Who is fishing the Crosslake Lions Tournament on Whitefish this weekend?

[JP Z]

I think this is the 8th or so year my dad and I will be fishing it. I think it's going to be an interesting year for sure with this cold temps and late season. Still looking forward to it, and hey I don't think Rain is in the forecast!

[anchor man]

Wish I was going to be in it. I'll probably be fishing out there with you all, but not in the tourney. I'll probably bring my little one over to watch some of the weigh-ins. Can someone confirm when the weigh in starts? Good luck to ya'll.

[JP Z]

Anchor, first flight is in at 2:45. Last flight is due back at 3:45 so you have till around 4:30-5 oclock I would think for watching. But they will be in probably around 2 I would think to start it although you can weighin whenever you want.

[BoxMN]

Is the weigh-in at Moonlight?

[ozzie]

yes...tourny held at Moonlight

[mattpaumen]

Any results on this tournament? I was in the area over the weekend and was going to try making it over to check it out, but my kids and wife had other ideas!

[JP Z]

Winning weight was 25.88lbs, 20th which is the bottom for payouts was around 16.49 I think.

We were close with 18.4 lbs, just couldn't find any big pike. And had we had a kicker bass we would have been up there for the top Bass stringer as we were at 11.45 for Bass and big stringer was 13.78 I think.

[mattpaumen]

That's a good bag of fish! Nice work!

[Buck12]

JPZ, What place did you end up in? We had 16.9 but left early, didn't think we would make the $$.

[JP Z]

Got 15th. Buck, I think with the 16.9 you were actually the 20th place as they didn't happen to be at the weighin

[anchor man]

Hopefully the guy in the tiller boat that almost ran me over by the Wharf channel Friday night didn't do good in the tourney if he was in it. I was heading into the Wharf channel about 10:30pm, he was heading out into Cross. He was full throttle to get on plain and cut across the channel bouys and I had to hit reverse hard to avoid being smushed. All I saw was the underside of his boat go whizzing past the bow of my boat..about 6 ft away. Open your eyes pal!! Maddening!

[Buck12]

I guess that was us. It was a big suprise as it seemed to be quite a few weights in the 20's. A little disappointing as we could only get 1 small snake to weigh. The biggger pike seem harder and harder to find.

[Moses2531]

Every year I feel like smaller pike come to the weigh in... less people targeting or is this snake problem a bigger issue then we thought!? The structure and forage of WFC should produce some monster pike, I dont get it! This last weekend.. 11 pike ranged between 18-21 inches, its amazing how consistant the are size wise!

[Jeff13]

Fished the chain my whole life, the little pike are out of control. Everytime out I take a limit of them and try and get what ever meat I can off them. I bet I have not caught a pike over 4 pounds in 10 years out there. Used to catch solid 3 pound pike a lot, now just hammer handles.

I think they are out of control, I used to catch tons of perch as well, I think they are being thinned out by the pike.

[Dan L]

I agree. The pike fishery on the WFC is a mess. I have been fishing it a long time and what has happened to the pike population has to have an effect on the overall fishery. The bass are overpopulated in my opinion. They are everywhere. It is a fun lake to bass fish thou. It makes me wonder if the overabundance of bass was helped by the lack of bigger pike.

[JP Z]

I think you are probably right Dan. With just a bunch of bass that there are they eat everything. But then again the tiny pike are just a giant pack of "coyotes" eating everything in their path. I think it's a mix of both, once the pike population got too high it maintained as nothing is really trimming down the numbers. Opening up a "liberal" limit on pike where you could keep 6 per person under 21" might help for a year, although I don't know of a lot of people who would keep that many??

[MikeG3Boat]

Where on the WFC are you getting the Northerns? I am not even finding them at all. I thought they just disappeared.... Which is the lake your able to get them all the time? Any help is much appreciated. Going up for a week starting tomorrow. Thanks!

[B420]

Mike,

You should be able to find plenty on Cross, just fish the weedlines and you should have no problem at all.

[walleye18]

Keep all the northerns you can - legally.

[JP Z]

We generally fish Upper Whitefish and get tons. But also get a lot on Cross as well.

They seem to be everywhere!!

[Jeff13]

Upper whitefish/lower hay. Troll the weedline and it's insane how many you can get.

[Moses2531]

I dont even if there is a specific lake with more... I seem to catch the same 20" fish in every lake, I second those who say keep as many as you legally can, fillet'd right they taste great and slowly maybe we can help thin out the stunted ones!!

[B420]

Jim Lilienthal, a retired fisheries supervisor summed it up pretty good in an outdoor news article this week regarding pike on the chain "today's northern pike are little more than pathetic pests".

17.3 pike per gill net with 95% less than 24" long average size 1.68lbs. That is terrible for the forage base those fish have out there.

[Dan L]

I have met Jim several times. In my talks with him he said Whitefish was a prime candidate for the 24" - 36" slot. He said Big Trout would have done well with the 40" minimum. He said the Whitefish chain needed these slots years ago. The WFC however was not in his area of management. I doubt if there ever would have been support for these regulations and it would have been a tough sell. The time has passed now as there is a cap on northern pike regulations until 2020. In talking with fishery managers something like this would require many years to reverse this problem.

[centralmnguy]

Here is a good pickled pike recipe since we are on the subject:

6 - quart size jars (half recipe for pint jars)

4 lbs. pike fillets/cut up into bite size pieces

2/3 - cup sugar

2 - tablespoons salt

2 - tablespoons pickling spice

1 - medium onion chopped

white vinegar

Take the cubed pike & pack firmly in quart jars 2/3-3/4 full. Add chopped onion, salt, pickling spice & sugar. Pour vinegar over the works to fill jar. Cover tight & shake vigorously. Refrigerate, shaking well daily for the first 7-10 days. Ready to eat in about 10-14 days. Any bones dissolve in the white vinegar after 2 weeks. Keeps well for several months in the refrigerator!

(Pickling spice is a bit of pain to pick off fish)

[Moses2531]

Anyone know how many total walleyes were weighed in this year? Or the big fish? Also.. what was the biggest Northern brought in? Seems like a fish over 28" gets you in the money! Haha