Dealing with Belgrade Lakes pike a complex problem

Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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On Monday, fisheries biologist Scott Davis and I motored up Belgrade Stream, towards Long Pond.

The wind was gusting from the north, numbing our wet fingers and raising whitecaps over dark water. In the distance, we could see the sheet of ice looming on Long Pond, still thick, and white.

We were wrapped in layers: long johns, hip boots, coveralls, wool shirts and "float coats" -- inflatable PFD jackets worn by biologists who work on the water in cold weather.

Ahhh, springtime in Maine.

We were out on this brisk April day to fish, though not with rod and reel.

Davis had come to check the Department's trapnets. For the past two years, biologists have set nets here, to help them better understand the effects of ice fishing on pike populations.

Long Pond was opened to ice fishing last year. Biologists hope that angling might help cull the exploding, and illegally introduced, pike population, which has nearly exterminated the landlocked salmon in the lake.

The procedure is simple: Pike are netted in the spring in trap nets, en route to spawning areas. They're implanted with tags, then released.

Come winter, ice fishermen catch these tagged pike, then report results to the biologists. With this data, the Department can "guesstimate" how many pike are caught by wintertime anglers -- and the effect that might have on their overall populations.

Sounds simple enough, right?

"There's a little black magic involved," concedes Davis.

Like so many issues in fisheries biology, the problem is more complex than it seems on the surface -- biologically, and socially.

The pike in Long Pond move freely between there and Messalonskee Lake, so any problem you deal with in Long affects Messalonskee. Likewise with Great Pond: pike -- or any species -- from Great Pond can drop into Long Pond via the sluiceway in Belgrade Village.

And don't forget, fish from North Pond migrate to Great Pond. They're all connected, one way or another.

As with anadromous fish like salmon, alewives or shad, these variables suddenly make a relatively simple problem -- an invasive species -- seem like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle.

With any puzzle, though, it's best to start piece by piece. The more you understand, the closer you get to the greater solution.

Understanding pike populations, and their vulnerability to fishermen, is an important step.

The first trapnet we checked yielded no fish but for a single golden shiner -- not much of a catch, said Davis. He'd been expecting at least a few pike.

Last year, nets placed in the same, or nearby locations, yielded dozens of fish through the spring.

Now is the time of year that pike enter shallow water coves, streams and bays to spawn.

Davis, besides knowing a thing or two about trapnets and fish spawning, is also a fishing and hunting fanatic.

As we made our way along the shoreline, his sharp hunter's eye caught a pair of Canada geese ducking the wind among grasses and reeds near shore. He pointed to what looked like a golf ball in a cluster of trees. The bald eagle that took flight, dark body, bright head and tail, swooped ahead of the boat as we motored north, on to the next trap.

Davis fishes every day of the summer season, which helps him understand fish -- but doesn't give him all the answers.

The second net we checked yielded no fish of any kind, but the third, and final net, closest to Long Pond, was filled with white perch, as well as suckers and some golden shiners. But still, no pike.

Davis sedated the perch in a bin of water using a special chemical, then measured and weighed them, before tossing them one by one back into the stream.

Three nets, no pike.

What was going on here? Had ice fishermen successfully obliterated the population of pike on Long Pond? That was doubtful.

Was it something else?

Maybe the pike weren't coming here anymore to spawn, as they had for the past few years. Or maybe the run was just late. Or had it been early?

Was it water temperature? Time of year? Runoff? Pollution? High water?

"Your guess is as good as mine," said Davis.

We turned to motor back from the last net. I asked Davis some questions.

"Why tag the pike, why not just kill them all?" I wondered.

"We're trying to understand them," he said. Trying to kill all the pike in the interconnected Belgrade Lakes system would be a huge endeavor, he said -- requiring multiple biologists and a huge staff.

And doing so, he added, "wouldn't guarantee the salmon would come back."

Landlocked alewives, introduced a few years back, have competed with smelt in Long Pond, likely reducing populations of the salmon's favorite feed, and thereby changing the ecosystem.

And of course, there's the social issues.

Killing fish indiscriminately -- even pike -- wouldn't be well-received by the general public. Besides that, there's a contingent of local fishermen who like to fish for big pike now, and don't want them eliminated.

"It's a frustrating, and complicated problem," said Davis.

We turned and looked back towards the last trap net we'd checked. I saw a reflection of silver and sunlight on the surface -- one of the perch we'd measured and weighed, floating atop the water, still sluggish from drugs.

As we motored away, yet another of the many variables in fisheries biology -- an osprey -- dove into the water and soared upwards, the perch in its talons.

Dave Sherwood 621-5648

dsherwood@centralmaine.com