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Old 05-28-2017, 04:46 PM
the local angler the local angler is offline
 
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Default pike colouration

is there a difference in colouration for pike? got these at pine coulee and never noticed before as i normally don't target pike.
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Old 05-28-2017, 04:59 PM
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is there a difference in colouration for pike? got these at pine coulee and never noticed before as i normally don't target pike.
I will say, if you simply asked me to look at those fish and identify the species I would have said top one is a pike and the bottom two are tigers (tiger musky).

A tiger musky is a hybrid of a northern pike and musky and they often have stripes like that and are, often, quite light in coloration.

As there are no known tigers in pine coulee, it may be a mutation of the pigmentation maybe.

It's also not uncommon for Pike to become "bleached of pigmentation" is the fish is too warm after catching it (like putting it in a black trash bag and resting it in the sun). I have seen that before too.

A closer look of the pores under the jaw (count them) may be a good clue. I can't remember the exact count it's one of those definitive identifying characteristics which differ from pike to musky.

Because pigmentation (and the mutations and variations are common) you can never use coloration or appearance as definitive proof of species.
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Old 05-28-2017, 05:01 PM
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Were the bottom two left dead on a stringer in the water for a while by chance.
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Old 05-28-2017, 05:15 PM
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they're not musky they're just pike who haven't gone sun tanning yet
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Old 05-28-2017, 05:40 PM
the local angler the local angler is offline
 
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all 3 were caught within an hour and on a stringer in the water then on ice when i left 3 hours later.
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Old 05-28-2017, 05:53 PM
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all 3 were caught within an hour and on a stringer in the water then on ice when i left 3 hours later.
Were they colored normally when you caught them? To me it just looks like pike that have been stored in water dead to long.
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Old 05-28-2017, 06:04 PM
the local angler the local angler is offline
 
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no i caught the medium sized one first bonked it on the head and onto the stringer and into the water then the biggest one same thing bonked it on the head and so on. thats when i noticed when i was putting them on the stringer when i had the big one and the medium sided by side i noticed the colouration difference. at first i thought maybe the females and males have slight differences in colour but i just filleted them and all were males.
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Old 05-28-2017, 08:36 PM
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the two smaller ones are still in their young young stage, where the larger has gained his stripes so to speak.
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Old 05-28-2017, 10:45 PM
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yeah that sounds logical, sorta like various trout spots, strips and colour changing with the age of the fish.
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Old 05-29-2017, 07:31 AM
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Quote:
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no i caught the medium sized one first bonked it on the head and onto the stringer and into the water then the biggest one same thing bonked it on the head and so on. thats when i noticed when i was putting them on the stringer when i had the big one and the medium sided by side i noticed the colouration difference. at first i thought maybe the females and males have slight differences in colour but i just filleted them and all were males.
You don't bonk a fish and then put it on a stringer...

If you are going to bonk them bonk them then immediately slice their gills and once they have bled out throw them on ice in a cooler.

If you are going to use a stringer leave the fish live. When you bonk them then put them on a stringer they just start decomposing faster.
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Old 05-29-2017, 08:10 AM
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Checking back on this thread ..... interesting how pigmentation works on Pike and always curious why this happens .... clearly Pine Coulee (or any other lake in Alberta) does not have any Tigers but man they look pretty darn close.

Here's a interesting link ..... the ones you caught look just like them .... Slides 27 and slide 28 are Tigers.

http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/home/De...=605&FishID=94

Either way ..... always cool to see pigment variations.
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Old 05-29-2017, 08:23 AM
couleefolk couleefolk is offline
 
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Looks to me more like the two lighter ones were travelling together from warmer water somewhere. We often notice that our northerns are different colors, from light to dark, from green to gray. One lake we fish they even have a brownish color to them. One of the dams we fish, we have also had northerns with stripes running horizontally along the fish, while the next one had vertical stripes.
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Old 05-29-2017, 05:51 PM
the local angler the local angler is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RavYak View Post
You don't bonk a fish and then put it on a stringer...

If you are going to bonk them bonk them then immediately slice their gills and once they have bled out throw them on ice in a cooler.

If you are going to use a stringer leave the fish live. When you bonk them then put them on a stringer they just start decomposing faster.
well my reasoning for this bonking then putting them on a stringer was i wasn't planning on staying there for a long period of time. a couple hours at the most kind of a run and gun fishing i was doing. i didn't have the ice with me on shore so i left them in the water mainly just to keep them as cool as possible. some other fisherman have lectured me on keeping them on a stringer alive is making the fish suffer bla bla bla bla so at the time i figured this was best.
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Old 05-29-2017, 05:54 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EZM View Post
Checking back on this thread ..... interesting how pigmentation works on Pike and always curious why this happens .... clearly Pine Coulee (or any other lake in Alberta) does not have any Tigers but man they look pretty darn close.

Here's a interesting link ..... the ones you caught look just like them .... Slides 27 and slide 28 are Tigers.

http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/home/De...=605&FishID=94

Either way ..... always cool to see pigment variations.
wow 24 +28 was cool looking, thanks for that link very interesting about the pours underneath the jaw.
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Old 05-29-2017, 06:28 PM
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Honestly, I've seen lots of fish that looked like that growing up. My Dad was not well versed in keeping fish fresh, the stringer was left in the water for hours. the fish that died looked like that. Someone who looks after his fish would probably never see that. I've had experience with not looked after fish, I hated eating fish. My first shore lunch with coworkers when I started working was an eye opener. Fresh, looked after fish were delicious, I researched as much as I could before the web was here, and looked after my catch after that experience.
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Old 05-29-2017, 06:39 PM
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I caught a purple pike about ten years ago. No spots just a shiny purple. I sure did a double take when I pulled it out of the hole.
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Old 05-29-2017, 08:10 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by the local angler View Post
well my reasoning for this bonking then putting them on a stringer was i wasn't planning on staying there for a long period of time. a couple hours at the most kind of a run and gun fishing i was doing. i didn't have the ice with me on shore so i left them in the water mainly just to keep them as cool as possible. some other fisherman have lectured me on keeping them on a stringer alive is making the fish suffer bla bla bla bla so at the time i figured this was best.
Take ice or leave them live and bonk/bleed just before you leave.

Lecture those fishermen on fish quality the next time they give you grief. Leaving fish to stew in warm temps is not good for meat quality or safety.
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Old 05-29-2017, 08:17 PM
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i've always bonked them but have never bled them before do you noticed a big difference in the taste of the meat?
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Old 05-29-2017, 08:32 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by the local angler View Post
i've always bonked them but have never bled them before do you noticed a big difference in the taste of the meat?
There is a bit of a difference in the taste and a big difference in cleanup. When you bleed a fish you cut the fillets off and they come off clean and a quick rinse and you are done. If you don't bleed them then the blood runs all over the place and it takes a lot more rinsing to try and get the meat clean and often it is still stained with a bit of blood. Try it out, you will be converted.
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Old 05-29-2017, 08:35 PM
the local angler the local angler is offline
 
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sounds good man i will try that next time. thanks
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  #21  
Old 05-29-2017, 08:37 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by the local angler View Post
sounds good man i will try that next time. thanks
Here is a video showing difference on some walleye. Exactly what you will notice when you try it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeOrP6Q_MWM
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Old 05-29-2017, 09:05 PM
the local angler the local angler is offline
 
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wow quite the colour difference. now i can't wait to try it out.
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