210 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[li'ML 2, 1891. 



THE PIKE FAMILY.-I. 



THIS family contains some of the best known and 

 most widely distributed of all the fresh-water fishes. 

 The name is derived from that of its commonest; repre- 

 sentative, the pike of the North Temperate and A rctio 

 regions of the world. It includes some of the largest and 

 most formidable inhabitants of inland waters, the pike 

 and tlie mascalonge being exceeded in size by few of 

 their associates except some memhera of the salmon 

 family, the giant catfishes, the alligator gar and the 

 sturgeons. The family contains, also, some diminutive 

 representatives, as for example, the banded pickerel. 



Abundant remains of the common pike (Esox liicius) 

 are found in quaternary deposits, and members of the 

 same genus have been 

 found fossil in the fresh- 

 water chalk, of Oeningen 

 and the Dil avian marl of 

 Silesia. 



The pikes are formid- 

 able in the number and 

 wide distribution of their 

 teeth. The roof of the 

 mouth contains a middle 

 row and two side rows, 

 the tongue and pharynx 

 are both well armed, and 

 even the gill arches bristle 

 with teeth in card -like 

 plates, while the sides of 

 the lower jaw have a row 

 of long pointed teeth of 

 unequal size. The capacity 

 of these fishes for seizing 

 and holding their prey is 

 remarkable. 



The pikes have a wide 

 and plaited stomach, 

 -which passes insensibly 

 into a slender intestine, 

 the latter being without 

 appendages where it joins 

 the stomach. Digestion 

 in these fish is extremely 

 rapid and in keeping with 

 their savage powers of 

 grasping food. 



We will now take a 

 glance at the various 

 members of this preda- 

 ceous family, of which 

 om- own country has the 

 lion's share. 



The Pike {Esox hicius). 



This fish is known in 

 some localities as the pick- 

 erel. The name pickerel 

 is in general use on Lake 

 George, N.Y., and in V er- 

 mont and some other New 

 England States. Herbert 

 (Frank Forrester) calls it 

 the great northern pick- 

 erel. The origin of the 

 name pike is in doubt, 

 opinions being divided as 

 to whether it is derived 

 from the resemblance of 

 its snout to a pike or spear, 

 or because of the swift 

 and spear-like motion of 

 its body through the 

 water. In Great Britain 

 the young pike is best 

 known under the name ef 

 jack, although the name 

 pickerel has also been ap- 

 plied to the early stage of 

 this fish, while the term 

 luce has been bestowed 

 upon the adult form. To 

 the French our pike is the 

 brocket, while the Ger- 

 mans style it heeht, and 

 the Italians hcccio. 



Distribution. — The pike 

 is found in the North 

 Temperate and Arctic 

 regions of the world, be- 

 ing equally common in 

 Europe, Asia and North 

 America. In North Amer- 

 ica it occurs as far south 



as Pennsylvania, while to the northward it extends into 

 the Arctic regions. Dr. George M. Dawson, Assistant 

 Director of the Canadian Geological Survev. obtained 

 the pike in Francis Lake, Northwest Territory. Dr. 

 Dall and Mr. E. W. Nelson both found it to be one of the 

 common inhabitants of the Yukon Eiver, in Alaska, 

 where it is known as the ehiiJc-ivhuk. Mr. C. H, Towns- 

 end obtained a fine pike in the Kuwuk Eiver, which falls 

 into Hotham Inlet above the Arctic Circle. This fish 

 does not appear to exist on the islands of the Arctic 

 Ocean and in Greenland. A few years ago the writer 

 announced the capture of this species on the island of 

 Kadiak, in Alaska, by Mr. W. J. Fisher, but in the 

 summer of 1889 he learned from Mr. Fisher that the 

 specimens sent down by him from Kadiak were caught 

 on the Alaska Peninsula. 



