Alaska Fly Fish News

	NORTHERN PIKE They are light green to brown on top and sides with a white to yellowish belly. Adults have irregular rows of yellow shaped spots on the side and back. The dorsal and anal fins are far back on the body which is long and streamlined, and the mouth is long and flat with sharp canine teeth on the jaw, upper part of the mouth and its tongue; all teeth pointed inward allowing no chance of escape to all pray. Alaska state record is 38 lbs, but pike up to 20 pounds are common in some rivers, lakes, and sloughs, and fish weighing up to 30 pounds and measuring 4 feet in length have been caught frequently... They live up to 25 years old in calm rivers, lakes and sloughs, and begin to spawn in shallow water after age 3 to 5 years old in early spring right after the ice recedes. Females of 25 to 30 lbs may lay up to 500,000 eggs. They are ferocious carnivores and very cannibalistic; they feed on anything they can swallow, such as frogs, mice, muskrats, ducklings, young salmon and trout, shellfish and especially other pikes and white fish. This fish can stand long periods of starvation during wintertime by using its liquid and glycogen reserves instead of body proteins. The major pike fishing areas are accessible mainly by airplane or riverboat. The Minto Flats area west of Fairbanks is composed of 800 square miles of interconnected lakes, rivers, and sloughs, and contains an abundant pike population as well as the Susitna river & lakes system near Anchorage. Trophy-size pike (over 15 pounds) can be caught in those areas with even larger size pike in the clear water tributaries and sloughs of the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers. Some lakes of the Tanana River system contain populations of pike and receive considerable angling pressure. Pike can be taken with medium action spinning, bait casting, or fly fishing gear and almost any type of hardware will produce a strike. Pike have delicious white flesh, the larger fish allow easy filets with no bones for frying or baking.

NORTHERN PIKE

They are light green to brown on top and sides with a white to yellowish belly. Adults have irregular rows of yellow shaped spots on the side and back. The dorsal and anal fins are far back on the body which is long and streamlined, and the mouth is long and flat with sharp canine teeth on the jaw, upper part of the mouth and its tongue; all teeth pointed inward allowing no chance of escape to all pray. Alaska state record is 38 lbs, but pike up to 20 pounds are common in some rivers, lakes, and sloughs, and fish weighing up to 30 pounds and measuring 4 feet in length have been caught frequently... They live up to 25 years old in calm rivers, lakes and sloughs, and begin to spawn in shallow water after age 3 to 5 years old in early spring right after the ice recedes. Females of 25 to 30 lbs may lay up to 500,000 eggs. They are ferocious carnivores and very cannibalistic; they feed on anything they can swallow, such as frogs, mice, muskrats, ducklings, young salmon and trout, shellfish and especially other pikes and white fish. This fish can stand long periods of starvation during wintertime by using its liquid and glycogen reserves instead of body proteins. The major pike fishing areas are accessible mainly by airplane or riverboat. The Minto Flats area west of Fairbanks is composed of 800 square miles of interconnected lakes, rivers, and sloughs, and contains an abundant pike population as well as the Susitna river & lakes system near Anchorage. Trophy-size pike (over 15 pounds) can be caught in those areas with even larger size pike in the clear water tributaries and sloughs of the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers. Some lakes of the Tanana River system contain populations of pike and receive considerable angling pressure. Pike can be taken with medium action spinning, bait casting, or fly fishing gear and almost any type of hardware will produce a strike. Pike have delicious white flesh, the larger fish allow easy filets with no bones for frying or baking.