Northern pike are top predators with long torpedo shaped bodies built for speed. Their camouflaged coloration enables them to hide in aquatic vegetation and ambush their prey. Once a pike is about 8 inches long, it primarily feeds on other fish which it grasps in its wide mouth. Pike are also highly fecund; for each pound body weight, a female can lay 10,000 eggs.

The female lays thousands of eggs each spring, immediately after ice-out. The tiny eggs, each about 2mm, are scattered in heavily vegetated, shallow water.

To keep the pike contained in Lake Davis, a barrier net was placed before the dam intake pipe and a strainer was installed at the dam outlet. There are a series of 8 strainers, which act like giant colanders, filtering out all fish and eggs. This ensures that pike, their eggs and larvae can not pass into the Middle Fork of the Feather River and beyond.

For the past several years, DFG has been controlling the pike population by electro-fishing. Pike have been found through out the Lake Davis watershed, from the dam up into the tributaries. So far, we have taken over 65,000 pike out of the reservoir.

The decision to treat Lake Davis with rotenone was made in January 2007, after extensive public outreach and input. Some pretreatment activities include; holding public workshops to keep the residents informed, well and groundwater studies, biological monitoring and surveys.

Members of the media and local community leaders watched as field crews began treating the streams with CFT Leguime on September 10, 2007.

Treatment of the waters of Lake Davis began on Tuesday Sept. 25. About 25 boats including 3 air boats, began applying rotenone to the reservoir at about 7:30 a.am after water flows from Grizzly Valley Dam were shut off.

By mid morning on Tuesday, many pike and other fish in the reservoir began to wash up on the shore. On Thursday, DFG crews began netting and picking up the dead fish. A 46 inch long pike was brought in, along with trout showing multiple pike bite marks.