Baby ski or pike?

[wanger29]

Caught this in a spot which has neither. Shoot me your thoughts on what it is.

[Loos15]

wow coool. looks like baby ski...

[DHanson]

It's too young to know for sure. Pike can look like muskies when they are in the fingerling stage and vice versa. I know it looks like a muskie, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess pike, just because pike are in just about every pond or lake that has any fish existence whatsoever, and muskies, well, they are a rarity as far as how many lakes and rivers they live in.

[nicolas hanson]

Thats a muskie

[wanger29]

I wish I had a better camera. The coloring was that of a young ski. But yeah, pretty young fish. I stated in another report how it was too small and jumpy to count or see spores

[b1gf1sh1]

thicker dark markings, thinner light markings = esox lucius

thinner dark markings, thicker light markings = esox masquinogy or esox masqui-lucius

you be the judge.

... also a pure muskie fingerling has a cream colored stripe on the back, and from what i know a tiger may or may not have one and be dark olive green on the back like a pike.

[Esox_Magnum]

Hard to tell when their that small but looks like a tiger. Catch it in a few more years and we'll know for sure

[JRedig]

I'd guess a pure or tiger.

[rodmaker]

Looks like a 'ski to me

[BoxMN]

I sent a pic that looked just like that to the DNR to ask if I had a muskie in my little lake, and he answered that it was a pike, that they look just like that when small. There is a bar on the back, top, and I can't recall if it has the bar if its a pike or ski, but that was the main thing he said is the difference. I wish I still had the pic, but can't find it. Cool little guy either way though!

[Dano_the_jigasaurus]

the only way to actually tell the difference between the two that young is to check the jaw pores on the underside, pike will have 10 or less pores and a musky will typically have 15-18 pores (but can range (12-20)).

tight lines

dan

[b1gf1sh1]

heres a pic of a muskie fingerling, note the wider light, thinner dark lines. can't see the top but theres a cream colored stripe on top. based on the pictures above, i see a dark olive green top, that is a northern pike. of course i'm assumeing it was caught here and not out east. i don't know jack about pickerel fingerlings.

on a side note, i got a couple nice pike and about a 41-42 inch muskie this morning.

[b1gf1sh1]

i did a little more searching and found these. pretty different really.

[Nick Kuhn]

It's a pike. The size of the spots on a northern stay pretty much the same their whole lives. When they are that small, they tend to be vertical and start to stretch out horizontally as the fish gets bigger.

[Tippman]

I agree about it being a pike.

[SkeezerLeo]

yes, small pike

[wanger29]

Cool! Very interesting info, thanx for looking that up for me.

[mrklean]

im gonna have to agree after seeing those other pics its a pike