how old do you think a 32 inch pike is?

[ZEEK1223]

I was fishing with my dad, and caught a 32 incher. We proceeded to argue as to its age. Could anyone clear this up for me. I thought it was maybe 5-7 years and he thought 15-16 years. Any help to one up my father would be great.

[AWH]

Found this elsewhere to use as a general guideline.

 Quote:

Northern Pike growth rates (larger view below) vary with lake type and forage base. Lakes with a wide variety of good forage fish will grow Pike faster and larger than lakes with average forage. In stunted lakes (yellow line), Pike grow for a few years, but age and die quickly from the constant struggle to find enough to eat.

Aaron

[ZEEK1223]

very nice....thanks

[Nick Kuhn]

In most lakes it doesn't take them long to reach that size. Pike are just too willing to bite and many are harvested before they ever reach 30".

[Hammer Handle]

I assume this chart is for female northerns, right?

Male northerns typically do not get real big.

[brmuskie]

Actually, I would guess that the chart is an average growth rate for all northerns male and female. I am not sure where this chart came from but in some of the field studies that have been done, scale samples are used for age determination and the sex is unknown. The result is a large database of length to age comparisons where the results can be used with a certain degree of accuracy.

[Nick Kuhn]

Male and Female will grow similarly up until about 30 inches. From there the females continue to grow larger, up to about 50 inches. Males will max out at about 40, if there is adequate resources in the water. I would imagine these numbers could be quite a bit smaller for lakes that lack cisco, suckers, or big perch.