The pikes, according to Thompson, Natural History of 

 Vermont, 1842, is very common in Lake Champlain and 

 all its larger tributaries. In this region and throughout 

 Canada the name pike is bestowed because of the resemb- 

 lance between our species and the common iDike of Eng- 

 land. Dr. Richardson, as early as 1836, imblished his 

 belief in the identity of the pike of America and Europe, 

 based upon a comparison of the two made by Baron 

 Cuvier. la the report of the Fish Commissioners of 

 Pennsylvania, for 1879 to 1880, an eminent American 

 zoologist claims to have been the first to show that the 

 common pike of America is identical wjth the EJui-ppea^ 



pike. The following quotation from Richardson, how- 

 ever, will show that this claim is untenable: ''Our speci- 

 men, taken in Lake Huron, was submitted to Cuvier's 

 inspection, and it has also been carefully compared with 

 English pike without any specific differ-enees having 

 been detected." 



Size. — The limit of size of this species is involved in 

 some uncertainty. By reference to Goode's "American 

 Fishes,"' we find that Continental Europe is credited by 

 one author with an individual weighing I451b3., wliich 

 was caught at Bregenty in 1862. A Scotch specimen 

 weighing 721bs. and measuring over 7ft., appears to be 

 the largest of the monsters of Britain. No such mam- 

 moth specimens have been recorded from American 

 waters. Thompson mentions individuals exceeding 30in. 

 in length and weighing 10 or 121bs. Herbert speaks of 

 examples weighing 16 or ITlbs. 



One of the crowning glories of Lake George is its 

 "pickerel." Tlianks to the help of Dr. Presbrey, from 



LAKE GEOJRGE 'PICKEREL. 



whom we have the hes i of an enormous specimen which 

 he killed on a 13o2. rod. in 1889, we were able to identify 

 the "pickerer' of Lake George as the common pike of 

 other waters (Esox hiciiis). Dr. Presbrey's fish weighed 

 161bs. 2oz., and Avas the largest one taken in 1889. Major 

 H. A. Hall, of Washington, D. C, was one of a party 

 that took over thirty pike in 1889, averaging OA'^er lOlbs. 

 each. The illustration accompanying this sketch was 

 made from a small photograj)h presented to us by Dr. 

 Presbrey, and I'epresents one of the famous catches of 

 the year 1889 in Lake George. The largest was upward 

 of 4ft. long, but the average length of adults is little 

 more than 2ft. 



Season. — Pike are caught during the summer and even 

 into midwinter. The fishing season usually begins June 

 1 and ends in some States Dec. 1, but in many of the 

 States continues through the winter. Pennsylvania has 

 prohibited the catching of pike and pickerel between 

 Dec. 1 and June 1, in order to prevent the destruction of 

 the fish during then- spawning season. 



Food. — The pike is carnivorous and destroys all animals 

 of suitable size within its reach, including waterfowl, 

 aquatic mammals and especially its associates among the 

 fishes. 



iTabiis.— Notwithstanding the special adaptation of the 

 pike for swift darting movements it inhabits still, cold 

 waters, or those with a moderate current rather than 

 rapid sfcreaija8» It oonyeals itself like the tiger in its lair, 



and darts upon its prey with unerring precision. Its dis- 

 position is wolf-like and its power of assimilating animal 

 food is scarcely surpassed. The species are not gregarious 

 and pair only during the breeding season. As an illus- 

 tration of the voracity of these fish we may repeat the 

 following account quoted by Dr. Jordan in the ' Z jology 

 of Ohio": "E. T. Sturtevant once put two pickerel, about 

 5in. long, with a great quantity of little cyprinoids of 

 about lin. in length. These two pickerel ate 122 min- 

 nows the first day, 130 the second day, and 150 the third 

 day." 



