fishery management report no. 12–46 - Alaska Department of Fish ...

the lakes in the TRMA, with the exception of the Tolovana drainage and Harding Lake, to June
1–April 20.
Current or Recommended Research and Management Activities
Northern pike populations should continue to be monitored in George and Volkmar lakes to
assess possible fisheries impacts from the recent regulation changes.
Other TRMA Northern Pike Fisheries
Harding Lake is located about 45 road miles southeast of Fairbanks along the Richardson
Highway and is the largest roadside lake north of the Alaska Range (Figure 3). Northern pike
were a high-profile game fish in Harding Lake because they were readily caught, and their
preference for shallow water habitats made them highly vulnerable to anglers. In 2000, northern
pike fishing at Harding Lake was closed due to low abundance; for details about the closure and
habitat rehabilitation efforts see Brase (2009c).
Northern pike are common in many smaller lakes and in sloughs, and tributaries of the Tanana
River, and small harvests are reported annually from many locations throughout the TRMA. The
Lower Chena, Zitziana, and Salcha rivers; Piledriver Slough; and gravel pits in south Fairbanks
and on Eielson Air Force Base are examples of the types of areas that produce northern pike for
anglers. Other fisheries occur in lakes in the Kantishna River drainage (such as East Twin and
Mucha lakes) and in clear boat-accessible sloughs, backwaters, and small tributaries off of the
Tanana River. Other lakes in the Upper Tanana River drainage with northern pike populations
are Sand, “T”, Mansfield, Dog, Island, Tetlin, Takomahto, Jatahmund, Island, and American
Wellesley lakes.
The northern pike present in the Tanana River drainage provide the population reservoir which,
through the movements of individual fish, ensures continued viability of small stocks and
availability of fishing opportunity wherever suitable habitat occurs, including colonization of
ponds. Northern pike colonize suitable gravel pits and other ponds when the river floods into
them and the pits become connected to the river, or when people illegally introduce northern pike
into those waters. Many of these areas are road-accessible and rarely produce large numbers of
fish or many large fish. It is not presently possible to develop a direct estimate of effort because
of the mixed-stock fisheries of which these northern pike fisheries are a part.
The wide range of accessibility for anglers and the diversity of types of angling opportunity add
value to these fisheries. Angler interest in road-accessible northern pike fisheries is high.
However, the nature of northern pike as a piscivore that takes the hook readily, but requires
many years to grow to the larger sizes valued by anglers, makes it difficult to manage northern
pike fisheries in roadside situations.
Abundance, and age and sex composition, studies were conducted in East Twin Lake in 1993
(Pearse 1994) and Deadman Lake in 1994 (Hansen and Pearse 1995). In both cases, populations
were judged to be healthy and capable of sustaining existing harvest levels. A radiotelemetry
study done in 1993 and 1994 in the Chena River suggested that adult northern pike in that river
move little during the year (Pearse 1994).
Providing harvest opportunity at sustainable levels is an overriding management responsibility.
However, in roadside ponds stocked with salmonids, such as rainbow trout, and where northern
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