Let the snapping and snarling begin — along with a lot of excitement and no small amount of debate.
The subject, of course, is the continuing tug of war over northern pike, the most exciting and controversial fish to ever find its way into Colorado waters.
This love-hate relationship reaches a peak about this time each year, when hungry pike go on the prowl. The result is a rush of excitement among those who rate the pike at the top of the angling ladder, prizing it for its size and ferocity.
The same feeding urge that causes pike to attack flies and lures also causes them to attack the rainbow trout that form the bedrock of the state’s cold-water fishery.
I confess to considerable personal conflict when it comes to fishing for pike. Nothing gives me more of a thrill than the slashing strike of a large pike. But when I look into that toothy maw, I wonder how many hundreds of little trout went down before.
This has been a lagging season for pike at many locations, caused in part by cool temperatures from heavy runoff and torrential rain.
“I see a lot of pike lying in the shallows sunning themselves,” said Division of Wildlife biologist Jeff Spohn, who wrestles with the state’s most persistent pike problem at Spinney Mountain Reservoir and more recently at Tarryall.
Spohn keeps a particular watch on Tarryall, where pike have made a rousing comeback since the medium-sized reservoir east of Jefferson was refilled in June 2005. Anglers flock to this state wildlife area for rainbow trout, and DOW officials hoped pike would be washed away when it was drained for dam repair in the early part of the decade.
“We wound up with a couple of small impoundments, and some of the pike escaped us,” Spohn said with a tinge of lament in his voice.
What these happy survivors found was a banquet of juicy little rainbows as the wildlife agency moved quickly to get the lake back in production.
“Let’s just say the pike had a nice niche to fill,” Spohn said.
Anglers looking for an inviting place to access pike while wading from the shore should give Tarryall a try. Spohn reports that the larger pike have grown to about 32 inches, although most are much smaller.
In the continuing effort to protect the rainbows, Spohn encourages anglers to harvest the pike.
“Our intention never has been to eliminate pike. There’s a contingency of anglers that like to target these fish,” he said. “We’ve seen that at Spinney.”
The DOW counts its pike-balancing effort at Spinney among its better success stories. By planting only rainbows 12 inches or larger late in the fall, the agency has been able to starve the smaller pike. The result is a solid population of large pike that satisfy pike enthusiasts while reducing predation of rainbows.
“We have a good balance of trophy pike and trophy trout,” Spohn said.
This strategy seems somewhat more successful than a similar program at Stagecoach Reservoir near Steamboat Springs, where pike have grown to remarkable sizes in recent years.
One of the differences is that ice fishing is allowed at Stagecoach. Ice anglers take a big bite out of the trout population. Trout seem to prosper more at Spinney, where ice fishing is banned.
“Fish are stocked in late October and have six to seven months’ protection against harvest,” Spohn said.
While pike enthusiasts have experienced a more difficult spring, Spohn expects action to accelerate as waters begin to warm.
At Tarryall, pike seem to be just along the weed beds, seeking out the gravel that causes water to warm on sunny days. The result may be an extended season and surprisingly good results during the holiday weekend.
Charlie Meyers: 303-954-1609 or cmeyers@denverpost.com
