Odd color to this pike

[msgdan]

I hit the river in a couple different spots yesterday and landed double digits with the pike and also lost about as many. Nothing big, but 2 just over 30" and one about 36" lost at the kayak trying for a picture. Most were n the mid 20 inch range, but very aggressive ! I was just about to release this pike in the water when I noticed that it had a strange color pattern to it. Took a quick picture and then released.

Almost smooth color with almost no real spots to it.



Danny V

[saxmatt]

That's a hybrid. I've seen a bunch of people post that they thought they caught a hybrid on this site, but almost all of them have been pure pike. You can see the difference in this pic. The hybrids are more of a green color, smaller spots, some vertical barring and there is even a hint of the black line under the eye that pickerel have.

[Jigman13]

That's pretty cool looking specimen ya got there...Nice going man. Lotta action!

[Gatto1227]

That's a cool looking fish. Def a hybrid as you can see the black pickerel line under the eye. Seems to be atleast some sort of reproduction going on with the pike. Very cool. Sluttly pickerel

[ScowardNJ]

It's a Pikeassickerel.

[Rybazłapać]

One of a kind catch. That's one to remember. Great catch.

[NorthJerzyG]

PIKE-EREL!! Very Nice!!

[Eskimo]

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Very interesting.
I wonder if it's capable of breeding or if it's sterile like a Hybrid Striper.

.

[buzzbaiter]

On first glance I thought it was a pickerel. Hybrids are rare by nature. In fact natural reproduction by pike in NJ is rarer than rare. So much so, if the stockings ended, so would the fishery. NJ is outside pikes natural range hence the lack of natural reproduction. What little I found online suggests Pike X pickerel hybridization is rarely successful with little to no fry survival. It is possible however. I catch about one wild tiger trout about every 16 months or 1 in 3000 trout so 1 chainpike out of a few hundred pike caught could make sense.

[saxmatt]

NJ is outside of the pike's natural range because they are an introduced species, just like the largemouth bass. That has nothing to do with reproduction though. Pike can reproduce in a bunch of places they are stocked in NJ, such as Budd lake. Any shallow marshy backwater area with vegatation in the Passaic would be a good place for them to spawn.