Preparing for PIP 2023 – DID YOU CATCH ANY PIKE TODAY?
- The Good News – Per Max, more Pike are being harvested regularly than before the Pike Improvement Project started.
- Last summer’s DNR Creel Survey 2022 confirms more people are harvesting pike than those who are filling out tickets. But, as Max says “PIP is really nice not only for incentivizing, but also for tracking that harvest.”
- Why do we need tickets anyway?
- We are the Citizen Science Guinea Pigs – by making the effort to fill out tickets we can demonstrate that taking more small pike is related to an improved fishery with more quality pike, fewer voracious small pike and healthier populations of walleye and muskies. STOCKING MUSKIES – PROMOTE SUCCESS
- In the first year of the Pike Improvement Project DNR volunteers cleaned northern to donate to food shelves, and CFAPOA and Muskies Inc. contributed to food processing. This meant 100’s of fish were taken at Chippewa Flowage resort tournaments. Remember – LCFRA also donates a $100 prize by drawing if you add a northern division to any fishing tournament you have.
- GOOD NEWS – We may be able to donate whole, frozen fish to a raptor rehabilitation center in Spooner – with DNR approval for collecting. We will arrange to pick up and take to Spooner as needed. ESPECIALLY FOR TOURNAMENTS.
- And/Or – What else can we do – We can help those master pike procurers harvest more pike. If they are willing to donate pike to other guests, and we encourage other visitors to taste how delicious pike is – then the talented takers can catch more and new folks may try harvesting pike. Or as Max puts it “Maybe a part of that (starting the conversation with guests) is asking people if they are willing to take pike (whole or filleted) that OTHER people caught. Sort of an in-house donation program. As long as people are within possession limits and daily bag limits those kinds of exchanges are totally fine.”
