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Larry Ramsell |
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| For many, many years, as I came across odd Esox, I stuck them in a file. Sadly, I neglected to make notations on many of them as to where they came from...for that I apologize, but I hope you will enjoy seeing them anyway. While most are fairly to extremely rare, some are a bit more common...ENJOY!! I struggled with what order to put them in, but decided to go with Two-Tone Esox. Hopefully the photo resolution will be good enough for you to see the differences. The first photo is a 51 incher caught by George S. somewhere in Ontario. As you will note, the front 2/3rd's of the fish is almost colorless and the back 1/3 is normal. It was first published on the MuskyStriker forum. The second photo is from my late friends Eric and Fred Johnson. On this one, the fish is half-and-half, again the color missing from the front half. This fish was caught from Dog Paw Lake in NW Ontario. The third fish was caught by Brad Waldera, I believe from Minnesota and again, the front half is missing normal color. Attachments ----------------  Two tone muskie 1 001.jpg (88KB - 1755 downloads) Two tone muskie 2 001.jpg (26KB - 773 downloads) Two tone muskie 3 001.jpg (330KB - 3160 downloads) | |||
| Larry Ramsell |
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| Next is a two-tone Tiger muskie. This one is light on just a couple of inches of the front of the body and the head. The first photo appears to have shadows on the body, but in the second photo where it is being released, the light front shows up vividly. It was caught from the Flambeau River, Wisconsin by Tanner Wildes. Following the tiger are two Pike from Europe with the same malady as the muskies; the color missing from the front half of the fish. They were first published on TotalFishing.nl (the Netherlands). Attachments ---------------- Two tone Tiger 1 001.jpg (107KB - 732 downloads) Two tone Tiger 2 001.jpg (49KB - 708 downloads) Two tone Pike 1 001.jpg (148KB - 3391 downloads) Two tone Pike 2 001.jpg (115KB - 1133 downloads) | |||
| Kirby Budrow |
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Posts: 2330 Location: Chisholm, MN | |||
| chasintails |
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| LarryJones |
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| Larry Ramsell |
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| chasintails: Coming soon to a Thread near you! Here is one (two pics) I just received from Corey Meyer..."Here are pics of a 51 incher my son got from the Chippewa Flowage back in July of 2009. The front portion of the fish was very light colored compared to the rest of it. The light color was only on the side facing the camera as well. Saw your post on muskiefirst and thought you might be interested."
Attachments ---------------- Quarter white Corey Meyer & Son_crop.jpg (95KB - 695 downloads) Quarter white Meyer Jr._crop.jpg (199KB - 786 downloads) | |||
| Ski Patrol |
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| FAT-SKI |
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| Larry Ramsell |
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| In the Olympics, it is all about going for the Gold. Muskies not so much, but I do have a neat photo of a Golden Pickerel, maybe the rarest of the rare mutants. This one came from an old Outdoor Life magazine by Don Shiner. It was a true chain pickerel and was caught by Fred Nuss from Lake Rose in NE Pennsylvania. It is only one of two Golden Esox I have, but I do have a couple Golden Walleyes, but then they aren't Esox! Second is an equally rare Golden Pike, caught by Jim Lindner from Rainy Lake. According to In-Fisherman's Steve Quinn (Dec. 2002), this mutation is called xanthicism. He says it is in the range of "one in a billion surviving to catchable size". Edited by Larry Ramsell 4/7/2014 2:20 PM Attachments ---------------- Golden Chain Pickerel 001.jpg (21KB - 717 downloads) Yellow pike 001.jpg (117KB - 2600 downloads) | |||
| Flambeauski |
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| irish piker |
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| We get pug-nose pike over here.A deformity in the skull.it doesn't stop them eating and growing big though! The last one was 38lb 12ozs from lough Mask,Ireland. Edited by irish piker 4/7/2014 3:06 PM Attachments ---------------- img033.jpg (38KB - 754 downloads) 8970935737a10513530303l.jpg (16KB - 907 downloads) bigpike.jpg (5KB - 703 downloads) | |||
| lookin4_big_gurls |
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| Nershi |
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| Larry Ramsell |
