Pike or musky?

[StripeGirl]

that is a young pike which resembles a grass pickerel at that size.

 

[xEchOx]

thats not a pike nor a musky that is a grass pickeral . pike would have more yellowish white spots and a musky would have a blunter stockier mouth and a thicker body..also to note that by the tail of the fish have faint stripes going up and down deff not a characteristic of a pike...

Juvenile Pike often have faint vertical barring that fades as they reach adulthood. I've caught hundreds and hundreds of small pike (not bragging here) and I can tell you with almost 100% certainty that this fish is a Northern pike. I've only caught a handful of pickerel, but they all sported the "mascara" or the dark vertical eye bar below the eye.

http://basstardfishing.com/Identifying_The_Pike_Esox_Family.html

 

[zpetrichko]

im going with pikerel

 

[Experiment397]

xECHOx has it exactly. the pickerel have mascare eye marks. that is def a baby northern pike.

 

[cichlidfinder]

I agree. Pickeral have a dark " T " under the eye. Thats a pike.

 

[thorzep]

it a pike

 

[pelleeklund]

Crap, everyone seems really convinced but I still think it looks like a grass pickerel. I'm going to say the light source is reflecting in such a way that the eye markings aren't as visible as they should be. Or its a pike and im wrong, not important, it's still a nice catch.

 

[Tramonte172]

that is a young pike which resembles a grass pickerel at that size.

 

[hyrczyk]

Looks like a pike to me. Can be hard to tell at that age as mentioned.

 

[expkeeper19]

ive been fishing pike for 15 years, its a pike