monster pike swimming with head out of water

[vinnimon]

From a distance I figured it was 2 turtles,but it was swimming faster than usuall.After 5 minutes and actually seeing what it was,I ran to the truck for the camera,ooooops!left it at home.

It was huge, a monster pike! and swimming gracefully with its entire head out of the water.So I casted towards him and he wasnt interested at all,just spooked him after 2 casts.I figured him to be over the 15 pounds easy.

Anyway his entire head was out of the water and he was opening and closing his mouth frequently,looking very healthy as well,and very responsive as well.

 

Has anyone come across this behavior as well?

I wish I brought the camera,left it in the other tackle bag,Darn!

I caught a small pike shortly after.

[Roy]

Might have been trying to cough up a five of diamonds.

[BillsTheBassMan]

Sounds like a "stressed fish" situation to me. Whenever a fish is apparently surface-restricted it is because of a recent catch and release.

 

Roy could be right on too where the big wolf may have broke someone off and now he has some jewelery left.

 

Both these points would also explain why you "spooked" a monster pike who "wasn't interested" in eating.

 

Ryan

[vinnimon]

Might have been trying to cough up a five of diamonds.

 

 

Nope! nothing dangling at all, and swimming gracefully.

Maybe, looking for donald duck?

[vinnimon]

Sounds like a "stressed fish" situation to me. Whenever a fish is apparently surface-restricted it is because of a recent catch and release.

 

Roy could be right on too where the big wolf may have broke someone off and now he has some jewelery left.

 

Both these points would also explain why you "spooked" a monster pike who "wasn't interested" in eating.

 

Ryan

 

It was really weird, from a distance it looked like two turtles,one piggy back.But it was swimming too fast.The it looked like a huge snake,but I didnt see any wave action behind it.

It was possibly stressed and I spooked it. No jewelery attached, and it was a monster.About the same size as my pb in that spot.18pnds.

[Hooked]

Actually I have seen this on 4 occassions. I have seen 2 pike do that, one in the Grand River, one in Hamilton Harbour and I have seen on 2 seperate occassions a muskie do that in Rice Lake.

 

I have no idea why they do that though, but often wondered?

[vinnimon]

Actually I have seen this on 4 occassions. I have seen 2 pike do that, one in the Grand River, one in Hamilton Harbour and I have seen on 2 seperate occassions a muskie do that in Rice Lake.

 

I have no idea why they do that though, but often wondered?

 

 

Any fish biologists on board?

[alexcba]

i've seen them do this before aswell.. more than a few times too.. back home in croatia we have pike, and the first time i saw this was probably when i was 6 or 7 years old.. i since then saw one do it on the grand river, and another at canal road..

[fishnsled]

I have seen this as well but have no idea why the fish was doing it. Tried to get close to it to see if there was something caught in it's mouth but couldn't tell. The fish took off and never saw it again.

Saw a walleye with a bluegill caught in it's yap once acting similar to the pike.

[BillsTheBassMan]

I don't get the impression he was trolling for topwater food (like ducks, frogs, etc). Again, it seems as if he was stressed. I would think that any fish actively feeding like that would eat just about anything in the near area (like your presentation).

 

There is still a chance that a lure is lodged in his throat, but it also appears that this could be a habitual thing that Pike and Muskie do. Regardless, my interest is peaked and I hope someone on these boards has a proper answer to this mini-mystery.

[vinnimon]

He may have been thinking the same as the pic,seeing as he lives in the bay.

 

[BillsTheBassMan]

i've seen them do this before aswell.. more than a few times too.. back home in croatia we have pike, and the first time i saw this was probably when i was 6 or 7 years old.. i since then saw one do it on the grand river, and another at canal road..

 

PM SENT (soon)

[vinnimon]

I see pike swim along the surface on many ocassions.But this was plain weird.For over five minutes plus his entire head out of water including gills.Ive seen them stressed and have the tip of their mouth sticking out and swimming slowly.

This one was swimming like it was in search of something,back and forth.Possibly young geese.I noticed that the geese were on shore and in a couple of inchs of water.

Just friggen weird to me.

[4thgen]

I've seen both a pike and musky do this once. The pike was about 50 feet from where I was casting, not many people fish there and I hadn't caught any yet. It went about 10-15ft with its head out of the water before submerging again. The musky was really strange. A friend and I were casting in a large bay that was dead calm and typically holds a couple of fish when we heard a bit of a splash behind the boat. A ~35" musky swam for about five feet along side the boat with part of its head out of the water. It was angled a bit to the side with one eye appearing to look directly at us. I can't say for sure what it was doing, but it really seemed to be looking at us. Strange.

[alexcba]

maybe its because of a big meal, possibly still stuck in their throats or some sort of help with digestion? buh..

[Fisherpete]

I saw a muskie do this once years ago at Rice, right beside my boat dock... there was a swarm of water beetles on the surface there, I thought he may have been eating a mouthful of those...

[davis]

had a small'ish muskie do the same one morning at Scugog. It was a foggy morning, but there was no mistaking it as a muskie - he swam by the boat, maybe 10 feet out, head out of the water just swimmin along. My first thought was that he was suffering from some sort of disease. I've never seen it happen since...

[Flappn]

I did experience this one early one morning on a hot hot day with the water still. A pike was skimming the surface and every once in a while would clear the surface.....I casted and he hit my top water. 1st and last time so far I have experienced this.

[JohnF]

Some fish seem to know that if they're in oxygen deprived water they can get an extra shot this way. Some fish do it routinely due to the type of water they inhabit. The Siamese Fighting Fish (Beta) can breathe air directly, a necessity because they often find themselves in rainwater filled ditches with so much mud they can't get O2 from the water in the normal way. Some goldfish will actually surface air breathe so I assume carp will do it too. Apparently they gulp down air bubbles and somehow then extract O2 from them within their stomach. That's how goldfish can survive in such lousy water conditions I suppose.

 

There's actually one of the mudminnows which are relatives of Esox that can breathe air.

 

I remember reading about other fish that suck in air at the surface but can't remember the species at the moment.

 

JF

[Syn]

He was just showboating trying to impress the females.

[JohnF]

He was just showboating trying to impress the females.

 

Back stroking?

 

JF

[Weeds]

I saw a musky do that last year. I was trying to get a buddy into his first ski. We were casting off a wharf when I see this Musky cruising along the top with his head out and yap opening and closing, heading in the general direction of my friends lure. It was a super shad rap but my friend has managed to get a huge birdsnest in a spinning reel of all things with a bunch of slack in the line. I'm like, Reel! Reel! Twitch it! Do something! It's like he's frozen, kind of reminded me of that Ghost and the Darkness flick. Fish checks out his lure and splits; he was on the top for a good while and passed close to within 10 feet of us I'd bet. Needless to say my friend is still looking for his first Musky.

[fishhunter]

I have seen it a couple times. Last year I got a close up veiw. They seem to do it when they are choking on a fish that they have eaten. The one I was inches from had the tail sticking out and after a few min no tail and down he went.

[vinnimon]

Back stroking?

 

JF

 

No John,he was actually doing a breast stroke and no mates around.

[vinnimon]

I have seen it a couple times. Last year I got a close up veiw. They seem to do it when they are choking on a fish that they have eaten. The one I was inches from had the tail sticking out and after a few min no tail and down he went.

 

 

See what gets me is that there is no evedince of it chowing down or stress at all.Unless I saw the later part of a good meal. But if he had something down his throat,why did he look like he was in search for something?