Northern Pike at Spruce Creek Fish Farm

The northern pike has earned a reputation as a voracious predator and is typically one of the easiest fish to catch because of its willingness to bite on lures and baits. The northern pike is a close cousin to the muskellunge and looks very similar in appearance and size. Tthe northern pike typically has light markings on a dark body background, while muskies generally have dark markings on a light background. Another tried and true method to tell the pike from the muski it count the pores on the underside of the jaw: the northern has five or less pores while the the muskie has six or more. Northerns also have rounded tail fins, compared to the pointy tail fins of a muskie.
Spawning season for Northern pike is typically late March to early May, however. pike occasionally lay eggs under the ice, they usually begin moving into small streams and flooded marshes when the water temperature is 39 to 52 degrees. Females deposit up to 100,000 eggs at random. The adhesive eggs stick to flooded vegetation for about two weeks before hatching. Northern pike fry feed on plankton and then invertebrates but soon switch to a diet consisting largely of fish. Adult pike . Common foods are yellow perch, tullibee, suckers, minnows and other northern pike. Though northern pike eat sunfish and bass, they prefer more cylindrical fish. Northern pike also eat leeches, frogs and crayfish.

Smaller northern pike remain in shallow weedy water through much of the year. Large northern pike move deeper as summer continues. Good habitat is the key to producing northern pike. Given relatively clean water, adequate forage, and abundant shoreline marshes and wetlands for spawning; northern pike will proliferate without further help.

Northern Pike Habitat can be created t by building a low dam to flood low-lying land near a lake. The area fills with spring runoff, the northern pike spawn and the fry grow to fingerlings. They then escape or, if there is a barrier between the lake and spawning area, are released to the main body of water.

To grow large Northern Pike a lake must have good spawning areas, adequate food ( minnows, perch, suckers, tullibee, etc) and cool, well-oxygenated water. In addition it takes protection from anglers to grow large pike.

Source- Minnesota DNR