waste to say the least, if true, but seeing as those assumptions were still unjustified I believe those comments were still uncalled for, whether meant for good intentions or not. BUT, if that's the case, no hard feelings seeing as I have seen plenty of people kill fish for no reason whether intentionally or unintentionally first hand

[njflyfisher]

When i posted that question. I didnt want it to start trouble. I was just wondering. So my bad. Good luck on the ice and stay safe to everyone!!

[Mikey topaz]

Save da drama for your momma, and FISH ON!!!!!!!!!!👌🏻

[gnuisance]

I still think it's kind of weak to keep 4 fish out of a heavily pressured lake on a year like this but that's just me. I'll keep my opinions to myself, oh oops

[saxmatt]

I gaffed a few fish 10 years when I was young and didn't know any better, and I mounted my first 40. I regret mounting the 40 because I've caugt 5 pike through the ice bigger than that since, plus the replica mounts look better and last longer anyway. I don't blame Zach for mounting the pike, he's new to the sport and even though it was not a big one it was probably the biggest he landed so I don't blame him for mounting it. Good to see kids getting into ice fishing. I just hope he leaves the gaff at home from now on and treats trophy fish with the respect they deserve when he does catch one.

[15FOOTER]

Interesting thread with a few different points of view. Earlier in this thread one of you or maybe two of you guys mentioned seeing a lot of dead pike almost like a fish kill and it seems that most of you guys agree this lake is seeing a huge amount of fishing pressure. Im curious to see if you guys think that this lake has always seen this much pressure or if there has been a noticeable increase as of late? If you guys do think the fishing pressure is increasing, why do you think it is? If there were truly that many dead fish do you think that happened all from one or two guys? Or could it just be because of a large amount of fishing pressure?

Zach I dont know how you fish for pike and I hope you see where Im going with this ^. When it comes to trout though I know what you do and I know you keep your "legal" limit. Its legal I get it, but let some trophy fish go man. You have been doing it long enougb now dont kill em all :cool:

[Mikey topaz]

Yes sir evrey year evreyone that knows ice fishing knows budd is always first to freeze. Seems like evrey year more and more people show up too i think its because alot of people dnt catch pike and there theres so many little dumb pike that its easy to catch em so evreyone goes there. If you look back at the traps the state put out all quota was under 32" crazyyyyyy me personally anything over 32 in that lake should be let go, as i said before maybe zach was wrong maybe he wasnt.... All i know is since me and eddie were there first ones on ice mind you we seen alottttt of people take pike and pickerl aalottt cant just single out one guy, weird thing is all those people keepin fish like crazy and was still a hot bite still whackin em lol

[baetis]

If you guys do think the fishing pressure is increasing, why do you think it is?



Probably in large part due to all the reports about the great stupid fishing going on.

[Heronimo42]

If you guys think too many fish are being taken out of the lake, then let NJ F&G know your concerns and have them do something about it.

[MattK]

At least from what I've seen, during the summer Budd sees the least amount of pressure of any NJ lake I know of. It probably all balances out with the pressure it sees during the winter.

[liveitup1.75liter]

People.. I fizz with Zack more then any of you!!! Zack keeps some fkn fizz get over it.. I can't tell u how many (BIGGINS ) r let go n go unposted!!!! Way way more then r kept i can assure u 110%!!! This stuff makes me bitter n not even wanna bother wit njf.. ats fkd up!!

[15FOOTER]

Dude..your bobbers gone/ facebook/ Behre b and t you guys keep trophies left and right for the internet ...you guys are great fisherman. I remember reading your posts when you guys knew nothing. You guys have advanced a great deal and your handling/ resource practices should as well. Sorry but you should not feel sick of this website because a few have expressed this opinion.