42" Pike at Sylvan

[dutchman]

Was out at Sylvan Lake the other day and landed this 42"pike. But it was more like a big log. Just wondering if there was something wrong with him or he's on his last legs?
His body was a lot thinner than the big head he had. Plus there was some pink coloring below the jaw, where's it's usually white.
He did slowly swim away, so?
Sorry, hopefully this attachment works. Couldn't figure out how to load the actual pic.

[stickflicker]

Great fish. Hope he just had a cold...

[RavYak]

Looks strange, not just your typical skinny pike. Must have some sort of sickness.

[JohninAB]

Definitely a strange looking pike with the big head and skinny body. Never seen one like that myself.

[fishermansfriend]

what an odd looking pike... head looks twice the thickness of the body...

[Kokanee9]

Safe to say that there is something wrong there.

Intestinal blockage not letting food pass through?

Parasites - internal or external perhaps?

[Darren N]

kinda weird eh. Doubt will last too long.

[dutchman]

It was a scary looking thing even with the thin belly. There was no fight to get him in, just a big weight.
The week before, middle of a hot afternoon, I was standing in 2 feet of water getting reading to water ski, and one of these big lugs came by. Same thing, very slow, and just sort of floating by. It was right at my feet and had to prod him a couple times and he slowly moved away, sort of like a lurky shark. Made me wonder if he'd take a chomp out of my leg.

[Kokanee9]

Originally Posted by Reddin

Google 'tape measure' and then look at the second picture again.

I didn't see a second picture the first time I looked.

No need to be rude. Not all of us are "metric children".

[kevinhits]

Tape measure says 3 Ft 6"= 42" but the whole fish is not in the pic?

[dutchman]

Yes it does read inches. True, in all fairness, you can't see the other end of the tape? But you can see the back of my boat to give you some comparison.

At the time, try to hold the fish on the deck, tie the net onto something, get a tape measure, take a pic with my phone, try not to fall in the water, make sure the hook don't go in my foot, there's a lot going on...hah

Actually I started this thread to get an idea of it's condition. Never seen these up close and figured it looked a little weird.

[Reddin]

Length did'nt seem to be an issue. 2.54

[waterninja]

thats one sick looking fish, but congrats on catching a 42 incher.

i'm old school and wouldn't use a metric tape measure if you paid me.

[kevinhits]

Originally Posted by dutchman

Yes it does read inches. True, in all fairness, you can't see the other end of the tape? But you can see the back of my boat to give you some comparison.

At the time, try to hold the fish on the deck, tie the net onto something, get a tape measure, take a pic with my phone, try not to fall in the water, make sure the hook don't go in my foot, there's a lot going on...hah

Actually I started this thread to get an idea of it's condition. Never seen these up close and figured it looked a little weird.

Sorry about that.....Nice catch

[Lefty-Canuck]

Good catch.....sickly looking fish

Might be full of worms.....

LC

[WayneChristie]

looks like daddy had his way with a burbot

[BeeGuy]

Pike probably has a couple p-rigs in her throat.

[fish gunner]

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

Pike probably has a couple p-rigs in her throat.

X2 or worse.

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by fish gunner

X2 or worse.

wait, whats worse?

whatever the cause, that pike ain't gonna last. might have cut her open my self to see the cause.

Could be old age, disease or illness, but just as likely could be pollution or fishing related injury.

[HuyFishin]

Poor little guy, he looks starved

[EZM]

TrophyPikeHunter caught one that looked like that at Wab earlier this spring ........ it had some braided line exiting it's butt.

I assumed the lure was in the gut and the poor bugger was starving.

Unfortunately - most lures don't digest well.