TROPHY NORTHERN PIKE ARE WORTH THEIR WEIGHT IN GOLD!
Northern pike (Esox lucius) are a popular sportfish species among anglers in Western Canada and around the world. They are widely distributed, feed aggressively, fight hard, and provide year-round opportunity for those seeking excellent table fare or chasing trophies.
ADAPTABLE SPECIES
These fish inhabit a wide variety of habitats from small streams to massive lakes and are geographically widespread. Pike have a circumpolar Holarctic distribution, meaning they occur naturally in most of the Northern Hemisphere above 40 degrees latitude around the globe. They become the apex predator in many fisheries once they outgrow the risk of being eaten by other predators.
Top predators are extremely important as they control prey populations and contribute to a healthy, well-balanced fishery. In this article, we will explore the biology, ecology, and management of pike to provide anglers with a better understanding of the species and the fishery we all enjoy.
PREDATORY ROLE
Pike are large, solitary predators well suited to detect prey movement both visually and by sensing vibrations in the water. They have sensory organs located on facial pores and along the lateral line.
Pike are sit-and-wait ambush predators, mainly relying on the movement of prey fish to provide feeding opportunities. Once prey is within striking distance, pike can accelerate explosively, almost two times faster than rainbow trout. That speed is generated by length and slender body shape, allowing an “S-shaped” burst movement versus the “C-shaped” bursts typical of other sportfish species. As they strike their prey, their large, rear-facing teeth keep fish trapped in their mouth and reduce the chances of prey escaping.
HARD TO SEE
Pike have excellent camouflage, and often use aquatic vegetation to mask their profile as they ambush prey. That is why a thick weed patch can provide such excellent pike fishing, particularly in clear water where cover is most important for hunting success.
When water is turbid and visibility is poor, pike may take advantage of open-water habitats, possibly due to decreased visibility providing cover for targeting pelagic prey (e.g. cisco, mooneye). Overall, pike are extremely adaptable and can use a variety of foraging techniques depending on what habitat and food sources are available to them. For example, pike in deep Canadian Shield lakes containing cisco (tullibee) often forage in deep, offshore habitats, much like a lake trout. Additionally, smaller pike are a prey species themselves, and pike have been reported attempting to consume other pike up to 80 per cent of their own length, though the risk of being cannibalized is reduced once a pike reaches 50 cm (20 inches) in length.
FOOD CHOICES CHANGE
As pike grow, their diet quickly shifts from aquatic insects and small baitfish to feeding on most anything they can fit in their mouths. Yellow perch and white suckers are common nearshore prey for pike. Perch are a particularly important food source for juvenile pike that stay close to shoreline habitat.
However, in systems with offshore habitat, adult pike may opportunistically forage in deep basins, targeting species such as cisco and lake whitefish. As a prey item, cisco and whitefish are excellent pike forage as they reach larger sizes and have higher energy densities than perch and white suckers.
HIGH PROTEIN FORAGE
Cisco provide roughly twice the calories by weight of perch and suckers and are easily swallowed due to their streamline shape and soft fin rays. This high nutritional value may allow pike to reach greater body sizes and better reproductive condition than habitats where pike feed exclusively on perch and suckers. A study published by the University of Manitoba found that the abundance of cisco was positively related to the maximum size of pike in lakes across Ontario. This same study indicated that natural mortality for pike was lower in lakes with higher cisco densities, possibly indicating that cisco provided a surplus of energy that could be allocated to other physiological processes and allow fish to persist and grow in the systems for longer periods.
ECOLOGY
In small, shallow lakes with limited food sources and sub-optimal habitat, pike will exist in high densities, reach sexual maturity at smaller sizes, and “stunt” before reaching sizes that typically are of interest to sport anglers [e.g. 76 cm (30 in) or more]. Stunting can occur due to habitat and food conditions, but also because of angling pressures such as if large mature pike are removed from the population and there is no harvest on the more abundant sub-adult pike. Keep in mind that the only predator to a pike once they reach about 50 cm (20 inches) is other pike or musky (if present), so if all the large pike are removed from a system, there are no predators to regulate and control the increasing population of smaller pike, which can then stunt in a lake. Anglers typically have less desire to fish in stunted pike lakes, particularly if the dominant size class is less than ideal for consumption or sport.
