Romancing (Esox lucius) The Northern Pike
by Tony Dubois
(Continued)

One of the things every aquarium lover has to finally accept as he watches his prized charges in his recreated slice of nature is that all fish no matter what size do not behave the same way in the tank as they do in the wild. This is due to a multitude of reasons like natural cover, water quality, predator stress, ability to keep moving to new territory that's constantly unfamiliar, biological clocks regulated by light changes and temperature, and a million more of which many are so subtle humans will probably never know what they are. They are intelligent and have individual personalities as anyone who has kept a bunch of the same size and species will tell you. One of my favorite past times is to observe fish in their habitat no matter how many years I've had them in a tank at home. The trick is to try and watch them without having them know you're there so they're really being themselves. Where this is really fun is with the larger fish who will only act as caged pets in a tank at home. Not that I object to caged pets as long as they're not mistreated and I've had a few, including a large mouth bass and a bowfin that I kept in 130 gallon tanks who ate out of my hands and were as friendly (only to me) as my dog, but they certainly had modified behavior compared to their river brothers. If you're tempted to try this beware of the bowfin's teeth if you play piano.

My way of doing it has been the same for almost 50 years. I guess if it works why change. I'm 59 and when I was 13, I bought an old cedar strip canoe with one flat end for a little out board motor from an old muskrat trapper I met in the swamp. It cost me $10 which was 2 months paper route money. Some of the canvas was pulling away so I glued it down with contact cement and painted the whole thing with a bunch of leftover cans from the shed. It looked like a dog's breakfast but as it turned out the gray/green/brown mess was perfect camouflage. As I joyfully paddled my new prize through the swamps, or more accurately river's wetland edges, I was constantly leaning over to see and finally ended up constructing two boards with notches that I could lay over the top to lie on top of. With the passing years this balancing act is becoming more precarious but so far so good. I lie on top on my chest peering down over the back edge where the motor would be and have a perfect view afoot above the water line. The trick is to be perfectly still and patient so bug spray is a must because swatting a horse fly will blow your cover.

There have been many memorable moments but one northern pike spawning stands out.

Every book including Scott and Crossman always described it as pairing with sometimes up to 3 males but one morning I saw some fish who didn't read the book. Esox lucius is a confident fish. It doesn't have many predators on its case. It definitely gives bowfin a wide birth but other than the blue heron and snapping turtle I've never seen it fall prey. One morning in early April I was stalking one of my favorite spots in the marshes. April is a great time of year to collect, almost no bugs and lots of winter debris floating around for cover. By the end of May this area is all receded to dry land so there's lots of terrestrial plants getting their pre summer soaking that also give great spawning cover. I'd been lying in wait for a while when five feet in front of me a gravid female pike about 18 inches long was quivering over top of a big bunch of submerged field grass. She seemed restless. Then a male about a foot long stuck his head out of some cover. The female was giving him the come on but he would only move up to about a foot behind her and hesitate and then retreat a few inches. This he did a few times and just when I was wondering what he was waiting for I noticed a fellow suitor about 2 feet to the left. They were certainly aware of each other and given the pikes' reputation for cannibalism I understood their caution. The second male seemed bolder and swam alongside the female and gave her a push with his tail. This started them spawning and after a few seconds the first male was right in there too. I felt like grabbing my binoculars to see if I could spot the spray but didn't want to risk moving and settled for watching the fish. All of a sudden a third male appeared about 2 inches smaller than the other two and then the three of them were going at it spinning and whirling. Then it happened. First one then two then three and four other males all slightly smaller came out of the cover and joined in the melee unmolested. It looked like a turbine engine spinning in a circle. There must have been eight or nine fish there though in the fast paced excitement I couldn't be sure. This looked more like anchovies ball than a pike spawning and continued for what seemed like minutes. Then they all broke off and other than the female and original 2 males they all disappeared. The three of them slowly swam off together presumably to pick another spot and start again.

I've never seen anything like it before or since. Maybe it was because the size difference between male and female was greater than other sittings I'd had. Or maybe the water quality over the last few years had produced a disproportionate amount of males. I'll probably never know but it sure was a sight. I was also struck by the fact that no aggression occurred but I guess they felt more like smoking a cigarette than picking a fight. It's amazing how given the same place and conditions you can always see something new no matter how long you look.