How to recognise it
- A long body with a duck-bill snout, many sharp teeth, and one dorsal fin set far back near the forked tail, above an anal fin of about the same shape.
- Green or blue-gray back, with rows of light yellowish spots on the sides. Fins are often marked with roundish black spots.
- Telling it from a muskellunge: count the pores under the jaw. A pike has five or fewer on each side; a muskie has six or more. A pike's cheek is fully scaled, and its gill cover is scaled only on the upper half.
- It looks like a larger chain or redfin pickerel.
- Can pass 4 ft and 40 lb.
Habitat: where it lives
- Lakes, reservoirs, large rivers, backwaters and drainage ditches. It avoids strong current and likes dense vegetation.
- In lakes, often 2–15 ft deep in and around weedbeds, bulrush edges and rocky points.
- In rivers: scoured holes, sunken timber, weedy backwaters and eddies.
- Mainly a northern fish; Missouri is near the southern edge of its range.
Habits: behavior, spawning and growth
- It lies still and strikes at great speed, often from below.
- It hunts by sight: most active in early morning and evening and catchable all day, but it bites little at night.
- Spawns very early, from late winter into early spring, in shallow marshes and grassy margins, sometimes while lakes still have ice on them.
Where and when
- Cast along weed edges and rocky points in 2–15 ft of water.
- Early morning and evening are best, but any daylight hour can work.
- Seasons, limits and zones differ by state: check your state's rules before you go.
Bait and lures
Live and natural bait
- Minnows like the suckers it eats, where your state allows them
Lures
- Spoons
- Jerkbaits that act like an injured fish
- Crankbaits that wobble like a dying fish
Why these baits work
- It eats fish and attacks fast, so a lure that flashes or wobbles like a hurt fish draws a strike.
- It hunts by sight, so lures work in daylight, and much less after dark.
Rod and reel setups
Grouped by lure fishing (artificial baits) and bait fishing (live or natural bait).
Lure fishing
- Rod
- About 7 ft, moderate to medium-heavy action
- Reel
- Spincasting or baitcasting reel
- Line
- Braid of at least 15 lb, rather than 8 lb monofilament
- Hook & rig
- A foot-long steel or fluorocarbon leader tied to the line, with a spoon, jerkbait or crankbait on the leader. Without a leader its teeth can cut the line.
Bait fishing
- Rod
- About 7 ft, moderate to medium-heavy action
- Reel
- Spincasting or baitcasting reel
- Line
- Braid of at least 15 lb
- Hook & rig
- A foot-long steel or fluorocarbon leader and a baitfish like the suckers it eats, set by the weeds where it waits.
Tips
- Use a net: lifting a big pike by the line or rod can break the rod tip.
- Bring long pliers. Many lures have two or three treble hooks, and its teeth are razor sharp.
- To release one, keep it alongside the boat, grip the hook with the pliers and snap it free with the wrist. That keeps the protective slime on the fish.
On the table: cleaning and cooking
- White, mild meat, but it has Y-bones to take out before cooking, which makes filleting harder than for most fish.
Step-by-step cleaning, keeping fish fresh and eating safely are in the handbook.
Size and bag limits vary by state, species and lake. Current limits: Texas (TPWD); elsewhere, your state's fish and wildlife agency. Check before you keep a fish.
Sources
