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For lovers of outdoor activities, catching a predator is the best end to a trip to nature. With a successful combination of circumstances, the fisherman has a trophy of impressive size on the hook. The most desirable for many is the pike, the size and weight of which in the autumn period are simply amazing. What is a toothy predator, and when it is possible to get a giant, we will find out further.
Pike in our waters
Everyone has heard about the pike, it is probably impossible to find a person in the Northern Hemisphere who does not know this aquatic predator. In Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, many grew up on fairy tales and cartoons, where often this toothy resident of rivers and lakes was the main character. She is personally familiar to many fishing enthusiasts, spinningists meet her especially often, for them her size is very important.
No one can say for sure how many years a pike lives; it has long been believed that it lives in distant northern reservoirs for 100 years. It has been officially proven that, under ideal conditions, they can live no more than 30 years in waters with a decent oxygen content. Most often, it lives 10-20 years, if it does not fall on the hook of the fisherman.
It will not work to identify when catching this predator, it has specific characteristics:
| components of a cougar | Features |
| body shape | torpedo-shaped, elongated |
| color | greyish green to dark brown, back darker than belly |
| muzzle | elongated, the lower jaw protrudes slightly forward, the eyes are set deep |
| teeth | located on the jaws, additionally there are sharp bristles on the tongue |
The main feature of the pike is the presence of spots on the body, but this applies only to an ordinary individual that lives in the northern part of Eurasia.
pike species
They found out how long a pike lives, but do predators grow equally fast in different conditions and on different continents? Which types of toothy are the largest, and which grow very slowly?
Officially, there are several types of toothy resident, and there is even one marine. The maximum weight of each will depend on many indicators, including the weather conditions in the habitat.
common or northern
This species is known to all anglers of the middle lane. Fish lives in all water bodies: rivers, lakes, ponds, reservoirs. It can grow up to one and a half meters, while its weight reaches 20-25 kg.
Amurskaya
It lives in a rather limited area, its place of residence is the entire Amur River with tributaries and reservoirs on Sakhalin. It will differ from the ordinary in color and body shape.
redfin
You can find it on the territory of North America in almost any body of water, there are two of its subspecies, grassy and northern. They prefer to hunt it with spinning blanks; no one has met large individuals.
Maxinon
It is the largest representative, and it feels great both in fresh water and in the sea.
armored
The second name of the alligator fish lives only in salt water. The height of a pike can reach up to 3 meters, anglers without experience often confuse it with alligators.
Black
Pleases anglers of North America, namely Canada. In reservoirs, you can often catch a small specimen, but how much can such a pike weigh? With a length of 600 m, its weight often exceeds 4 kg.
Chukchi
It differs from the rest in color, it is silver or silver-green. It is a desirable trophy for many anglers; with a length of about a meter, the maximum pike weight will not be less than 40 kg.
In southern Italy, several more species of toothy predator have now been identified, but the controversy around them has not subsided so far.
How to determine the age of a pike by weight and size?
Anglers with experience know how fast pike grows and how much it gains each year, beginners still need to comprehend these subtleties. It should be said right away that the periods of growth in a predator differ over the years, at the very beginning, the fry seem to quickly lengthen, then this process slows down significantly.
The life expectancy of a pike, according to scientists, is no more than 20 years, while very few individuals live to this age. This happens more in places remote from civilization and human settlements in Siberia. In other reservoirs, a toothy resident rarely reaches this age.
The growth of pike varies from year to year, and the gap itself is very insignificant: the main impetus for growth is given by the spring post-spawning zhor. In summer, this process slows down, the next stage will come in the fall, then the predator will add not so much in volume. In the southern reservoirs, the fish will grow a little more, the northern latitudes will slow down this process and the result will be very minimal.
How to learn to determine the age of a pike by length and weight is a question that worries many novice anglers. There is nothing complicated in this, the main thing is to remember some indicators:
- 1 year old pike will grow to 250-300 mm, and its weight does not exceed 300 g;
- at 2 years old, a toothy predator can weigh 500-1400 g, while its length will be up to half a meter;
- in the third year of life, the fry will grow to 65 cm, its weight will reach 2 kg;
- meter giants with a weight of 8 kg or more indicate that in front of you is an individual with a 10-year history of existence.
It should be understood that these calculations are relative and may have some deviations. Weight and length largely depend on the environment, the availability of forage and its quality.
In order for the predator to be able to gain about a kilogram of weight, she needs to find and process at least 20 kg of frogs or fish. That is why a toothy resident usually fills her stomach completely, and only then goes to a secluded place for digestion. Sometimes this process is delayed for 4 days.
Now it became clear how you can determine the age of a pike based on its weight and length. Good catches and more trophies to hook!