DWR asks anglers to continue killing, turning in northern pike caught in Utah Lake

DWR asks anglers to continue killing, turning in northern pike caught in Utah Lake

(Eric Wagner/Division of Wildlife Resources)


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UTAH COUNTY — A Utah State University research program now in its second year is requesting that anglers kill and turn in any northern pike caught in Utah Lake during 2016.

The northern pike were placed in Utah Lake illegally and Division of Wildlife Resources biologists are worried about the effect the pike will have on other fish species, including the June suckers — an endangered fish species found nowhere else in the world, DWR said.

Since being transplanted into Utah Lake, the population of predatory northern pike has grown in size. As a result, in March 2015, DWR officials began asking anglers to kill any northern pike caught in the lake in an effort to help protect the June suckers.

"(Northern pike) eat anything they want," DWR regional aquatic manager Mike Slater said. "Adding a predator like this may hurt the bass, walleye, catfish and panfish populations that already live in the lake. The illegal introduction of northern pike could negate much of the work that has been done to recover the June sucker. Work to help June suckers has also helped sport fish in the lake. Whoever put northern pike in the lake did a selfish and thoughtless thing."

Here's what to do if you catch a northern pike in Utah Lake during 2016:

  • Keep the fish and kill it.
  • Record the date and location where you caught the northern pike — include GPS coordinates if possible.
  • Bring the fish to the Utah Lake State Park Office at 4400 W. Center Street in Provo or to DWR's Central Region Office at 1115 N. Main St. in Springville on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • If you can't take the fish to the office, place the pike in your freezer at home. Then, call DWR at 801-491-5678 and a DWR biologist will make arrangements to get the fish from you. The fish are then turned in to researchers at Utah State University who determine which fish the pike are eating and how many they are consuming. Researchers need about 300 to 400 additional pike for their studies. If you catch a northern pike, and you don't want to donate it, DWR said anglers still must kill it.

"By law, northern pike caught at Utah Lake may not be returned to the lake alive," Slater said. "Every northern pike that's caught must be killed."

The Utah Lake tributaries will be closed to fishing from March 1 – May 7.

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