pike/pickeral hybrid maybe?????

[saxmatt]

Most of the pics I've seen posted of fish that people think are pike/pick hybrids are pure pike, but that one could be a hybrid. Pike can have vertical barring like that but hybrids tend to have more of an emrald green coloration like the fish you posted. The fins also look a little different than a pike's and there is a hint of the black line pickerel have around their eyes.

[flyboy1]

Ive sent the pic to the NJ-FW dept so we will find out... they usually reply to me with in a week...

[Gatto1227]

http://www.worldfishingnetwork.com/n...pe-235475.aspx looks pretty similar to me

[Skunk City]

Cool catch....in to hear what the State has to say. I'm assuming it was caught in NJ?

[flyboy1]

Wow, recieved a reply within a few hours..... here it is...

Hey Billy

Best I can figure it’s a few year old northern pike. We have been getting a lot of emails from anglers with similar looking photos. Seems that it takes about 3 to 4 years for the vertical bars to break out into individual spots. Looks like your fish has started this breakup and most likely by fall will look like a northern. It also looks like that fish has a genetic or nutritional problem going on. A very low percentage of our stocked fish have this look every couple of years.

Thanks for checking in with us and enjoy some more great fishing this summer.

Craig Lemon
Superintendent
Hackettstown State Fish Hatchery
23 Reese Ave
Hackettstown, NJ 07840
908-852-4950
Fax 908-852-6630
hatchery0@verizon.net


**** I did receive another email response from another fish biologist who thinks it may be a Tiger Musky... but he needs more info on where it was caught....

[saxmatt]

Do you have a clear picture? That one looks like a pic of a pic. I've probably seen over 10,000 pike and pickerel between the ones I've caught and ones I've sampled and stocked when I used to work for the fisheries division of the Connecticut DEP and I still think it's a hybrid, but it's tough to tell on with that pic. Vermont fish and game did a study on hybrids in Lake Champlain, here is a picture of a hybrid they genetically tested. The barring can break up into spots when they get older just like a pike. The one in the middle is an older hybrid where the barring has broken apart, notice the difference in coloration.



Here is a pike I caught with barring that had just broken up for comparison. Big difference in the color both on the body and the fins.

[saxmatt]

Here's another good hybrid pic