Seasons Of Pike & Muskie (2 of 14)

Pike and muskie are a popular sport fish that can be caught throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe. These warm water species are aggressive predators that love to hit lures that resemble bait fish. On a fly rod, they're incredible. From their lightning fast strikes to their explosive fighting abilities, using flies to catch them is a lot of fun.

To start, we should learn a little bit about pike and muskie, their seasonal behavior, and what parts of a river or a lake they relate to at different times of the year. Pike are commonly known as northerns, jacks, gators, and snake fish. They're directly related to muskelunge. Muskies will usually grow a lot larger than pike. Both muskie and pike are the top predators in any body of water. Usually, pike will far outnumber muskies. This really has to do with their spawning times. Pikes spawn right after ice out in shallow water in the spring. Muskie, on the other hand, spawn from two to five weeks later. Thus, juvenile pike fry have a time and size advantage in the first year. Pike fry feed heavily on juvenile muskie. This explains why pike normally outnumber muskie in most water systems.