In 1997 the state of California purposefully poisoned David Lake, nestled high in the Sierra mountains, in an effort to exterminate the northern pike, an aggressive, nonindigenous species the Fish and Game Department said posed a threat to nearby rivers. At the time, the department assured skeptical locals that the deadened lake would quickly bounce back. It didn't, and this led to many hardships for those who relied on the lake for tourism and water, along with lawsuits and criminal charges against the state, resulting in a recent $10 million settlement.

This spring the lake has finally shown a healthy upswing, but so, apparently, have pikes, and embarrassed state officials are not sure what to do about it. "What we're trying to do is to establish whether we have a self-sustaining population of pike. If we do, then we're going to have to sit down with the community and discuss what to do," said a spokesman for Fish and Game. But nobody is biting. "It's ridiculous," one local businessman told the Associated Press. "We've all suffered. My business went down to nothing. There have been pike all over the Midwest, all over the country. They are good game fish. Why not just go catch 'em?"

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