do you think pike fishing is better now then 10 yrs ago

I remember as a teen pike fishing was very good getting 50 pike in 1 day was no problem.now I go to the same lakes & have to work hard for 1 northern.is pike population going down what do you think

Good stuff guys. I totally agree with a slot on some lakes for sure. I think the DNR has to balance between what they know is best for growing quality fish vs. what the majority of the public wants. That's a tough spot to be in. Frustrating for the DNR I'm sure at times. Most guys in the DNR I've spoken with agree that more could/should be done for the pike sizes.

Ice fishing does have a huge effect on the pike. Totally agree. There aren't many that are willing to go out into the cold to target these fish, only to go home without a meal. For those of us who do, it's frustrating to see pike lying on the ice, but rules are rules and if someones going to eat the fish, that's their choice. But, a slot would help that. Keep those pike in the sweet spot growing. 

It does seem that the biggest pike are on lakes where there aren't high density numbers of fish. Kind of the "I'd rather have 1 flag and a chance at a quality fish than chasing flags all day for little fish." thought. 

I am starting to rethink the muskie thing. Seems like up here, some of the best pike lakes as far as size do have muskies....and a limited supply of pike. I used to think muskies in a lake would eliminate the chance of big pike. Not anymore. 

One thing I have learned is the whole stock market fish theory in regards to pike. To have success, you have to be ahead of the curve. Buy low. In other words, get on a lake after it's been "fished out." A few years later. Hit it while it's good. Soon, it will be fished out again as the cycle repeats itself. If you hear rumors that Lake X has good pike fishing...then you are too late. 

Every lake is different, of course, but for most I would love to see a 22-32 inch slot limit or something like that.  Up north of highway 10 currently there's no size limit, and on a lot of lakes there are too many small pike.  Personally I love pike for eating.  Under 22 is good for pickling, over 22 is good just about any way I've ever fixed it - grilled, deep fried, baked.  Pike is my favorite.  A number of years ago, probably 15 already, I emailed the DNR about why there were so many small pike on a southern Wisconsin lake but very few bigger ones.  As you may or may not know, the size limit for the southern half of the state is 2 fish over 26 inches, but it's difficult catching a pike that's over 26 inches on several lakes.  Their reasoning at the time was, and I'm sure it hasn't changed, is there's not enough spawning habitat on the lakes in the southern half, most of their spawning habitat went away with the development around the lakes.  Almost all pike in southern Wisconsin are stocked fish, not natural reproducing.  If you look at the stocking numbers (link attached at the bottom of this page) you'll see that these lakes are stocked quite heavily with northern pike, at least in the southern part of the state (just checking a few lakes I've fished over the years, but most stock mostly pike). Northern half of the state I see very few pike being stocked because they're naturally reproducing.  The no size limit in the northern half of the state doesn't seem to do much good because not enough of these fish are harvested.  The larger ones are, definitely, but not the smaller ones.  Allow the fish to grow a bit (slot limits) and maybe some better quality fish will grow.

I truly wish there were slot limits in a lot of the lakes in southern Wisconsin.  The pike get slaughtered here during the short ice fishing season and every single fish over 26 inches seems to go home.  A lake like Mendota has a 40 inch minimum because it produces fish that size, but I know a ton of fish in the 30-40 inch size get caught every year, especially through the ice, on that lake and none of those can be kept. Go one lake down river, Monona, which has tons of muskies and some pike and it's hard to find a real small pike or a big pike in that lake - they are mostly 24 to 30 inches.

There is no perfect solution for the pike fishing in the entire state. Slot limits will only work on some lakes, not all.

And oh, the answer to the original question of this forum.....if you're talking northern Wisconsin I haven't fished up there much in nearly 10 years so I'm not sure, but Southern Wisconsin I think it's about the same.

dnr stocking by lake (click on the link)

There a few...very few way up north where it has gotten better and as the last post suggests it does correspond with a muskie population that either has been established, re-established, or stabilized.  

The best fisheries are those that have balance from top to bottom.  When one species gets overpopulated it throws everything else out of whack.  Lakes that used to have very abundant numbers of pike (and they ran small) which now have a stable muskie population always seem to experience an uptick in quality pike if they are present.  Too many muskies is bad.  To few muskies is bad.  There's a sweet spot...and then a sweet spot with forage, pike, etc.  Creel surveys, fyke netting, stocking records, etc. can all be used to sniff these out but you need to look at the longitudinal data in order to track trends.  You can't just look at one report for one or two years.  It takes a bit of homework but it's out there.  

I 100% agree that protected slots would help and they should be explored more not just on pike but all species where they can be beneficial.  A few years back when I was up to my ears working on changing muskie size regulations in a bunch of areas I casually mentioned a slot.  The fishery biologists silently nodded but the gung ho muskie guys thought I was nuts.  In some places they would be an excellent tool, in others they would do more harm than good but the idea of a slot shouldn't be left off the table.  The problem with them is public perception.  A "slot" will turn people off because the perception is that it will complicate things.  If you have a 2nd grade reading level you can understand them but for the loudest barstool biologists it's over complicated.  If a proposal effort was made to change pike regulations on specific bodies of water, by simply inquiring about a slot you will get the attention of any biologist in a positive way. Generalizing a bit but they all seem to want them in place where appropriate but their hands are tied in getting rules changed unless there is an emergency situation.    

My observation on the lakes that I frequent is that the Pike numbers  have gone down. This could be caused by the interduction of Musky to these lakes and the competition for the same forage. All the upper class predators being stocked also puts a strain on small and frey Pike that are the perfect food source.

The preferred spawning areas have also been affected by the fluctuation of water levels. The heavy spring rains that we've experienced causes to Army Corp of Engineers to drop the lake levels in anticipation of flooding.

 I personally feel that instead of having a minimum size limit should be replaced with a slot limit. A slot limit assures that one could keep an eater size yet protecting the larger most productive fish.

 I personally don't keep any Pike. Not because I don't like to eat them, but I would rather see these fish have a chance to reproduce and thus raise the number.

Now this is just my opinion and all my observations are based on over 50 years of chasing these beautiful fish both hard and soft water fishing.

Dude...NOT A CHANCE.  Over harvest buddy.  I used to fish Pike through the ice a lot 20 - 30 years ago.  we used to catch a ton, releasing all the bigs.  Now,  you go to those spots and people raped em.  I'm specifically talking the winnebago upper lakes spots.  Specifically Scotts bay.  My dad used to take us there all the time and a few other spots. it was nothing to get 10-12 fish.  Now,  anywhere on that chain on ice,  good luck and if you do get one typically a snake.  Back in the day,  10-18 lb fish were very common.

Ulbian-If you are talking Vilas Co. area, you must have a few gem lakes out there. All my talks with local DNR indicate even they know the size structure just isn't good up here for pike. All the guys I know that fish pike....there just aren't many large fish to be had. If you are catching fish over 30 inches on a regular basis, your results would be in the outlier category and I'd say you've found some pretty good spots. If you are talking Florence County, Forest, Price, or even places south of Oneida County etc....then I can see where you might be running into some nicer pike at times.

Edit: Don't take my point wrong. I know you know what you are doing pike fishing wise. Just would love to know if you can catch big fish on a regular basis in Vilas/Oneida County, because I haven't run into anyone who can. 

I've fished for pike maybe once in my life in the southern zone.  I was referring to the northern zone.  

Ulbian-That may be true for Southern Wi, but not in northern Wi. I know you've had success up here, but surely you've fished enough lakes up here to know that 18-22 inch pike are the most common size we have. I'd say numbers are on the high end as well in some waters.