Pike - Esox Lucius


PickeralThe Pike is known worldwide, a species of the family Esocidae, have been around on the Earth for at least 80 million years. Until relatively late in time Esox lucius evolved and spread across the upper latitudes of the northern hemisphere to North America by means of the Bering Strait land bridge. This had been under the ocean since the drifting apart of the continents began around 60-70 million years ago, but the ice age of the Pleistocene epoch caused a lowering of sea levels making the land bridge possible again. Back in 1980 a fossilised skeleton of Esox was discovered in Canada, which dated from at least 62 million years ago.


Pike size readings scale The monascale link will give you some indication on the weight per size that Pike can attain given the right water & conditions to thrive in, but cannot be an exact science due to unforeseen preyfish, surroundings, circumstances and living environment.


As the North American continent gradually drifted closer to the North Pole, another species evolved which was more tolerant of the colder conditions, and this eventually became the Northern pike, Esox lucius. This ties in well with the situation, which is to be found in North America today where the Muskellunge has a more southerly distribution within the continent than the Northern pike does.


In Europe and Asia, Esox lucius had to wait until the Ice Age before it could spread out and become truly circumpolar in distribution, but from a North American source not a Eurasian one ! The earliest pike fossils found in Britain, were discovered in the Cromer Forest beds at West Runton in Norfolk, and were found to be approximately half a million years old. These have been identified as Esox lucius, the same species that is to be found here in Britain today. This would tend to refute the often quoted myth, and popular legend that pike were introduced into the British mainland by the monks at some point in time after the Romans came. The discovery of these fossils alone does not in itself prove an unbroken line of pike existence in Britain.


Pike leapingProof came with the discovery of pike (Esox lucius) fin rays and bones at a peat site near Skipsea on the Yorkshire coast, which dated from the pre-Roman period. As these items were found together with harpoon heads we can only deduce that our ancestors hunted pike because they were indeed an indigenous species. These pike (Esox lucius) are believed to have originally found their way into Britain via the North Sea, when the River Thames was a tributary of the River Rhine. Once again this land bridge was made possible by the much lower sea levels caused by the vast amounts of water being held in the glaciers, which covered great parts of the northern hemisphere.


In Ireland the story is very different with much of the evidence pointing to the fact that pike were introduced by the monks around the fourteenth century. The pikes appetite has been the inspiration for many an old wives tale, throughout history, most of man's dealings with Esox have been dominated by myth, superstition and his resulting fear. The pike is depicted as vermin to some fisheries, and so the legend of the water wolf, the pond tyrant, etc, begun. Man's knowledge of the natural world expanded over time and almost all of the myths, and half-truths have been laid to rest by scientific research. Even with all the weighted proof the pike still commands disrespect & persecution. Many people still prefer to believe the fairy tales passed down by old stories from generation to generation. Stories continue to fester of the pike who devour dogs, ducks and swans, while there is a little truth that pike do on occasion take ducklings, rats and voles, it should be stressed that these make up less than 1% of their total food intake.


Pike capturedPike are opportunist feeders, feeding on what is most common and easiest to catch, on most waters, this will be the resident shoals of coarse fish which reside in them. In places fish migration takes a part, such as an influx of eels, and salmon on their spawning runs, to suffer a degree of predation, but these are special circumstances and the majority of predation will be on the resident coarse fish. Claims that pike eat all the fish are unfounded, as this would soon result in the demise of the species. Pike or any other predator are not part of ecology solely for the benefit of itself, but it does have an important role to play in the well being of the entire ecosystem of which it is an integral part. The main occasion when there will be problems with the balance between predator and prey is when man interfere's, he usually does this by culling pike in the mistaken belief that it will improve his fishery in some way. What usually happens is that the bigger pike are removed leaving the smaller Jack pike to over populate the waters with little or no enemy to stop them. The simple fact is that the Larger pike will attack and eat their smaller ones, giving a natural balance to the fishery. If the smaller Jack pike are allowed to remain in the fisheries this has an immediate knock on effect whereby overfeeding on the coarse fish and trout fry occurs, which depletes the future stocks of these fish. This scenario can and often does happen relatively quickly, usually within 2 to 4 years.


Pike emerging from weedPike lead solitary lives, hiding patiently and well-camouflaged in snags, weed or reeds waiting for the preyfish, they have tremendous surges of speed, with the dorsal and anal fins set well back near the tail, enabling the fish to propel itself from its ambush site with frightening speed. There are several documented cases of pike choking to death after attempting to eat another pike of almost the same size as themselves, the bigger pike (all females) are well known to turn to scavenging. They will take dead, dying, or diseased fish and so fulfil a vital role in maintaining a healthy fishery.


Spawning takes place in shallow weedy water during the early spring, timing of the spawning process is dictated entirely by water temperature, requiring a temp of around 43°F. In most years pike spawn in March to early April, but can occur at any time from late February until late May. Spawning this way helps ensure that events such as sudden floods, low water conditions cannot wipe out a whole years spawn in one go. The large females swim along quietly, followed by between 2 and 4 smaller Jack pike (males), they swim very close by shedding eggs and milt as they go, this means that their milt sets up a cloud just in front of the females vent ensuring that a good proportion of the eggs become fertilised. The success rate is roughly 50%, but further predation from other fish and birds bring this number down drastically and less than 0.1% of the eggs laid, survive to become mature fish. The big females on completion of the spawning do devour a number of these small male jack pike. Pike become sexually mature around their second or third year, but size rather than age is the primary factor, the amount of eggs laid depends on the size of the fish. A 3lb pike could lay 35,000 eggs, but a 28lb pike can lay 300,000. Temperature is critical in determining the rate at which the eggs will develop, at 43°F the eggs can take approx 26 days to hatch, but if the water temp reaches 68°F, then they can take 5 days. When the young hatch, they are approx 1 cm long, with no mouth or gill openings, they spend the first 8 to 12 days hanging vertically from aquatic plants, feeding on their yolk-sacs, until their development is complete. Eventually the body elongates and the mouth and gill openings form, next the fish begin to grow and take form, then the small pike adopts a horizontal stance, and begins feeding on plankton. Shortly after the development of the fins occur, and the pike becomes fully developed, feeding on larvae. Should food be in short supply, then a fair degree of predation on its own kind (cannibalism) occurs. The small pike will now spend much of its time hiding in weed beds, even hiding from it's own larger pike, and to protect itself from predatory water beetles.


The distinguished striped pattern of the pike only occurs for the first few years of its life, the pattern breaks up into the more familiar spots later on, although saying this, it is not always so, as I caught a pike of 26lb which kept the striped pattern. You can view it on the Pike Photos page. When the pike has reached two years old, it will be feeding almost exclusively on fish, dependant on the availability of food, quality of food, and competition for food in any given water. Pike actually grow for between 10 and 15 of a possible 25 years, but the maximum age is difficult, because as a fish approaches maximum size its growth slows down and eventually stops. The maximum weight achieved by Esox lucius, has been the subject of great debate and speculation, historically weights of up to 90lb's have been mentioned but realistically 55-60lb is probably nearer the mark. The nearest authenticated photo is a 58lb 6oz pike from Grarup Lake in Denmark. The majority of really big pike (50 lb+) come from mainland Europe and is thought to be, because the weather conditions in winter are more stable. Looking at the British climate which is very unsettled, which in turn does not allow pike the same scope for settled winter-feeding. Similarly in Scotland, the largest pike authenticated, was a 47 lb 11 oz fish caught by Tommy Morgan on Loch Lomond in 1945, which stood as the official British Record for 20 years before a highly political decision was taken to remove it.