Passaic River Pike

[zhitoman]

Originally Posted by Skunk City

Very quality first post. I have been working on a "Pike Fishing/Handling 101" tutorial for the past few weeks with pictures. I also have seen way too many guys posting pics of fish that have rolled around in the dirt, held by the jaw with pliers, guys using too light of line with no leader, damaged fish, and unfortunately dead fish. I should have it done within the next week, hope Andy can sticky it for a bit.

It breaks my heart when I see pictures guys post here.

[msgdan]

Great post !! One thing that I would like to add is the use of lip grippers. About 8 years ago, when I started pike fishing, I used a lip gripper and when the fish started going crazy and spinning, his lower jaw was nearly torn off. Needless to say, I have never used one since.

Danny V

[saxmatt]

Good post. Maybe I'll put up a similar post about how to handle pike and muskie while ice fishing once the season starts. I see lots of people mistreating fish on the ice. As far as lip grippers go, only use lip grippers with a spinning head like a boga grip. If the lip gripper doesn't spin the fish can hurt themselves when they start to spin like Dan said. I do recommend a boga for ice fishing. A pikes eyes and gills can freeze almost instantly on cold windy days and the boga is great for keeping them in the hole while unhooking them.

[buzzbaiter]

Ice guys throw pickerel all over the ice and discard them like garbage. Those same pickerel are often the only saving grace on a nice summer day when bass aren't biting. Treat them with a little TLC please.

Best thing about the passaic pike is that they are restocked every year. I wish they could stock bass in there every year!

[Esox Luciano]

Good post & you make some good points as well. However, these fish aren't newborns, I've caught some with scars on scars. Proper handling & quik rease is ALWAYS important! I've actually witnessed an acquired fisherman we know break a few of the codes of conduct that @suntzu stated. Didn't even see me but I was there. Definitely gotta get that pike tutorial going & circulate it, to every1!

Originally Posted by buzzbaiter

Best thing about the passaic pike is that they are restocked every year. I wish they could stock bass in there every year!

There's actually more bass than the past few years. Especially big largemouths rollin through! They're just hard to get to from your living room, Aahaahaaa!

[UglyStick]

Great post, I appreciate you taking the time to write it as this topic is one of my major pet peeves - I also encourage Rob and Matt to make similar educational posts as well.

For a variety of reasons I rarely post any of my catches anymore but I'm still out there several times a week and frequently see fisherman mishandling fish and especially using inappropriate tackle for large and/or toothy fish. In way too many pictures I see handling where the fish will probably live but is being caused undue stress for no reason except to get a picture. I mainly fish alone and rarely take pictures of the muskies I catch just for this reason.

The funny part is that many of the people who read this thread and are guilty of mishandling don't even realize it...

[Eskimo]

.



Quality post Suntzu.

The Passaic is an interesting fishery because it's an urban fishery. The harvest of pike and bass is reduced in the Passaic due to some anglers' concerns about the pollutants in the water. So the primary cause of death for big fish is post-release mortality.

Some anglers are unnecessarily afraid of the pike's teeth. Over the years I've seen some awful ways of dealing with it. These things include:

• people just yanking their lures straight out of the fish's mouth
• a spring-loaded jaw spreader stuck in a small pike that opened his mouth almost 180 degrees.

And I don't even fish the Passaic that often.

Freshwater fish in New Jersey is a resource being shared by more than 150,000 anglers in the most crowded state in the nation.


.

Suntzu,

Good to see someone who is more concerned with the conservation of a resource than tapping into it. We should all at least be conscientious of the points made and prepare for each trip accordingly. It's the same in salt water or fresh and for the many species we fish for. Think about what your doing and make sure you have the necessary tools with you to release a fish safely back into their environment. Probably the most important point of the many great points made is lose the treble hooks, they are not necessary and if a trophy fish breaks off with single or even worse multiple treble hooks stuck in it's mouth it's a death sentence which can be completely avoided. Especially with pike these fish are very territorial and once you find them there's a good chance they'll remain in the same general vicinity. I'd rather miss a fish a half dozen times knowing I'm going to have another chance at it as opposed to risk breaking him off on one hit and knowing the fish isn't going to get a second chance because he has a mouth full of treble hooks and won't be able to feed anymore. It takes no time to switch out hooks and it's probably the one thing everyone can do right away to have an immediate impact based on Suntzu's post. The only other comment I'd like to reinforce is keep your fingers out of the fishes gills! All too often you see pictures with people holding fish with their fingers completely inside the gill plates or holding it with one hand and the entire weight of the fish being held by it's gills and head. Fish won't survive that type of handling. Use two hands, one under the belly and one at the tail if you need to take a picture. Stay away from the gills all together. You wouldn't want someone sticking their hands in your mouth or down your throat, a fish can't tolerate that stress on their gills. If their gills are damaged, the fish will not survive. Imagine someone grabbing you by the throat and holding you off the ground for a few minutes. Your head would feel like it was going to explode and you'd probably be dead in 15 seconds. It's no different with a fish. Stay away from their gills, it's a death sentence.

The only thing better than catching a trophy of a lifetime is to see her swim away. Just remember every time you catch a big fish, if the people who hooked that fish before you didn't handle it properly, you would have never had your chance.

Suntzu, good job on creating awareness and I'm sure this thread will have a positive impact on maintaining a great fishery.

Dakota