Fish Identification

[D17A1]

Went out southeast of Ottawa and caught these guys. Anyone else have a bit of trouble identifying pike vs muskie? (Relatively new fisherman here).

[lape0019]

Those are all Pike.

Easiest thing to remember are Pike are dark with white spots and musky are white with dark lines. Also, the tails of
Musky are more red and the tips are more pointed for the most part.

[RJ]

Pike. I do suggest you get some pictures for reference before you start bringing fish home. A musky that size from any body of water around here is illegal to keep, just a friendly heads up!

RJ

[BigC]

Hopefully this helps. As RJ hinted at huge difference in the way both are managed.

KTD.jpg (393.85 KiB) Viewed 6215 times

That's how you tell them apart, this is what you want them to look like..

jc oct 28_edit.jpg (59.43 KiB) Viewed 6215 times

[613wetline]

nice catch, but please look into the rules for zone you are fishing in. If they were muskies im sure you would receive a not so enjoyable visit from conservation officers and either given a ticket or summons to appear. The Ottawa River (zone 12) they must exeed 54" and the Rideau River(zone 18 i beleive) 44" Its an anglers choice when in legal size but please dont keep muskies, they arent good eats..
again nice catch, pike are alot of fun

[Yannick Loranger]

the Rideau River(zone 18 i beleive) 44"

Yes zone 18, but 36'' minimum.
http://files.ontario.ca/environment-and ... nglish.pdf

[Lunker Larry]

Yannick. You have to look in the Exceptions. The Rideau is stated there with a size limit of 44".

[Yannick Loranger]

Oops. My bad. I'll stick to the Ottawa.

[BrentS89]

Muskie also have a limit of 1 with a Sport license, 0 with Conservation license.
Pike are 6 and 2.
Be aware of the zone you are fishing the species, limits and the type of license you have.