Cool Blue, We don't have pike down here, and I've never eaten one. I need to try to schedule me a fishing trip up your ways. I've always wondered what it would be like to fish in an area that doesn't have alligators.
The trick with pike is you have to catch them in cold water. Once the water warms up they go soft and are crap to eat. Summer we focus on walleye, trout, and perch.
Bass, crappie, bream, and catfish are the only game fish here, worth chasing after, IMO. We do get an occasional trout that I can see in the shallows, but I've never seen anyone catch one. It would be neat to go after some of these coldwater fish.
Winter fishing- now that's hardcore. I am mainly a salt water fisherman myself, but would like to get into fresh water more. When cod fishing a while back with ice building up on the gunwales- wasn't in a rush to do it again.