Reproduction and Orowth.— The pike spawns in the 

 winter and early spring. The eggs are about J-in. in 

 diameter, and a female weighing 33lbs., according to 

 Buckland, contained 595,000, weighing 51bs. The eggs 

 are deposited in shoal places or upon meadows which 

 have been overflowed. The period of incubation ranges 

 from fourteen days in southern Germany to thirty days 

 in Sweden and other northern countries. The yolk Ba.c 

 of this species is remark- 

 a.bly large. According to 

 Seely the pike breeds 

 when three years old, and 

 the female is the larger of 

 the two sexes. The rate 

 of growth, of course, de- 

 pends upon the amount 

 of food available. At the 

 age of a year it may at- 

 tain to a length of 1ft. 

 and its annual increase of 

 weight is said to be from 

 2 to 31bs. 



Food Qucdities. — The 

 flesh of tlie pike is fairly 

 good, but the species does 

 not ran k am ong th e ch oice 

 game fishes m most Iccal- 

 ities. 



Game Qualities, — From 

 what has betn stated 

 abouttheshapeand swift- 

 ness of this fish it would 

 be inferred that its game 

 qualities are superior. 

 There are some writers 

 who consider it equal in 

 boldness and voracity to 

 the mascalonge. It bites 

 very freely and can be 

 caught with any kind of 

 bait by trolling or .spin- 

 ning, or on lines set under 

 the ice. Favorite bails 

 are live minnows and 

 frogs. Dr. II e n s li a 1 1 

 states that members of 

 the pike family will rise 

 to a large and gaudy fiy. 

 The best method of catch- 

 ing them in Lake George 

 is by still- fishing in 35 to 

 40ft. of water with live 

 bait, for which purpose 

 the white chub is a gen- 

 eral favorite. T H. B. 



Two Fish With one 

 Hook —Allegheny City, 

 Pa., March 26.— In your 

 issue of July 10, 1890, I 

 noticnd an article headed, 

 *'Two Fish on One Hook," 

 which reminds me of a 

 similar tale, and I can 

 vouch for its truthfulness. 

 Some years ago my father 

 while fishing in the Ma- 

 honing River, this State, 

 set his rod in a pkifl; and 

 went to a small stream 

 near by in quf st of bait. 

 When he returned he 

 found the line all run off 

 the rtel, and while taking 

 it up was turpiised to see 

 a good sized black bass 

 rise by the side of the 

 boat with line attached; 

 as it made no effort to 

 escape he captured it by 

 hand. In lifting it into 

 the boat he noticed the 

 line extended through the 

 fish's gills and also felt a 

 tug at the hook end. By 

 hauling in the line he 

 succeeded in landing the 

 second bass, which was 

 somewhat smaller than the first. Upon examination he 

 found that the first fish had allowed the bait, a live min- 

 now, to pass tlrrough its gills, and consequently found 

 itself strung on the line. In its effort to escape it had in 

 some manner moved up the line 10 or 12ft, from the hook 

 and formed a loop which, when drawn taut over its head 

 snugly held it. During this act, or after, the second bass 

 took the minnow with the hook attached, and suffered 

 capture for his i-ashness. If I remember correctly the 

 first fish weighed 2^ and the second 21bs. Father told us 

 the story that evening as we picked the bones of the two 

 black bass that he had taken in such a peculiar manner. 

 I think they were large-mouthed. — O. H. P. R. 



A Census oj? the Fisheries.— Early in the year 1890, 

 the Superintendent of the Eleventh Census provided, 

 iiiter alia, for a review of the fisheries, and placed in 

 charge of this inquiry a person of reputed skill in figures 

 and fishery details, Mr. Charles W. Smiley. After fifteen 

 months of field and office work, involving an outlay of 

 §150.000, Mr. Smiley has been suspended from duty 

 pending an investigation of charges preferred against 

 him, one of which is that the statistics collected under 

 his direction are entirely worthless. Yet he has found 

 time to take an active part in the recent malicious attack 

 on the Fish Commission, which resulted so disastrously to 

 the reputation of those who brought the charges, and 

 demoaetrated the uniform, disrespect of Stniley for hifn 



