From slim, quick "hammer handles" to 30-pounders who might take your dog to the bottom, northern pike are voracious fish programmed to be the alpha predators wherever they swim. Or the only predators.

Apparently introduced illegally to Alexander Lake, they've taken over the lake and Alexander Creek where king salmon once ruled, where nine lodges once operated, where comparisons where made to the Kenai River.

That's history. A king return of 7,000 fish not long ago has dwindled to a few hundred, and the Alexander is closed to king fishing. Boats gone. Lodges gone.

Pike aplenty.

That's why state sport fish biologists have been fishing the daylights out of the Alexander, in an attempt to suppress the pike who eat tiny salmon. The pike aren't solely to blame for the Alexander's demise as a king fishery. King returns have plummeted throughout western Susitna waterways for a variety of reasons.

But the northern pike have accelerated the crash.

We've got nothing against northern pike. Some anglers love to fish for them, and they certainly have their place.

It's just that their place isn't in some of Alaska's favorite king salmon streams or lovely urban lakes stocked with trout.

In Eagle River there's a beaver pond where pike have been taken, and you wonder how long the beavers will last ...

So good luck to the Fish and Game biologists trying to make the Alexander safe for king salmon again. Slay the invader, and watch your fingers.