Looks like NDOW wasted a bunch of money "AGAIN" at Comins Lake

[lvfishingdude]

I have made several posts about my love for Pike fishing since I grew up in the mid-west. Comins lake was one of my favorite places to go fishing since pike were in it.

NDOW was the one who originally introduced them way back to battle the Utah Sucker chubs. They forgot that pike are eating machines. Once the chub were gone, they went and killed off the Trophy Trout fishery Comins lake was.

So, they went and did the process to eradicate the pike and get the trout fishery going again. It worked for a few years, than someone dumped some pike from the reservoir up by McGill back in comins, and they took it over again.

Eventually the pike ate everything and become "stunted". That is where they eat there own. Most of the pike you would catch wouldn't be very big, or have the chance to get big since there was no other food source.

I think it was 2 or 3 years ago, they got the money together to erradicate the pike again, and also do the same process to the reservoir near McGill. This was done, and the Trout / Bass fishery was started again after the erradication. By everything I have been reading there was no signs of pike, and the trout were growing to trophey sizes again.

Than today, I read this article from Fox 5 News in Las Vegas. http://www.fox5vegas.com/story/36121934/...ish-dumper

I don't know if someone dumped some in again, but I don't know how they think they could erradicate all the pike with all the different streams and farmers the pike could of been in. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some in Cave Lake.

Really stinks they wasted all the money that could of went to making other fisheries a lot better.
[signature]

[lvfishingdude]

Anyone else notice how on the NDOW Fish report, there has never been a mention of Pike being found again in Comins?

I am pretty sure they didn't kill them all. With all the weeds & streams that flow to Comins, there were plenty of places for some pike to survive.

What I don't understand is, If they are pretty sure this was a malicious act and someone dumped them back into comins. How would they know that and offer a reward? Why not go and arrest the person?

Wish they could figure out how to make Comins a fishery that would work with Pike. They are so much fun to catch. Even the small ones.

I talked to a NDOW Officer once, and there was talk of putting Tiger Muskie into Bassett. Atleast they are sterile and could control the population. Only problem with Bassett is its not very accessible for people with a boat.
[signature]

[lvfishingdude]

*UPDATE* 08/21/2017
If you want to laugh, listen to how cocky the NDOW Game Warden & Biologist sound in this podcast about the pike. Here is the link: http://nevadawild.org/northern-pike-comins-lake/

Its a little less than 30 minutes long.

Come to find out the pike they found where only 5 1/2"'s long. Not the 40+ incher like they show in the picture from the various news articles. Because of the size and amount they found, it is "Definitely" someone dumping pike back into comins the Warden/Biologist tell us on the podcast.

Anyone who has been to comins would probably agree with me. How in the hell do they think they could 100% Guarantee they killed every pike in that lake. The amount of vegetation that grows during the summer, the fluctuation in areas of depth, and just pure size and limited access to parts of the reservoir are all reasons I think it was a waste of money trying to eradicate the pike again. I wouldn't bet against a couple pike surviving. Especially with how tuff/hearty Pike seem to be.

But hey, us realists that don't have Biology degrees know nothing. Still surprised the lack of attention this issue is getting, after the state wasted 250,000+
[signature]

[Greg84]

In general, they can estimate the amount of rotenone needed to wipe out everything in a body of water with a good accuracy level, but there's never any guarantee...

That giant pike for emphasis pic, reminds me of a Vegas Sun article about illegal guns in Vegas. They interview some cops who do ballistics testing and pics of seized firearms, then throw in a pic of a WW2 Japanese heavy machine gun that was sitting on a shelf in the police headquarters as if it were used in a crime.
[signature]

[lvfishingdude]

If only I didn't get in a car accident a little over a year ago that broke my back and neck, I would love to go up to comins and do a little trolling and see if the pike are still there.

The size of the fish that were found by NDOW using there electric nets/boats only being 5 1/2" tells me, they are spawning. If you listen to the podcast, they clearly say these had to be put in by someone since pike spawn in the spring.

Not sure if its just me, or does a 5 1/2" pike sound like a baby pike that survived the spring spawn. The wiki on Northern Pike says Female Pike can spawn around the age of 2. They also like to lay there eggs in dense vegetation/creeks according to the wiki. The erradication was done in 2015 so wouldn't that correspond with the age in which pike reproduce?

Northern Pike Wiki Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_pike

They say in the podcast you can buy pike online and have them shipped to you. That is incorrect in the state of Nevada since pike are a prohibited species. Not sure where there is a fish farm that breeds pike anywhere close to us either for someone to go through the trouble of buying pike to just put in Comins Lake. By the size of Ely, McGill, Ruth, or Lund, I am guessing a game warden would know by now if someone has a Pike Pond and is the one throwing them in there, with how serious they are about catching the person or person(s). The only other thing I don't get is how they say the pike that were found are a different breed of pike? The pike I used to catch in the St. Joe river that flows to lake michigan looked the same as the ones I caught in Comins?

If they were afraid of someone dumping pike back into comins, they should of put the maintable replacement, Tiger Muskie. They don't reproduce, and it would give anglers a chance to catch a very fun aggressive species. But I am not a biologist with a degree that has access to Tax Payer money.
[signature]