 |
|
07-16-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 6
|
|
Famous Question: Pike or Muskie?
Here's the famous question for all the pike experts out there. Is this a pike or a Muskie? Thank you for your replies.
|
07-16-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: West Country
Posts: 200
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheerseh!
Here's the famous question for all the pike experts out there. Is this a pike or a Muskie? Thank you for your replies.
|
Piskie.... 
|
07-16-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: West Edmonton
Posts: 572
|
|
Definitely not a pike. Either a Musky or possibly a hybrid.
|
07-16-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: East of Stettler
Posts: 2,727
|
|
I think I know
They are called "tiger muskys" and they are sterile!
The Lands and forest people in Ontario used to put them in lakes where they wanted the present population of fish eliminated. The fish eat all the little stuff, grow big and the biologists catch them or net them out in the fall. I always thought that it was a great solution and beat poisoning a lake.
Where did you get it?
|
07-16-2012
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: edmonton
Posts: 585
|
|
maybe chain pickerel...
__________________
Fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore." Vincent van Gogh
|
07-16-2012
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Toronto
Posts: 77
|
|
It's a Tiger; as mentioned, pike/muskie cross.
They are regarded as Muskies, as opposed to pike as far as regs, etc are concerned.
|
07-16-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 139
|
|
I think it is a Northern pike. Small scaling on upper gill plate only, is a good identifiieing marker.
|
07-16-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Toronto
Posts: 77
|
|
On a Tiger, the most notable identifier are the bars. Their fins are not sharper, like Muskies, but rounded. like a pike.
|
07-16-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 411
|
|
Rounded tail lobes and lack of spots tells me tiger musky but if it was in Alberta the answer would have to be pike because we have neither tigers or muskies. My .02¢
|
07-16-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Toronto
Posts: 77
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by CBintheNorth
Rounded tail lobes and lack of spots tells me tiger musky but if it was in Alberta the answer would have to be pike because we have neither tigers or muskies. My .02¢
|
Lol, if that was caught in Alberta, you have them now!
|
07-16-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 411
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Backbay
Lol, if that was caught in Alberta, you have them now!
|
Wouldn't that be nice! 
|
07-16-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 6
|
|
Thanks for your replies gentleman. I would have to agree with a few of you as I would also call this fish a “Hybrid Tiger Muskie”. This fish was caught and released this past weekend in a beautiful lake near central AB. The Muskie appears to have arrived. In my opinion, it is no different than a pike as both fish are fresh water gators. Maybe we should start drug testing our Fisheries Management Team?
|
07-16-2012
|
 |
Moderator
|
|
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Edmonton, AB
Posts: 13,171
|
|
Thats a nice Bull Trout!!
__________________
Alberta Bigbore
|
07-16-2012
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Bonemont, Alberta
Posts: 12,024
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheerseh!
Thanks for your replies gentleman. I would have to agree with a few of you as I would also call this fish a “Hybrid Tiger Muskie”. This fish was caught and released this past weekend in a beautiful lake near central AB. The Muskie appears to have arrived. In my opinion, it is no different than a pike as both fish are fresh water gators. Maybe we should start drug testing our Fisheries Management Team?
|
Do they have an underground passage from LOTW to Alberta now???......they can't just "arrive"
If it was caught in Alberta it is probably a genetic anomaly to give it the patterning.....neat looking fish but if it is caught in Alberta its a pike....IMHO.
LC
__________________
AO 2012/2013 Predator Contest Count
-------------------------------------
Coyote X2
It used to be called a "jumpoline" that was right up until your Mom got on one back in 1972
Quote:
Originally Posted by TreeGuy
Lefty.....yer the best! lol
|
|
07-16-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 635
|
|
X2. Pike.
|
07-16-2012
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: May 2011
Location: down by the river
Posts: 7,435
|
|
__________________
You can bet, that your sweet wife, can catch more fish than you... 
|
07-16-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: May 2011
Location: down by the river
Posts: 7,435
|
|
I don't think the picture is good enough to see some of the characters.
But I would put some money down that it is a pike.
__________________
You can bet, that your sweet wife, can catch more fish than you...
|
07-16-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: edmonton
Posts: 585
|
|
__________________
Fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore." Vincent van Gogh
|
07-16-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 411
|
|
He said it was caught in Alberta guys! 
|
07-16-2012
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 914
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by CBintheNorth
He said it was caught in Alberta guys! |
If it was, then its is hands down a pike. No questioning.
__________________
I have been diagnosed with angleritis
|
07-16-2012
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 6,708
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alberta Bigbore
Thats a nice Bull Trout!!
|
I call laker!
__________________
Jay: Mostly harmless... 
Time, it makes you old. Experience makes you wise. It's only a fool who judges life by what he sees in other peoples' eyes.
- Strung Out
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
- Douglas Adams
No BS, no problems.
