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The Northern Pike
Description
Northern pike are most often olive, shading into yellow to white along the belly. The flank is marked with short, light barlike spots and there are a few to many dark spots on the fins. The lower half of the gill cover lacks scales and they have large sensory pores on their head and on the underside of the lower jaw which are part of the lateral line system. Unlike the similar-looking and closely related muskellunge, the northern pike has light markings on a dark body background and fewer than six sensory pores on the underside of each side of the lower jaw.
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Life History
Pike grow to a relatively large size; lengths of 150 centimetres (59 in) and weights of 25 kg (55 pounds) are not unheard of. The heaviest specimen known so far was caught in an abandoned stone quarry, in Germany, in 1983. She (the majority of all pikes over 8 kg (18 pounds) are females) was 1.47 m (5 ft) long and weighed 31 kg (67 pounds). The longest pike ever recorded was 152 cm (60 in) long and weighed 28 kg (61 pounds). Historic reports of giant pike, caught in nets in Ireland in the late 1800s, of 41 to 42 kg (89 to 92 pounds), were researched by Fred Buller and published in "The Doomsday Book of Mammoth Pike". The British Isles have not managed to produce much in the way of giant pike in the last 50 years or so however; therefore there is substantial doubt surrounding those earlier claims. Currently, the IGFA recognizes a 26 kg (55 pound) pike caught by Lothar Louis in Lake of Grefeern, Germany, on 16 Oct, 1986 as the all-tackle world record northern pike. Northern pike in North America seldom reach the size of their European counterparts; one of the largest specimens known was a 21 kg (46 pound, 2 ounce) specimen from New York state. It was caught in Great Sacandaga Lake on September 15, 1940 by Peter Dubuc. There are reports of far larger pike, but these are either misidentifications of the pike's much larger relative the muskellunge, or simply have not been properly documented and belong in the realm of legend.
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Distribution
Within North America, there are northern pike populations in northern Minnesota, eastern New York, northern New England, most of Canada (though pike are rare in British Columbia), Alaska, the Ohio Valley, the upper Mississippi River and its tributaries, the Great Lakes Basin and surrounding states, Missouri, and Nebraska. They are also stocked in, or have been introduced to, some western lakes and reservoirs for angling purposes, although this practice often threatens other species of fish such as trout and salmon, causing government agencies to exterminate the pike by poisoning lakes.
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Habitat
Pike are found in sluggish streams and shallow, weedy places in lakes, as well as in cold, clear, rocky waters. Pike are typical ambush predators; they lie in wait for prey, holding perfectly still for long periods and then exhibit remarkable acceleration as they strike. The fish has a distinctive habit of catching its prey sideways in the mouth, killing or immobilising it with its sharp teeth, and then turning the prey lengthwise to swallow it. It eats mainly fish, but on occasion water voles and ducklings have also been known to fall prey to pike. Pike will aggressively strike at any fish in the vicinity, even at other pike. Young pike have been found dead from choking on a pike of a similar size. Northern pike also feed on frogs, insects and leeches. It has often been suggested that pike optimally forage on prey that are from 25 to 35% of their body length. Also on rare occasions pike have been reported to have eaten young bald eagles. Also, in Britain a pike snatched the head of a feeding swan, but the backward-pointing teeth meant that the fish could not let go of the bird, and both of them died soon afterwards.
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The Grass Pickerel
Description
The body of the grass pickerel is long and slender, like the northern pike and muskellunge. Its snout resembles a duck-bill when viewed from the top. The color is green to olive-brown above, with wavy or worm-like bars on the side and light beneath. Both the cheeks and the opercles on the head are fully covered with scales. The branchiostegal rays number 11 to 13, and there are 4 mandibular pores. There are about 105 scales along the lateral line and 12 soft rays in the dorsal fin. It is a small fish, rarely exceeding 12 inches in length and usually from 7 to 10 inches at maturity.
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Life History
Grass pickerel, like all members of this family, are carnivorous and voracious feeders. Small fishes make up the bulk of the diet, but aquatic insects and their larva are also eaten in significant quantities. The species prefers weedy areas, where it hunts by ambush, darting out from concealment to seize its prey.
The grass pickerel spawns in the early spring in very shallow waters. Eggs are usually broadcast over submergent vegetation and are unattended. There is some evidence in part of its natural range of an additional spawning period in late fall or early winter -- but not in Iowa. Here the fish reaches a length of about 3 or 4 inches the first year but seldom exceeds 13 inches when fully grown.
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Distribution
The grass pickerel, as its name implies, prefers a vegetated habitat. In recent collections it has been found in small Mississippi River tributary marsh areas in Clayton and Muscatine counties. Historically, it has been observed in the upper reaches of the Mississippi River between Wisconsin and Iowa and the lower reaches of its tributaries in southeastern Iowa. Twelve specimens were captured in Louisa County during a 1940 fishery survey and again in 1943 at the same site. Several more specimens were collected in this fishery's survey in a small tributary to the Cedar River in Muscatine County.
