I've read this quite a bit before ..... and here's how I understand it ....
Pike and Musky loose teeth all the time, and continue to regrow them, they do not, however, loose "all of them" at once (unless there is a disease that would cause that).
This "wives tale" is a convenient excuse for fisherman who consistently have been able to catch pike all year and all of a sudden can't get one to even bite.
There are the few times a year (when the water is turning in spring and again in fall, or during the staging part of the spawn) fish move, become inactive, or hold in transitional areas on thermoclines and not on structure where they are usually found. They can be hard to locate and catch.
There are a few, not uncommon, diseases/viruses/parasites that occur, and reoccur, to pike that do cause the gums to "swell up" and effectively reduce the exposed portion of the tooth making it look like the teeth have shrunken (or are gone in some cases).
Some of these parasites/viruses come and go (kind of like how we humans get a flu or a cold) and are not fatal.
And, when you are feeling sick, you just don't have an appetite.
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