Statewide Northern Pike Response to Minnesota's 2018 Regulation Change

Presenter(s)

Elijah Wozniak

Abstract or Description

Northern Pike management is difficult as it attempts to balance ecologically sustainable practices with angler interests. Populations of Northern Pike often diminish the size of other fish, which can stunt their growth also. Due to the emphasis anglers placed on trophy sized fish, the DNR implemented a new statewide regulation change for northern pike in 2018. The objective of this study was to determine whether the regulation successfully increased the weight, length, and CPUE of Northern Pike in Minnesota. The DNR LakeFinder resource will be used to obtain information from lakes within each of the three pike regulation zones using specified criteria. The gathered data will include CPUE, weight, and length measurements for each year after the new regulation. A trendline analysis will determine the P-value and significance of the information. The collection and analyzation of the data is pending completion. The purpose of this study is to better understand the response of Pike to fishing regulations and to hopefully gather useful insight for informing adjustments to current fishing guidelines. Future research could look at the ecological factors influencing pike size and what resources need to be present to support prolonged pike growth. Hopefully, the findings are useful for understanding how effective fishing regulations are at changing size structure of fish populations.

Mentor

Andrew Hafs