Pike group angles for lunkers, laughs

The North Idaho Pike Association (northidahopike.com) has scheduled eight club tournaments this season starting in April at area pike waters, including the group’s favorite venue at Noxon Reservoir in Montana, said club spokesman Brock Morrow.

“We are a great group of pike fisherman that get together, have fun first, and compete second,” he said.

Events feature 100 percent payback of entry fees to the top three winners plus prizes from a list of new sponsors.

“We have a limit of 20 boats per event except the Hayden Lake tournament in October,” he said.

“This is our 10th year – not bad considering it started with seven people sitting in a pizza shop with a couple ideas. We welcome all ages and caliber of fisher people. It’s not uncommon to see a parent-child team. We love newcomers, and we have a couple of captains looking for non-boaters to pair up with.

“At most events there will be boats with small outboards right next to 60 mph bass boats.”

• Pend Oreille River pike once again are the targets of gillnets deployed by the Kalispel Tribe and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Although thousands of pike were removed last year in the first major effort to reduce numbers of the non-native species from the Box Canyon Reservoir stretch, the netting crews are catching thousands more pike this spring.

Jason Olson, who’s overseeing the project for the Kalispell Tribe, says most of the fish are in the 1-2-year-old range.

“We’re netting only five days a week to keep the nets out of the way of fishermen who go out on weekends,” he said, noting that most of the fish are being caught at the entrance to sloughs.

Netting will continue at least through April. A Pikepalooze fishing event sponsored by the tribe is set for May 17-19.