Ontario-Great Lakes Area Fact Sheets

Northern Pike

General Description

The northern pike is a member of the pike family of fishes and has the following characteristics:

• a long, slender, laterally compressed body;
• a long, broad, flattened snout;
• the dorsal and anal fins are located at the end of the body near the tail;
• the back, upper sides and the top and upper parts of the head are a dark brilliant green through olive-green to almost brown;
• the sides are conspicuously marked with longitudinal rows of yellow to whitish bean-shaped spots;
• the underside is cream to milk-white;
• the dorsal, caudal and anal fins are green to yellow, sometimes orange or pale red, with irregular black markings. The paired fins are buff and usually unmarked.

Distribution

The northern pike is primarily a freshwater fish with a circumpolar distribution in the northern hemisphere. It is one of the few species that is found in rivers and lakes throughout Quebec, Ontario, the Prairie Provinces, the northeast corner of British Columbia, in the Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest Territories.

Habitat and Life History

The northern pike is a cool-water species and its habitat is usually warm, slow, heavily vegetated rivers or the weedy bays of lakes. The northern pike spawns in the spring immediately after the ice melts. The breeding grounds include areas that flood only in the spring and early summer and may be dry the remainder of the year. During spawning, they swim through the vegetated areas of shallow water and the eggs are scattered at random and attach to the vegetation. The eggs hatch in approximately 12 - 14 days and the young remain attached to the vegetation for 6 - 10 days. The young remain in the shallow spawning areas for several weeks after hatching. Young pike feed on larger zooplankton and immature aquatic insects until they reach about 5 cm (2 inches) in length, when fish becomes their main diet. Typically, adult pike do not migrate far from spawning grounds.

Food Habits

Usually solitary and highly territorial, the northern pike lurks at the edge of weed beds and attacks unwary creatures that enter its domain, such as fish, crayfish, frogs, mice, muskrats and young waterfowl. It is an opportunist that can be best described as an omnivorous carnivore, as it feeds on whatever is most readily available.

Economic Importance

In most areas of Canada, the northern pike is both a commercial fish and a sport fish, while in other areas it is considered a nuisance because it devours large numbers of other game fish such as trout, bass and perch.

Anglers enjoy pike as they are aggressive fighters.

The northern pike is an excellent food fish, which is marketed fresh and frozen.

Fishing Facts

The hybrid of the northern pike and muskellunge is known as the "tiger muskellunge".

Further Information

For further information, please contact your local DFO office: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/oceans-habitat/habitat/aboutus-apropos/regions/arctic-arctique_e.asp?#1