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The Minto Flats Northern Pike FisheryUntil a few years ago, the wetlands of the Tolovana River drainage which includes the Minto Flats, produced outstanding fishing for northern pike and was regularly visited by many local anglers, guides, and their fishing clients. Northern pike are also regularly harvested for subsistence use in the area. A high quality sport fishery was maintained until the mid-1980s when the abundance and size composition of the population was determined incapable of supporting continued harvest at previous levels. While all the factors are not known, excessive winter sport fishing during the 1985 to 1987 period contributed significantly to the decline. It was estimated that about 2,500 large mature pike were harvested in the winter sport fishery on the lower Chatanika River in each of two years preceding 1987. Catch sampling indicated that up to 90 percent of the fish harvested during the winter sport fishery were pre-spawning adult females. ADF&G concluded that the winter fishery, coupled with other fishing and natural mortality, had depressed the abundance and altered the size composition of the Minto Flats pike population. By closing the winter sport fishery in the drainage, pike are much less vulnerable to overharvest.During summer months fish are widely dispersed throughout the wetlands. Preliminary indications from F&G studies and from reports from guides and anglers are that the declines noted in the mid-1980s have been checked and that stock abundance and size composition of pike has improved substantially since the conservation problem was identified and addressed through revised regulations. |
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Introduction Distribution in the Tanana River Valley Age & Size of Interior Alaska pike Spawning Biology Where Pike Hang Out Status of Tanana River pike fisheries |
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The Minto Flats northern pike fishery