KCCO 
|
07-17-2012
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Alberta
Posts: 4,699
|
|
Looks like a large mouth bass to me, did they stock them in Alberta yet?
|
07-17-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Viking
Posts: 584
|
|
Pike or pickerel is my guess
|
07-17-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 411
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by BGSH
Looks like a large mouth bass to me, did they stock them in Alberta yet?
|
They don't need to, they just arrive! Lol
|
07-17-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 6
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by BGSH
Looks like a large mouth bass to me, did they stock them in Alberta yet?
|
Did you miss the part where Gramp's takes you out fishing as a kid and shows you a thing or two about fishing? If so I sympathize for your loss.
Gentlemen, I'm not looking for sarcastic remarks, but expert opinion. Until I mentioned where the fish was caught the majority of comments favoured the muskie. I still have not recieved one comment explaining why muskie can not/have not existed in AB. Is it the same reason why AB claims to be rat free?
The chain pickerel was an interesting comment. Is that species found in AB?
|
07-17-2012
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Saskatoon, SK
Posts: 1,284
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheerseh!
Here's the famous question for all the pike experts out there. Is this a pike or a Muskie? Thank you for your replies.
|
Hey Cheerseh,
That is a great specimen and quite an unusual picture. When you catch a fish that has patterning not typical of what you normally would see, it can be easy to misidentify at the species level. I can absolutely say, given the information you have provided, that you have caught a pike experiencing a late transition from juvenile to adult coloration. This typically takes place at a much early stage in their life, and you usually see this exact patterning on pike more than half the size of the individual you have caught.
Juvenile pike typically have 8 to 15 or so vertical white bands that extend from the white belly well past the lateral line of the fish. When these fish get older, those bands begin to break up into the typical spotting pattern you would see in a typical adult pike. As I said before, this usually takes place at a much earlier age than the fish you are holding, but none the less, this is the exact pattern you would expect to see in the transition stages. An incredible specimen and I really appreciate you posting this picture!
|
07-17-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 6
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by TyreeUM
An incredible specimen and I really appreciate you posting this picture!
|
That was a great explanation and I appreciate your comments.
|
07-17-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: slave lake
Posts: 4,214
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheerseh!
Did you miss the part where Gramp's takes you out fishing as a kid and shows you a thing or two about fishing? If so I sympathize for your loss.
Gentlemen, I'm not looking for sarcastic remarks, but expert opinion. Until I mentioned where the fish was caught the majority of comments favoured the muskie. I still have not recieved one comment explaining why muskie can not/have not existed in AB. Is it the same reason why AB claims to be rat free?
The chain pickerel was an interesting comment. Is that species found in AB?
|
Theres about as many chain pickerel in AB as there are muskie. As for an explanation of why muskie can not exist in AB, on a scientific level I know that they spawn later than pike in places where the two co-exist and therefore probably need warmer water to successfully spawn than can typicly be found in AB.
On a logical level yours would be the only "Muskie" to have been caught in AB. Not only are they absent in Alberta but to the best of my knowlege Saskatchewan has none and even in Manitoba they only exist in good numbers on the very eastern side of the province. Not sure what kind of a radius we have to the south between Alberta and the nearest muskie water but its probably similar. On top of that Tiger Muskie do not comonly ocur naturaly, remember how I said muskie spawn later? Since tigers are sterile it would be a pretty grave evolutionary oversite in regards to the survival of the two species, which comonly co exist naturaly, to not include some kind of preventative measure to keep this from happening. So... for you to have caught a Tiger muskie in centeral AB someone would have had to transport that fish a thousand or so kilometers and succesfuly live released it, sounds a little improbable wouldnt you agree? Ditto on the chain pickerel, if that were a chain pickerel you should be sending it to a taxidermist cause it would be a monster.
|
07-17-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 6
|
|
Thank you Cal for another very good explanation. Cheers Eh!
|
07-18-2012
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 6,708
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by TyreeUM
Hey Cheerseh,
That is a great specimen and quite an unusual picture. When you catch a fish that has patterning not typical of what you normally would see, it can be easy to misidentify at the species level. I can absolutely say, given the information you have provided, that you have caught a pike experiencing a late transition from juvenile to adult coloration. This typically takes place at a much early stage in their life, and you usually see this exact patterning on pike more than half the size of the individual you have caught.
Juvenile pike typically have 8 to 15 or so vertical white bands that extend from the white belly well past the lateral line of the fish. When these fish get older, those bands begin to break up into the typical spotting pattern you would see in a typical adult pike. As I said before, this usually takes place at a much earlier age than the fish you are holding, but none the less, this is the exact pattern you would expect to see in the transition stages. An incredible specimen and I really appreciate you posting this picture!
|
__________________
Jay: Mostly harmless...
Time, it makes you old. Experience makes you wise. It's only a fool who judges life by what he sees in other peoples' eyes.
- Strung Out
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
- Douglas Adams
No BS, no problems.
KCCO
|
| Thread Tools |
|
|
| Display Modes |
 Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:18 AM.
|
