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Northern of a different color

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Last Visit: 05/20/2013 12:08AM
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airmorse

07/13/2008 08:51PM

A few weeks ago while fishing on Loon we caught a northern that was colored almost white. It had the same striping but the color did not match other northern. I have caught many many northern's in the BWCAW but have never caught one with this coloring. Any thoughts???

"It's easy to grin when your ship comes in and you think you've got the stock market beat...but a man worth while is a man who can smile when his shorts are to tight in the seat", Judge Smails.

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snakecharmer

07/13/2008 09:34PM

Could have been a mutant - a silver pike.

"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after"
~ Henry David Thoreau

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arctic

07/13/2008 09:46PM

Albino?

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The Great Outdoors

07/13/2008 10:20PM

Could have been a silver pike as suggested, or by your description, striped, possibly a musky???

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dock0048

07/13/2008 11:14PM

Do you have a picture of it?

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airmorse

07/14/2008 01:28AM

Yes I think I have pic's. Not developed yet though. When I get them I will look to see if I took a pic of it.

I do not think that it was a musky.

I have not heard of silver pike. Are they native or were they introduced to the bwca???

Interesting!!!

"It's easy to grin when your ship comes in and you think you've got the stock market beat...but a man worth while is a man who can smile when his shorts are to tight in the seat", Judge Smails.

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snakecharmer

07/14/2008 05:29AM

Silver pike are a mutation - not a subspecies.

"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after"
~ Henry David Thoreau

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marsonite

07/14/2008 06:00AM

The DNR used to list the "silver pike" in their state records. I believe the state record was caught in Disappointment IIRC. Do they still have the category?

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MagicStik

07/14/2008 10:32AM

Could have been a Silver Phase pike but the two that I have caught did not have "pike" markings on them. I'll see if I can attach a pic of one I caught a couple years back.

MagicStik

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MagicStik

07/14/2008 10:47AM

Here is a bigger pic of the fish where you can see the colors and lack of markings a bit better.

MagicStik

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Red Beard

07/14/2008 11:52AM

The DNR website does not list muskie for Loon but all the water up there is connected. One could have found it's way there from another lake.

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mr.barley

07/14/2008 01:22PM

I think East Pike is the only BWCA lake with Muskies. They were stocked there years ago.

Because I'm wearing one and I just did....

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BigLake

07/14/2008 02:47PM

MagicStik,
Cool pictures. It looks like a walleye mated with a northern.

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ILikePike

07/14/2008 04:34PM

BigLake,
i was gonna say the same thing

“Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit” -Edward Abbey

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TomT

07/14/2008 07:28PM

I never knew about silver northerns but it probably explains the one I had on in Eddy lake in 2000. It was a real big one that fought like hell. I had it up to the boat several times but couldn't get him in before he broke the 8Lb test line.

It was like the one in the photos and had an almost light purple cast to it. It was the hardest fighting weirdest looking pike I ever saw. It came completely out of the water 2 times and must have gone over 40 inches. All I wanted was his picture...

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snakecharmer

07/14/2008 10:38PM

The Minnesota state record Silver Phase northern pike is 18 lbs, 14 oz, from Disappointment Lake. A 40+ inch fish might have been in the ballpark.

"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after"
~ Henry David Thoreau

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MagicStik

07/15/2008 08:14AM

BigLake....what are the odds???? Both "Silver Pike" I have seen have come out of Big Lake near Cloquet, MN. :)

MagicStik

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gogo

07/15/2008 12:06PM

Looks like a normal Northern Pike to me. The particular food and water in the area can make fish look very different. The genetics from fish to fish can also make a huge difference, just like it does for people.

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MagicStik

07/15/2008 01:05PM

Here is the normal coloring and pattern of a pike. You can see the silver pike does not have the darker colors and has no pattern at all.

MagicStik

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stubs

07/15/2008 04:11PM

It sounds like the silver pike won't have striping at all. Maybe it was a cross between a silver pike and a normal pike? I guess I don't know if the coloration would mix or if it would just be one or the other.

I've never heard of an albino pike, but I guess anythings possible.

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snakecharmer

07/15/2008 05:34PM

An interesting article on silver pike. (If you like that sort of thing).

"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after"
~ Henry David Thoreau

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BigLake

07/16/2008 12:26PM

"BigLake....what are the odds???? Both "Silver Pike" I have seen have come out of Big Lake near Cloquet, MN. :)"

That is interesting MagicStik. The Big Lake for my name is the one I own property on up the Echo Trail. It would have been too much if it was the one by Cloquet.

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TomT

07/16/2008 05:03PM

Thanks for the article Snakecharmer. :)

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mb2035

07/18/2008 02:56PM

the MN conservation mag. just put out an article in thier lateest issue about some "secret"lake up there that have blue pike.
blue pike

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sasquatch

07/28/2008 04:02PM

I caught 2 very unusual pike on my first trip through the BWCA in 1992. They were small (12-15"), and were silvery-blue with a distinct irridesence. They were shaped just like any Northern or Muskie I have caught.

I am used to seeing lake-to-lake color differences in both pike and bass (small and large mouth) so I thought at the time it was some kind of cross breed that I hadn't seen, never having been in the pristine wilderness before then.

We caught them on the move in a small, unlikely lake in the vicinity of Snowbank, so I don't even know if we shot pictures. I'll look in the old albums to see...

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MagicStik

06/10/2011 01:52PM

Possible new Silver Phase "record" caught on Snowbank....

Duluth News Tribune Article

MagicStik

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Frenchy19

06/10/2011 02:24PM

quote BigLake: "MagicStik,

Cool pictures. It looks like a walleye mated with a northern."

Totally agree; you stole my take!!

"He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious." Yogi Berra

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croixboy96

06/10/2011 02:43PM

Wikipedia has some info on Silver Pike too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_pike

Interesting points; Silver pike, sometimes called silver muskellunge, lack the rows of spots and appear silver, white, or silvery-blue in color. When ill Silver pike have been known to display a somewhat purplish hue, long illness is also the most common cause of male sterility. They have been known to attack swimmers in fresh water.

"Two wrongs don't make a right but three rights make a left." - Ty Webb

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Basspro69

06/10/2011 03:30PM

Could have been a blue pike, I will have to see the picture, also could be silver phase pike.

" I want to know Gods thoughts , The rest are details " Albert Einstein.

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