Giant pike. The largest in the world caught by fishermen (30 photos)

The common pike is one of the largest freshwater predatory fish in Europe. According to confirmed facts, its length can reach 1,5 meters, weight up to 35 kg – it was caught on Lake Ilmen in Russia. According to unconfirmed, giant pikes weighing up to 65 kg were caught in the Northern Dvina and Dnieper.

Biological features

The shape of the body of the pike is swept, almost cylindrical, the dorsal and anal fins are carried far back. The body is covered with small dense scales and a layer of mucus. The head is large, elongated with a strongly elongated and flattened snout, the lower jaw protrudes forward. Numerous sharp teeth are located in the mouth; on the lower jaw they are larger and rarer. The gill rakers are short and thick, with a flattened apex. The eyes of the fish are large and mobile. The color of the body is often grayish-green, the back is darker, the sides are lighter, with brown spots, sometimes merging into dark transverse stripes, the belly is white.

Depending on the habitat, body color can vary quite a lot. In silted lakes with brown muddy water, it is dark, in rivers with clear and transparent water it is gray-greenish, gray-yellow or gray-brown. The color of the pike changes with age and becomes darker. The pectoral and ventral fins are yellowish-red, the dorsal, anal and caudal fins are yellowish-gray with brown or blackish spots.

Facts about the capture of huge pike by anglers

1. In 1930, the first largest pike in Russia was recorded, and the fact of catching a pike, which weighed 35 kg, was also officially registered for the first time. The place where the fish was caught turned out to be Lake Ilmen, see Wikipedia. Many fishermen say that these are not isolated cases, but they simply keep silent about the success because they are afraid of unnecessary noise and confiscation of the catch.
2. In the state of New York, a maskinong pike, weighing 32 kg, was caught on the St. Lawrence River, the fishermen could not pull the catch on their own, so they had to help with a boat.
3. In Sortavala, the fact of catching the largest pike weighing 49 kg was recorded, live bait was used as bait, the pike is also not small in size, to be more precise, 5 kg.
4. In Lake Uvldach, which is located in the north, a huge pike was caught, the weight of which was 56 kg.
5. There are also facts of catching a significant pike on Lake Ladoga and in Ukraine, but its weight is not very impressive, which cannot be said about its age. Official sources report that the oldest pike in the world lived for about 33 years.
6. An interesting case is that occurred in the Netherlands, where a predator was caught there, the length of which was 120 cm, and it took only 10 minutes to pull it out. The fish was released into its native element immediately after photography and measurements.
7. And relatively recently, in 2011, in Canada, the fact of catching a pike 118 cm long was recorded, which literally a few days later was beaten by anglers on the St. Lawrence River, catching a predator 130 cm long.

The biggest pike in the world

The huge pike has always been and will be the subject of fables, legends and stories that anglers have been compiling for several centuries. The most notorious legend says that the largest pike in the world was caught in Germany. Its weight was 140 kg, and the length was 5,7 meters. It also mentions the record age of the fish, which was 270 years; this was based on the data obtained about the ring, which was put on the fish in 1230 by order of Emperor Frederick II.

The skeleton of this fish was in the museum of the city of Mannheim for quite a long time, pleasing the eyes of tourists and not bothering anyone. But one fine day, scientists decided to check the authenticity of the exhibit. And they proved that this is just an assembly of the bones of several dozen smaller predatory fish. So it’s nothing more than a legend.

Giant pike caught in Russia

The record pikes in Russia are considered to be predators who lived to be 20 years old and weigh from 16 kilograms. Most often, such trophies come across on Lake Ladoga. But the fishermen are constantly silent about them, motivated by the fact that the fish will be taken away, and we will not get anything.

The largest pike caught in Russia was caught and officially registered on the Ladoga lake mentioned above near the city of Sortavala, the fish weighed as much as 49 kilograms 200 grams, and was caught on live bait – a pike weighing 5 kg, which had just been caught on a wobbler and dragged to the shore.

Habitat of common pike

This species is widely distributed in Europe, Asia and North America. Pike was first brought to the Crimea in the middle of the last century by amateur fishermen and released into the Alma reservoir.

Its influence on the ichthyofauna of this reservoir was recognized as negative, after which the reservoir was lowered and the pike were exterminated there, but this did not stop its penetration into the peninsula. At present, these fish live in almost all riverbed and off-stream reservoirs; occasionally they are also found in rivers (for example, Chernaya, Belbek, Biyuk-Karasu), where they stick to creeks and deep areas with a weak current, and are common in the SCC. Pike is also found in some isolated reservoirs, where, obviously, unauthorized fishermen are introduced.

Habits and reproduction

Pike usually prefer quiet areas with thickets of underwater vegetation, where juveniles of other fish species are numerous. Large pike keeps in deep creeks, pits, near rifts, medium and small pike – near the edge of aquatic vegetation, under snags and branches hanging into the water. Fish do not make large migrations.

As a rule, its feeding grounds are located near the spawning grounds. The fry feed on zooplankton crustaceans until reaching a length of 12-15 mm, then they begin to eat fry and, when they reach a length of 5 cm, they completely switch to feeding on juvenile fish. Adult pikes also feed mainly on fish, in addition to eating worms, tadpoles, frogs, small waterfowl and rodents. As a rule, all animals of this reservoir are found in their diet. The peculiarities of the pike’s lifestyle are well characterized by its Latin scientific name, which means “hungry wolf” in translation.

Pike begin to breed at the age of 2-3 years, their spawning is very early, occurs immediately after ice melts in shallow waters, in the conditions of the European part of Russia – usually in February – March, once. Large individuals begin to spawn first, then medium-sized individuals, and the smallest ones, spawning for the first time, complete the mating games. One female is accompanied by several males for spawning, the eggs are deposited on coastal vegetation. Caviar is large, 2,5-3 mm in diameter, amber-yellow color. The fecundity of fish ranges from 13,8 to 384 thousand eggs. The female, 91 cm long and weighing 7,8 kg, had 2595 thousand eggs.

Conclusion: Somewhere deep under the water, an old giant pike, smart and cautious, slowly swims through its hunting grounds. If there is a lucky angler who can outwit this predator, and he has enough strength and endurance to pull a huge fish ashore, then the world will know about the next Russian record … And he will understand how underestimated the toothy one was.