MANAGEMENT
The highest quality pike fisheries will have a diversity of food options and habitat. That’s why some ‘slough lakes’ that lack depth and habitat diversity may never produce large pike but will instead have large numbers of small to medium sized pike. This may be due to adaptations towards a faster life history strategy in lakes with less desirable forage and habitat, meaning pike are maximizing their reproductive output in these systems by growing quickly early in their lives, maturing faster, and consequently having higher natural mortality rates and a lower maximum size. Trade-offs like this are seen in many species and habitats in freshwater, but in the context of pike, it is useful to know that not all individuals will reach trophy sizes, and in some systems it is natural for pike to use this fast life history adaptation. The various life history strategies of pike have important implications when it comes to fish harvest and management.
Angling generally tends to target larger, faster growing fish as they are bolder and more aggressive when it comes to foraging, and thus take lures more readily. When pike are overharvested, the unintended outcome is the removal of faster growing individuals from a population, particularly if there are no size restrictions on the harvest of trophy-sized, mature fish, which are typically 15+ years old. Many anglers have experienced or heard of lakes that have historically produced large pike but now only hold a greater density of smaller fish. The concept of historic overfishing may partially explain this phenomenon in some lakes if many of the older fish were removed from the population and subsequently, the remaining smaller pike will become the spawning stock, potentially decreasing the quality of the fishery in the long term.
From a fisheries management perspective, it is very difficult to re-establish trophy pike fisheries once they are lost, and therefore it is very important to carefully manage and protect trophy pike lakes.
CONSERVATION
Protecting large mature fish in a population is very useful for several reasons. Female pike grow much larger than male pike; in Lac du Bonnet Lake, Manitoba, male pike rarely exceed 70 cm (28 inches), whereas large females often exceed 100 cm (39 inches). This is why maximum length limits are used to protect predominantly mature, spawning females. Allowing trophy females to spawn year after year provides many population-level benefits as these individuals produce superior egg quantity and quality, as well as pass along genetics for good growth potential. The Manitoba Fisheries Branch has proposed new province-wide angling regulations in 2023 for pike in order to maximize these benefits, including setting a provincial maximum size restriction at 75 cm (29.5 inches). These regulations intend to preserve trophy fisheries and promote long-term production; however, they alone are not enough to ensure the preservation of quality pike fisheries.
Anglers play a large role in ensuring the conservation of pike fisheries, particularly when it comes to catch and release fishing. Anglers travel from far and wide for a chance to catch a once-in-a-lifetime pike, researching and scouting for waterbodies that can grow 102+ cm (40+ inches) pike. For anglers fortunate enough to catch one of these monsters, careful and efficient handling is necessary to ensure the fish will survive after it is released. Mortality does sometimes happen after catch and release in every species, but if anglers use best practice and are ready to safely release these giant pike, mortality rates will decrease and trophy fish will have a greater chance to survive, grow, spawn, and be caught again by the next lucky angler. Pike are an iconic Canadian sportfish species and we all play an important role in protecting the future potential of this unique fishery.
Averagee length-at-age of female and male northern pike in Southern Manitoba, based on samples collected from Lake Winnipeg, Lac du Bonnet Lake, and the Winnipeg River (2009-2021). Data for older female and male pike are not shown due to high variation and low sample sizes for these age classes.
| Total Length (in) | Estimated Weight (lbs) |
| 25 | 4.2 |
| 26 | 4.8 |
| 27 | 5.4 |
| 28 | 6.0 |
| 29 | 6.7 |
| 30 | 7.4 |
| 31 | 8.2 |
| 32 | 9.1 |
| 33 | 10.0 |
| 34 | 11.0 |
| 35 | 12.0 |
| 36 | 13.1 |
| 37 | 14.3 |
| 38 | 15.5 |
| 39 | 16.8 |
| 40 | 18.1 |
| 41 | 19.6 |
| 42 | 21.1 |
| 43 | 22.7 |
| 44 | 24.4 |
| 45 | 26.1 |
| 46 | 28.0 |
| 47 | 29.9 |
| 48 | 31.9 |
Estimated average weight of northern pike by length, calculated using a standard weight equation derived from a dataset containing the lengths and weights of 1,281 pike sampled in Lake Winnipeg, Lac du Bonnet Lake, and the Winnipeg River in Southern Manitoba (2009-2021).