>>477865>large trophy size pike stabilize the food chain.This is true. They eat some of the adult bass and other medium-large size predators- even smaller adult pike!-- which prevents the baitfish populations from getting killed off. Too many adult bass/small pike can cause stunting of the growth for the bass species overall because food sources get depleted. But 36"+ pike will usually ignore anything under 12," so they are no longer a threat to baitfish. Presence of more trophy pike are the key to supporting good numbers of trophy size other species in the lake. If these "mean bastards" get "pulled out" you are really harming the fishery overall. The apex predators are very important.
