Northern pike in loz?

[Jason Essary]

Friend just caught a northern pike below the dam.  Are they stocked?  Didn't know they had them.

[WeekendWarrior]

Or maybe a pickerel

[Jason Essary]

Found out.  He caught it below the dam at loz.  

[Old plug]

I never heard of that before. you sure it's not chain pickrel???

[conorsixtakc]

When I was probably ten years old, I was walking the docks as I grew up doing as a kid down at LOZ. I remember seeing a fish that didnt' belong and it scared the hell out of me! I was walking to the back of our dock and it was a very calm day, must've been spring or fall. The only thing I can remember about the conditions were glassy water and sun. As I get to the back of our dock and look down, a long fish that had to have been 3.5'-4' swam right out from under the flotation I was standing on... it's dorsal had to have been touching the flotation it was so close to the surface. What scared me was that it didn't have a long bony snout like a gar, rather a rounded flat mouth like a miniature gator! In hindsight it could've only been a northern pike or a tiger muskie, but the moment was very real indeed.

I would be surprised if he caught a northern pike, but part of me believes the claim based on my experience. And after all, LOZ holds the state record tiger muskie...

[fishinwrench]

Pic ?

[MOPanfisher]

Actually the State Record Tiger Muskie came from Stockton Lake in 86.  The State Record Muskie came from LOZ in 1981.

Certainly sounds like he could have caught one below bagnell since it open from there to the big river.

Northern Pike Distribution in Missouri: Native to northern and central Missouri, and the lower Osage River. Currently, our largest natural populations are in borrow pits and drainage ditches on the Mississippi River floodplain, in Clark and Marion counties. Reports from the Missouri and upper Mississippi rivers have been increasing.