Dentry: Pikes' peek: Predators put on paltry performance

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

PARSHALL - Stumped anglers want to know. What's happening with northern pike at Williams Fork Reservoir?

Probably nothing that isn't perfectly natural. In the course of their normal ins and outs, the moody predators simply have been on the outs with shallow water anglers. It's just a temporary recession.

But I share the pain of pike junkies who pitched streamer flies and lures at unoccupied flats until their rotator cuffs gave out Sunday. I also share their premeditated optimism.

You never know when the wolf pack might charge into casting range in the bottom half of May. The weather determines whether they will and when they won't.

Cooling trends can turn a pike invasion into retreat, which seems to have been the case here. A few pike anglers who were resting their casting arms along the western shore Sunday said they had seen pike fins cutting the surface a few days previous.

Then, for days, many saw nothing.

"I've seen pike all over the place at this time of year," one disappointed fisherman said. "But they aren't here now."

When someone suggested the water might be a tad cool, one Williams Fork warhorse insisted he has enjoyed fantastic pike fishing earlier in spring, when it was much colder.

That's not surprising. In spring, the first migration of pike into the shallows is triggered by reproductive urges. A pike's temperature preference then is quite different from the range that will trigger aggressive feeding later.

Most Colorado pike enter shallow bays in late April. During that "pre-spawn" season, the water can be nearly freezing, but fishing often is good.

Pike spawn when the water registers 35 to 45 degrees, which typically is the first two weeks in May in Colorado. When they are spawning, the fish are splashy and conspicuous, but fishing sours. Spawning pike are almost never interested in anything but spawning.

The big females then dive for the deep and rest for a week or more.

Next comes the "post-spawn" season, that delirious time when pike junkies cut work and run away from home. Everyone wants to be the first to discover the hot bite.

Problem is, the good times don't come all at once. Barry Reynolds, the widely traveled pike specialist who wrote Mastering Pike on the Fly (Johnson Printing, Boulder, 2004), explains that "special time of year" better than anyone.

He writes that when pike recover from spawning and are ready to put on weight, they prefer shallows warmed to 55 to 60 degrees. But during the leading edge of the inshore pike migration, in late May, cold fronts often lower water temperatures.

Cooling trends can send pike into brief retreat. They seldom feed aggressively and might not even be around, when the water is cooler than 55 degrees.

Despite sunshine and heavenly air Sunday, water in the flats at Williams Fork hovered near 50 degrees. Which would explain why many anglers reported few pike sightings, fewer halfhearted pike follows and no strikes.

June, according to the record of past fishing seasons, is the big month for catching pike cruising in the shallows. But no two reservoirs are alike.

Typically, those at the lowest elevations, such as Vallecito, gear up earlier. Higher-up waters, such as Taylor Park Reservoir, kick in last.

Williams Fork is somewhere in the middle, which would suggest that those pike scouts Sunday stood a fair, but not great, chance of hitting the big bite head-on.

The "special time of year" is approaching, but maybe not so fast. Compared with past years, underwater vegetation has been slow to grow on the flats at Williams Fork.

Insect activity has been skimpy. Consequently, baitfish and other small fry - including stocker trout, which large pike relish - have been scarce inshore.

However, the reservoir known for serving up Colorado's state-record pike (30 pounds, 6 ounces, on May 19, 1996) is only 8 1/2 feet below full and its flats have expanded.

Its parting shot Sunday was a breathtaking boom and splash under a small, flying trout. With a little warmup, pike anglers soon should be off to the races.

dentrye@RockyMountainNews.com