View Full Version : Pike
I was trolling the west side of the bay between Escanaba and Gladstone on Monday night. I caught 2 small walleyes about 16 inches and one really strange pike. At first I thought it was a victim of a lamprey eel because of a roughly circular wound wound on it's left side but then I turned the fish over and saw an even larger wound on it's other side. Any ideas what happened to this fish? I'm surprised it hit a lure considering it's condition. Sorry for the poor quality pictures, but I really didn't want this fish to bleed all over my boat.
The Bait Shop Guy
05-26-2011, 07:48 PM
Hard to say. It doesn't look like it was attacked by a bigger pike because the wounds don't line up on both sides of the fish. My guess would be that the fish got beat up pretty good while spawning and is still dealing with some infection.
DooFighter
05-26-2011, 10:27 PM
I don't know about your fish. I hope it's not VHS.
More importantly, your boat should wear fish blood like a badge of honor! It is something to be proud of. Scales are good too :)
CaptainKenLee
05-27-2011, 12:00 PM
Looks like "red sore disease"...very common on pike, have seen it many, many times in many bodies of water. Caught lots of them growing up fishing inland lakes in lower Michigan. Infected fish are safe to eat.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/VM/VM05900.pdf
springfield
05-27-2011, 09:22 PM
Ive seen this allot, I tried to post some pictures I had taken but I cant seem to upload them. i talked to a DNR fishery's guy back then, and he said like Ken did that its very common in Pike and no problems to eat them, most common in lakes with a high Pike population.