By Louie Stout

Indiana Researching Pike Lakes

DNR employees Aaron Voirol (left) and Zach Platt hold a giant pike they captured during a pike survey earlier this spring on Center Lake in Kosciusko County. The fish weighed 24 pounds and was released back into the lake. (DNR Photo)>/strong>

Northern pike. You either love ‘em or hate them.

Well, hate may be a strong word.

Let’s put it this way, pike have a knack for knowing when you have a favorite or very expensive lure tied on.

When they bite that lure with their razor sharp teeth, there’s a 50/50 chance you’re going to lose that fish – and the lure – unless you’re fishing with a steel leader.

On the other hand, battling a hefty pike can be a lot of fun. That’s why some people love fishing for them. And if you have mastered filleting out the Y-bones from the flesh, they can be pretty tasty.

Michiana has a lot of pike lakes. Seems like Michigan waters tend to have more, but that’s just my unscientific observation. Some of the better Hoosier lakes lie in northeast and northwest Indiana.

The Indiana DNR is trying to get a handle on the quantity and quality of pike within the lakes it manages.

Biologists have sampled 21 lakes the past seven years. Linn said crews gather a variety of data, including growth rates, populations and size distribution.

Northern biologists have set trap nets on a few different pike lakes early each spring since 2012.

“We haven’t been running this study long enough to develop trends in population, but we hope to continue it into the future to get a good idea of our pike populations,” said Linn.

Nets are positioned in wetlands to capture pike moving in and out during the spawning season. Remarkably, this occurs within a week after the ice thaws from the lake.

“We encounter northern pike during our summer general fish surveys but never see enough of them to tell us much about the population,” explained northern DNR Research Biologist Matt Linn. “These early projects help give us a better idea of our pike fisheries.”

Good spawning habitat consists of shallows within a wetland or backwater area that contains abundant aquatic plants.

Pike aren’t nest builders. When the female dumps her eggs, they stick to vegetation and the male comes along and fertilizes them. Unlike nest builders, there is no parental protection; as soon as the adults do their thing, they leave.

When the young hatch off the plants, the vegetation provides them protection until they are big enough to venture out.

The DNR was able to get two lakes done this spring before it was shut down due to the Covid-19 Stay at Home Order. Those lakes include Center Lake in Warsaw County and Wolf Lake in Lake County.

Surveys were started on Lake Gage and Big and Little Otter lakes later because they held ice longer, but those trapping projects couldn’t be completed because of the government shutdown.

Of the two sampled, Wolf Lake produced quite a few fish. Biologists captured 46 pike from 18 to 31.5 inches.

“Wolf appears to have a lot of pike in intermediate sizes but no giants,” said Linn.

Center Lake didn’t show many pike but biologists did trap a 41.6 inch female.

Like muskie, pike have a long life-span. Females grow larger than males.

“Males rarely grow bigger than 30 inches,” said Linn.

Biologists will take a small piece of fin to age the pike back in the lab. Sex is determined by squeezing gently on the larger fish and seeing whether eggs or milt comes out.

“That’s why we do that in the spring when the fish are ripe,” Linn said.

After samples are taken, the fish are released back into the lake.

Ranking pike lakes

So where are the best lakes? Linn says the top five with good numbers include Hamilton and Clear (Steuben County) Winona and Little Chapman (Kosciusko), and Wolf Lake (Lake).

For lakes with big pike, he lists Hamilton, Winona and Little Chapman.

Linn said Pike Lake (Kosciusko) and Lawrence (Marshall) have a few big pike but lack a sizeable population.

“Clear Lake (Steuben) consistently produces the (DNR) Fish of the Year entries and that’s where the state record came from,” said Linn.

That fish weighed 30 pounds, 2 ounces and was caught in 1992.