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The Musky
Description
Muskellunge closely resemble other Esocids such as the northern pike and American pickerel in both appearance and behavior. Like other pikes, the body plan is typical of ambush predators with an elongate body, flat head and dorsal, pelvic and anal fins set far back on the body. Muskellunge attain lengths of 60–150 cm (2–5 ft) and weights of over 30 kg (66 lb). The fish are a light silver, brown or green with dark vertical stripes on the flank, which may tend to break up into spots. In some cases, markings may be absent altogether, especially in fish from turbid waters. This is in contrast to northern pike which have dark bodies with light markings. A sure way of distinguishing the two similar species is by counting the sensory pores on the underside of the mandible. A muskie will have seven or more per side while the northern pike never has more than six. The lobes of the caudal (tail) fin in muskellunge come to a sharper point while those of northern pike are more generally rounded. In addition, unlike pike, muskies have no scales on the lower half of the operculum.
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Life History
Muskies reach sexual maturity at 3–5 years with females maturing later than males. The fish may live to approximately 30 years of age. Females grow faster and live longer than males, and thus reach greater lengths and weights. While muskies in the northern portion of the range may take as much as 11 years to reach 1 m (40 inches) in length, the fish in the southern portion of the range may attain such a length in as little as 5 years. Maximum size is heavily influenced by the genetics of a population. In general, maximum size increases with increasing northerly latitude.
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Habitat
Muskellunge are found in mesotrophic lakes and large rivers from northern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota through the Great Lakes region, north into Canada, throughout most of the St Lawrence River drainage and northward throughout the upper Mississippi valley, although the species also extends as far south as Chattanooga in the Tennessee River valley. They are also found in the Red River drainage of the Hudson Bay basin. They prefer clear waters where they lurk along weed edges, rock outcrops or other structure to rest. A fish forms two distinct home ranges in summer: a shallow range and a deeper one. The shallow range is generally much smaller than the deeper range. A musky will continually patrol the ranges in search of available food in the appropriate conditions of water temperature, pH and clarity.
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Distribution
Anglers seek large muskies as trophies or for sport. The fish attain impressive swimming speeds but are not particularly maneuverable. The highest speed runs are usually fairly short. Muskies are known for their strength and for their tendency to leap from the water in stunning aerobatic displays. A challenging fish to catch, the muskie has been called "the fish of a thousand casts". Anglers most often use extremely large but otherwise conventional lures. The average lure is 20–30 cm (8–12 inches) long but longer lures of 35–65 cm (14–26 inches) are not uncommon in the musky angler's arsenal.
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The Tiger Musky
Description
A sterile hybrid of the northern pike and the muskie--the tiger muskie--is stocked in several heavily fish lakes in the Twin Cities metro region. This species has dark markings on a light background, as on muskies, but has rounded tail fins, as on northern pike.
Muskies are light colored and usually have dark bars running up and down their long bodies. That's the opposite of northern pike, which have light markings on a dark body. Muskies are silver, light green, or light brown. The foolproof way to tell a muskie from a northern is to count the pores on the underside of the jaw: A muskie has six or more. A northern has five or fewer.
The muskie, unlike the northern pike, has six to nine pores (usually seven) on each side of the underside of the lower jaw. The lower half of the muskie's cheek is not scaled. The lobes of the muskie's tail are more pointed than those of the northern pike.
The muskie's coloration, too, is distinct from a northern pike's and takes three common forms that depend somewhat on the muskie's place of origin, but all have a light background.
Muskies generally have three different variations; dark spots on a light background (spotted phase), dark bars on a light background (barred phase) and the third pattern, which is occasionally seen throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin, is the "clear" phase of light sides with no marks or very faint marks on the rear third of the fish.
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Life History
The muskellunge is one of the largest and most elusive fish that swims. A muskie will eat fish and sometimes ducklings and even small muskrats. It waits in weed beds and then lunges forward, clamping its large, tooth-lined jaws onto the prey. The muskie then gulps down the stunned or dead victim head first.
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Habitat
Muskellunge are found in mesotrophic lakes and large rivers from northern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota through the Great Lakes region, north into Canada, throughout most of the St Lawrence River drainage and northward throughout the upper Mississippi valley, although the species also extends as far south as Chattanooga in the Tennessee River valley. They are also found in the Red River drainage of the Hudson Bay basin. They prefer clear waters where they lurk along weed edges, rock outcrops or other structure to rest. A fish forms two distinct home ranges in summer: a shallow range and a deeper one. The shallow range is generally much smaller than the deeper range. A musky will continually patrol the ranges in search of available food in the appropriate conditions of water temperature, pH and clarity.
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