188 NORTHERN FISHES 



obnoxious because of its slime and its voracity, it ranks high as a game 

 fish, for it offers great resistance and fight when hooked. 



Northern pike are occasionally caught by still-fishing when live min- 

 nows are used for bait. However, trolling and casting, with plugs, spoons, 

 or live minnows as bait, are. the most successful methods of fishing for 

 them. They are often speared through the ice in winter. 



Northern pike spawn in the spring immediately after the ice melts. 

 They may ascend small streams or move into the flooded grassy mar- 

 gins of lakes, where they deposit their eggs, which hatch in about tw^o 

 weeks. Spawning in Minnesota and Wisconsin usually occurs in April 

 or early May. A large female may deposit over 100,000 eggs. A 6-year- 

 old female 26 inches long and weighing about 4 pounds had nearly 

 60,000' eggs in the ovaries. The young northern pike feed the first week 

 or two on tiny water fleas and small aquatic insects, but they are soon 

 ready for a fish diet. They feed at first on small fish fry, such as young 

 suckers, which are hatched at about the same time and in the same 

 place. If there is a scarcity of food they readily resort to cannibalism. 

 Northern pike are easily propagated artificially and considerable num- 

 bers are produced in the hatcheries of some of the northern states, al- 

 though cannibalistic habits render the rearing of fingerlings difficult. 



In recent years a striking variation (Figure 32A) of the northern 

 pike has appeared in several places in northern Minnesota. This variant 

 has the morphological characters of E. liicius but lacks spots or other 

 markings. The body is usually colored a dark silver or gray, sometimes 

 flecked with gold. The fins are finely speckled with black. The opercle 

 is scaled on the upper half only and the cheek is entirely scaled. Occa- 

 sionally specimens with faint light spots on the caudal peduncle, iden- 

 tical with the caudal markings of E. hicius, have been found. The total 

 numl)er of pores on both ventral surfaces of the mandible does not 

 exceed 10. The writers have never seen specimens weighing over 10 

 pounds. 



This fish was first observed about 1930 in Lake Belletaine near Nevis, 

 Minnesota, where it is common. The local fishermen report that it did 

 not appear in their catches until about that year. It was named "silver 

 muskellunge" by the fishermen, though it is undoubtedly related to 

 E. hicius rather than to E. masquinongy. For several j'cars this fish and 

 the true muskellunge have been propagated in the Nevis Hatchery and 

 planted in nearby lakes, and consequently it has become fairly wide- 

 spread. 



A specimen of this fish has been collected from Detroit Lakes, where 

 none have been planted. A report of its occurrence in a Lake County 

 lake has been received. Many specimens have been reared at the Uni- 

 versity of Minnesota, some to 3 years of age. Apparently they breed 

 true, for all the offspring are marked like the parents. When they are 

 crossed \\'ith the northern pike the resulting hybrids have a peculiar 



