Loch Raven Pickerel

Type: Nontidal
Region: Northern
Location: Loch Raven Reservoir

MIke Peters and I went fishing sunday at Loch Raven for Northern pike. Well we ended up not catching any pike but we did catch 15 big pikerae throwing big lures and trolling for pike. I was wondering if there are any trophy pike in loch raven or how is the population there. Am i wasting my time? Is catching a pike in loch raven like trying to catch a walleye out of liberty which means pretty much non existant..Any tips or locatons other then going to canada will be helpful. I also caught this nice 5 1/2 pound largie no complaints there.

DNR RESPONSE via Charlie Gougeon, Fisheries BiologistThat�s a very big and fat chain pickerel! Loch Raven is full of chain pickerel. I have no reason to believe why fish like that from that particular reservoir should be a surprise or a rare find. Loch Raven is full of forage species to support them and the reservoir continues to support one of the best quality mixes of freshwater fish species in the central region. Northern Pike are not frequently observed or collected by us on a regular basis during our electrofishing surveys since our typical sampling period likely finds the larger pike in deeper, inaccessible waters when we conduct our typical fall surveys. In any case, chain pickerel are very common and the pike are far less common in Loch Raven Reservoir.