pike/pickeral hybrid maybe?????

[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.