Wishing for a 'Dream Lake'

Gallery: Dallas Hudson of Akeley, Minn., with a northern pike caught through the ice last week, part of a years-long study that Hudson and other private citizens have undertaken in part to measure the growth rates and eating habits of the fish. Voracious eaters, some northern pike on the private lake have been caught more than 20 times — evidence, Hudson says, of how susceptible a lake can be to overfishing.

Gallery: A scale is also removed from each northern pike that is caught. An examined scale can help determine a fish's growth rate.

Gallery: Each northern pike, whether caught in winter or summer, is identified by placing a DNR tag on it. As the fish is caught again and again, growth rates and other information can be determined.

Gallery: Megan Malone of Menaga, Minn., left, with a northern pike she caught while fishing a private lake being studied by Dallas Hudson, right, and others, in conjunction with the DNR and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Gallery: Sam Hunter, right, of Nevis, Minn., prepares a tip-up while fishing a private lake as part of a study in northern Minnesota. Hunter, a DNR conservation officer, while off-duty occasionally helps Dallas Hudson, left, in his northern pike study.

Gallery: The study lake is divided into quadrants, and the location where a fish is caught is recorded.

Gallery: Sam Hunter of Nevis, Minn., pulls in a northern pike that took a sucker minnow. Hunter is a DNR conservation officer who was off-duty, aidiing a fisheries study of a private lake in northern Minnesota.