Intimidating Fish Question!

[Len]

Went Crappie fishing yesterday and fished all the productive spots. Caught some crappie then they quit biting. During this period of not biting I hooked three Northern Pike but could not get them in because of 4lb. test line.The question I have is:Will these Pike run off the Crappie from this locaton?

[Jerry Blake]

Gar and Stripers sure will make crappie quit biting so I suspect Pike will too. I don't know if they actually run them off or if the crappie just hunker down and go from an offensive mode to a defensive mode when larger predators start pokin round.

I use six-pound line when tight-lining jigs and eight-pound line on my slip-float rigs so we have a chance to land those catfish, gar, drum, striper, hybrid white bass, white bass, green carp and what have you that occasionally pester us.

[anchorpuller]

Dad blame right they will! If you get a pike, you might as well find another hole or give it up for the day. Been there, done that, don't want that t-shirt.

[Big George]

I am not gonna say Jerry is wrong about the stripers and gar but on several occasions around here gar have been feeding on big shad schools around wood cover that I fish and I have caught the crappie right under the gar I am thinking that they were there getting the scraps the gar leave of course ya hook a big gar every now and then but also caught lots of crappie. Because of these experiences I always when tournament prefishing look where I see lots of gar and I have also read in crappie world somewhere that others also have noticed this pattern GOOD FISHING

[Crappie Reaper]

I too have caught alot of Crappie when Gar are present feeding on shad. But, where I fish, there is a school of shad every 20'. So, maybe if the Gar are feeding on the shad, the Crappie are safe for the time being.

[chaunc]

I can't speak for the southern lake guys, but up here in Pa., if the crappie even smell a northern pike or musky in the water, they wont bite. I've proven this numerous times by catching the one that stopped the crappies from biting, putting him in the livewell, and in 10 minutes or so, the crappies start biting again. I would put the pike on a stringer and hang it over the side of the boat and guess what? They stopped biting again. They can smell predator fish and they'll bury themselves in the brush so the pike cant get them and they wont come out till the smell is gone. It doesn't take a huge pike either. I've put my aquavu down to see if there were fish and had a pike swim right up to the camera. Moved over to check the brushpile and it was loaded with crappies and gills. They would not come out of there for any bait i used. So when there's a predator around, the crappies dont think about feeding. They think about self preservation. FIND ANOTHER SPOT !!!

[tarfu]

TEETH WITH FISH TRUMPS FISH WITH NO TEETH. in other words, if a 900lb. gorillia said to you i want to eat here and was sharping his knife on his fork while looking qt you with drool hang'n from the corner of his mouth would you hang around?

[roybuoy]

Chaunc what model aquaview do you have? Do they work good ,I've thought about gitting one, but didn't know how well they work.