Northern Pike

Northern pike get mixed up with muskellunge and chain pickerel, and telling them apart matters because size potential and regulations differ a lot. The easiest check is the cheek and gill cover scaling. On a northern pike, the cheek is fully scaled but only the top half of the gill cover has scales, the bottom half is bare. A muskie has the opposite pattern, only the top half of the cheek is scaled and the gill cover is mostly bare. Pickerel have both cheek and gill cover fully scaled.

Color is the second clue. Northern pike have light bean-shaped or oval spots scattered on a darker green-bronze body. Muskies usually show the reverse, dark spots or vertical bars on a lighter body, though some muskies run almost plain and spotless. Chain pickerel are smaller and have a distinct dark chain-link pattern across a lighter green-gold body, and they rarely top a couple feet in length while pike and muskie both grow much larger. Fin count on the tail also helps in tough cases, pike have fewer sensory pores on the underside of the jaw than muskie, but for most anglers the cheek and gill scaling is the fastest field check.

Cold and cool water lakes and rivers across the northern tier of the country: the Great Lakes region, the upper Midwest, the Mountain West, and Alaska. Pike want vegetation. Look for weed beds, weed edges, and slow backwaters with cover close to deeper water.

In spring they move into shallow, weedy bays to spawn right after ice out, often in water barely deep enough to cover their backs. As water warms in summer they slide toward weed lines and deeper pockets, then push shallow again in fall to feed heavily before winter.

Pike eat other fish, and they eat them whole. Perch, shad, suckers, smaller pike, plus frogs, mice, and the occasional duckling. They are ambush feeders, holding motionless in weeds until something swims within range, then striking with a burst of speed.

Use wire or heavy fluorocarbon leader. Pike have a mouth full of sharp teeth and will cut straight through plain mono. Large spoons, spinnerbaits, and jerkbaits worked along weed edges and over the tops of submerged grass draw strikes, especially in fall when pike feed aggressively before winter.

Dead bait or a large sucker suspended under a float near weed edges is a slower, very effective method, particularly through the ice. Retrieve fast enough to keep a lure just above the weeds rather than fouled in them, and expect the hit to come as a sudden, heavy stop rather than a tap. Check your state's regulations, since many waters have slot limits or catch-and-release rules on pike to protect trophy fish.