Field guide · 3 species
The pike family gives North America its most dramatic freshwater predators: long, torpedo-shaped ambushers with duckbill jaws full of teeth. The northern pike lives in cold waters right around the Northern Hemisphere, the muskellunge is a North American native and the largest of the family, and the chain pickerel is the smaller eastern cousin of weedy ponds and swamps.
Light spots on a dark body mean pike, dark bars or spots on a light body usually mean muskie, and a chain-link pattern means pickerel.
| Fish | Family | Water | Region | Body shape | Max length | Max weight | Diet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Pike | Pike family | Freshwater | Northern lakes & rivers | Long & slender | 54 in | 63 lb | Carnivore |
| Muskellunge | Pike family | Freshwater | Northern lakes & rivers | Long & slender | 72 in | 70 lb | Carnivore |
| Chain Pickerel | Pike family | Freshwater | Atlantic Coast | Long & slender | 39 in | 9 lb | Carnivore |
The northern pike is a long, toothy ambush predator of cool, weedy water, and one of the few freshwater game fish native to both North America and Eurasia. It strikes spoons and live bait with real violence, bites in every season including through the ice, and big pike are a lifetime goal for anglers from Alaska to Germany.
Read the full guide →No member of the pike family grows bigger than the muskellunge, the apex predator of the clear lakes and big rivers where it lives. Muskies are scarce, enormous and famous for following a lure to the boat and then turning away, which earned them the nickname 'the fish of 10,000 casts' and a devoted catch-and-release culture. The muskie is Wisconsin's state fish.
Read the full guide →The chain pickerel is the pike of the eastern seaboard and the Southeast: a slim, green, toothy ambush predator named for the chain-link pattern on its sides. It rarely tops a few pounds, but it slams spoons, spinners and topwater frogs, keeps biting all winter, and is one of the most common game fish in weedy ponds, swamps and tidal creeks from Maine to Florida.
Read the full guide →Think you could name them from a few clues? A new mystery fish drops every day.
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