Lake Davis

I had wanted to go to beautiful Lake Davis for several years and finally decided to run up Saturday. Trout bite was shut down and despite trolling for over ten miles in two days using everything I had, trying different depth, weight, you name it, no trout. According to locals few trout were taken by anyone, so I did not feel to bad. This lake is known for its fly fishing opportunities but that is not really my cup of tea so I cannot speak to how that was going. I marked many fish including several large schools (20-30 fish) near a couple of the northern coves. The locals thought they were probably catfish. I was told the catfish bite is red hot. Paddling through the lake I discovered that in water in the 20-25 ft range fish were typically suspended in 8-15 ft of water. In water 30+ ft the fish were hanging out at about 22 ft. This seemed consistent throughout the lake. Near the coves and anywhere I could find grass, I found pike. I caught quite a few, highlighted by this nice one I caught Sunday morning (30in. 5 3/4 pounds). The information I got before the trip indicated that anything in Fire Tiger worked great for trout and pike alike. I cannot say anything for the trout, but almost every pike I caught was wearing a Fire Tiger pattern.  Overall impression was that Lake Davis is quite beautiful, has some really nice camp grounds is loaded with fish and for me is a definite must return.  Bill



 

Nice pike, hope you killed em all. The DFG wants everyone caught to have the head cut off. My son caught one a couple years ago and we ate it. Boney but tastey. Those things are a mouth and stomach!!! The fear is they could migrate down to the delta and be forever established there. Smolt smorgasborge!!!  I've flyfished Davis for years. Shame some numbskull put the pike in and ruined one of the best trout lakes in the state. Next time you go there, give Frenchman's a go. it's the sister lake to Davis. Typically smaller fish, but plenty of em. See any damsel flies hatching yet? (the pale blue skinney dragonfly looking bugs)

Cool pike. I am going to have to get KZReelRods to take me to his home state one day and hook up some of those bad boys.

Thanks. Yes, all the pike went to the bottom. The penalty for taking a pike out of the lake alive or dead is up to $50,000 and possible jail time!! Next time up there I will allow some more time and explore Frenchman(the trout fishing was pretty good this weekend I heard). As far as the damsel flies, the wind was blowing strong(15+) most of Saturday, and I left early on Sunday and I did not see any. I was told that everyone is waiting with great anticipation for the hatch to get started.  Bill

Well I guess they have changed thier tune on the pike. So are they just saying let em go? As for the damsels. June is usually a good month for em.

Fish and Game wants the Pike DEAD. Anglers are not to even bring Pike ashore, off with their heads and dump them into the lake. I understand they will be poisoning the lake again later this year. After spending $15million plus on trying to eradicate this attitudinous toothy fish, DFG wants to finally complete the job.

With unlimited pike fishing and a 10 per day trout limit I will try to get back to Lake Davis before the next poisoning.

Bill

Nice pike!
DFG gonna poison there again...   maybe, NCKA should go there to show them what kinda damage we can do!  We should have some tourney or something (I think someone was talking about it at Mendo)...

There's an idea!! Davis is a great lake for kayaking. Several easy places to launch, and nice campgrounds on the west side. As for poisoning the lake. DFG F'ed up big time last time. They just dumped the rotenin sp? off the back of boats instead of injecting it to the bottom of the lake. I remember them showing it on the news. They way over saturated it thinking that would do it, but the stuff floats to the top.... That's whay the fish at the bottom survived. Then because they put too much in, the lake was toxic way longer than they anticipated. Hmmmm, maybe they should read the instruction lable next time  Anyone know the schedule for the exicution?

pike remind me of barracuda (except barracuda are not bony).

In the florida keys, after you catch one barracuda,
you can use a strip bait cut from the belly of your
last fish for the next five fish. repeat until sundown.

I wonder if that would work with those pike?
catch one, cut strips from it, troll the strips, catch more?

I have heard they are cannibalistic?

the barracuda have pointy grabbing teeth in front,
but scissor teeth in back so a short wire leader for the stinger hook
is helpful, what about the pike?  do they cut your line?

and, are the trout toxic to eat?

does sound like a fun and crazy fishin mishin, limitless pike with trout bycatch.

J

Are pike cannibalistic?  You bet...

But I'm not sure if anyone ever uses pike belly to catch pike.

Pike teeth can and will cut your line so a wire leader is recomended.

Why are you asking about the trout toxicity?  Because of the rotenone poisoning a few years ago?  I believe that rotenone has a pretty short half life and is not bioaccumulated in the fish tissue. It's a naturally occurring chemical that is extracted from an amazonian plant of some sort and suffocates the fish by preventing their cells from uptaking oxygen.  If I remember correctly from my fisheries class, it was used by native South American's to kill/catch fish long before we ever did.  However, anytime a state agency proposes to "rehabilitate" a like with rotenone, there is usually a bit of public outcry regarding human health concerns.   But, I've never seen any studies linking rotenone treatment to human health issues.

Maybe they should seed the poison using depth charges that sink to a predetermined depth, at which a small explosive ruptures the container to release the chemicals.

There's an idea!! Davis is a great lake for kayaking. Several easy places to launch, and nice campgrounds on the west side. As for poisoning the lake. DFG F'ed up big time last time. They just dumped the rotenin sp? off the back of boats instead of injecting it to the bottom of the lake. I remember them showing it on the news. They way over saturated it thinking that would do it, but the stuff floats to the top.... That's whay the fish at the bottom survived. Then because they put too much in, the lake was toxic way longer than they anticipated. Hmmmm, maybe they should read the instruction lable next time  Anyone know the schedule for the exicution?

Nice pike!
DFG gonna poison there again...   maybe, NCKA should go there to show them what kinda damage we can do!  We should have some tourney or something (I think someone was talking about it at Mendo)...

Not a bad idea. Pike are actually fun to catch as long as you can get your lure back without them biting your hand off. We could go with total body count.

Scott GB2

OMG a Pike derby sounds like a great idea!  Somebody (local) put this together please!!

Pike are actually fun to catch as long as you can get your lure back without them biting your hand off.

I'm not sure why I didn't think of this before for lingcod.   When I used to go pike ice fishing in New York we'd take along a "mouth spreader" which helps you get your hook/lure out of the pikes mouth.  It's basically a spring which closes loaded and you slide it into the pikes mouth and release the spring and it pushes the pikes mouth open.  You can even carry the fish around by the spreader.
Take a look at my little cousin on the left...


Here it is closed..


Depending on the size they cost a few dollars each..
http://thornebros.com/winter/tackle/trout_pike/trout_baker.html

bsteves, is your cousin standing on pavement or ice?