Pike in Maine

[zuo fishes the Penobscot]

i was trying to find in the regs whether or not we should remove Pike from waters after they've been caught...Pike at Pushaw Lake were introduced a few years ago, but i am not sure about recommendations as far as removing them...

thanx

[Bass-1]

I talked to a warden right after they found pike in Pushaw and asked him if caught, do we kill them or let them go. He said the lake association wanted to keep the pike in there. I haven't heard of anything differant since.

[hawgwalker]

The horse is out of the barn, catch and release unless you plan to eat it.

It wasn't that many years ago in Maine that bass were being thrown in the bushes.

[Imgonnamissher]

It took me a couple of weeks once I moved to Maine to realize that a "sewer trout" was the nickname for bass.   I actually ended up in a job interview position where I mentioned I "enjoy" fishing (I try to downplay how much I love it, I don't want any potential employers to wonder if I would actually call in sick to go fishing...I would).  Anyway, I'm really trying to get this job, because of budget cuts, and the interviewer mentioned the time he threw a four pounder into the brushes on the banks of one of the Machias lakes to die.  I said as tactfully as I could that I would never do that to a fish I wasn't going to eat, and left it at that.  I'm glad I let it go after that because I got the job, and thankfully I didn't have to work with the schmuck after that instance.  

Regarding pike, I figure they're here to stay, so I have no intentions of killing anything I catch unless I'm going to eat it.  Personally, I'd rather toss the bucket biologists that introduced them into the water before I threw the fish onto the bank.

[MaineBassMan]

I fished Molasses pond in Franklin Maine. I got ticked before I even launched the boat. There were signs posted all over the landing to kill all smallmouth caught there. My friend and I slayed the smallies there and caught a nice four pounder. Started talking to a guy on his dock while my friend weighed the bass, and as he started to release it the guy said hey you have to kill that bass. I said why he said the camp owners on the pond wanted the bass to be killed so the salmon would do better. I don't know if any of you have ever fished this pond, but it is not suitable for salmon and is great for smallies. I told him it was our bass and I said try and make us kill it with that my friend gave the bass a long wet kiss on the lips and released it. The guy got ticked to say the least.

There are still people that think bass are trash fish in my county, especially largemouth. I fish a couple of lakes with mixed bags of Largies and smallies and the fishing has only got better because of it. This is why I eat white perch, trout and salmon, and release all largies and smallies, there are plenty of people killing the bass which get no help from the state. Salmon and trout are stocked so I view it as a put and take fishery.

[Imgonnamissher]

I'm with you on this one, the bass are here stay, and they bring in money for guiding, tackle sales, etc., but how much money gets thrown back at them to improve the fisheries further or conduct any research on them?  Maine is a (the) great brook trout state, but how many people out there think of the smallmouth fishing first?  I would think as many licenses if not more are sold for bass over trout up here.

As for the pike...one question I have always had was...haven't pike and trout or salmon co-existed for eons?  I mean, the wild fish don't seem to have problems getting along.  I would guess that the pike eat the dumb stocked fish and people just get irritated that some pike would have the audacity to eat "their" fish.  

Please pardon the rant...but in a few more years, how many people will be paying for guides to put them on some pike?