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| Here is a Pug-nosed muskie. Happens a lot in hatchery muskies and hatchery tigers. This one however, was a natural from Lac Suel, Ontario. Edited by Larry Ramsell 4/7/2014 5:46 PM Attachments ---------------- Hook nose Muskie 001.jpg (91KB - 775 downloads) | |||
| ToddM |
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Posts: 20219 Location: oswego, il | |||
| Masqui-ninja |
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Posts: 1247 Location: Walker, MN | |||
| muskyrat |
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| VMS |
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Posts: 3480 Location: Elk River, Minnesota | |||
| JKahler |
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| Triplethreat |
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| stinger |
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| Caught this tiger last summer. Its head and part of its body on the left side was colored like a pure strain, the rest was tiger patterned. Edited by stinger 4/8/2014 7:52 AM Attachments ---------------- twotone.jpg (155KB - 740 downloads) | |||
| Sidejack |
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| The 1961 Mense fish from Round Lake looks to be one of the pug-nosed models. Would you concur, Larry? Attachments ---------------- Mense1961.JPG (8KB - 675 downloads) | |||
| Larry Ramsell |
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| Sidejack: Does look to have a bit of a "pug", but not real exaggerated. Since we have had some interest in albino's, let's do them next and toss in a few of "white" muskies as well, along with an albino pike. The first one is a 41 inch albino from the Kawartha Lakes of Ontario. It first appeared on Musky Hunter a couple of years ago. Second is one that should be familiar here, a 51-inch albino from the Chippewa River, Wisconsin. I neglected to note the anglers name, sorry. Third is an albino netted by the Wisconsin DNR (www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/ce/news/on/index.htm) Fourth is a 42 inch, 20 pound white musky caught from Long Lake in Vilas County, Wisconsin. Fifth is another white muskie that appeared on this web site in 2006. I failed to note any location or angler information, if indeed there was any. Sixth is a white muskie that was caught before season from the St. Lawrence River. It weighed 50 pounds. It has some color pattern, but was overlayed by white, as was the Seventh one that I removed from our trap nets in Eagle Lake, Ontario in 1986, while working on the tracking study with Dr. Bernard Lebeau. This fish weighed 33 pounds and had mint green spots with red fins and overlayed with a complete coating of white. I dubbed her the "Ghost Lady of Eagle Lake". Five year prior, a friend of mine had raised her in the same location and wondered if he was seeing things! Last is an extremely rare albino northern pike from Lake Kabetogama in Minnesota. I LOVE THIS STUFF, how about you? Attachments ---------------- Albino muskie 1 001.jpg (136KB - 868 downloads) Albino muskie 2 001.jpg (64KB - 637 downloads) Albino muskie 5 001.jpg (94KB - 1087 downloads) Albino muskie 3 001.jpg (40KB - 698 downloads) Albino muskie 4 001.jpg (216KB - 3291 downloads) White muskie 1 001.jpg (73KB - 674 downloads) White muskie 2 001.jpg (87KB - 663 downloads) Albino Pike 001.jpg (177KB - 732 downloads) | |||
| Larry Ramsell |
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| There is a prize for the person that can positively identify this next one! Former Minnesota DNR Research Biologist Bob Strand was at Eagle Lake, Ontario in 1986, when an angler brought this strange specimen into camp. Bob was at a loss to identify it as have been other biologists. At first glance, it appears to be a chain pickerel x northern pike hybrid (which we will see next). Problem is, there are no chain pickerel in Eagle Lake!! My best "guess" is a back-cross hybrid between a silver/blue pike (which we will see soon) and a muskie. This hypothesis however, goes against a study by the Pennsylvania DNR many years ago of all possible Esox hybrid crosses and back-crosses, as while successful hatching, all progeny usually died...but who knows what can happen in Nature! Attachments ---------------- Eagle Lake odditie 001.jpg (76KB - 656 downloads) | |||
| Larry Ramsell |
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| Chain Pickerel x Northern Pike hybrids? The first two photos are of the same fish. The third is a fish taken in a DNR net. I am remiss for not having more information on these two fish, but felt they should be included here. The fourth photo appeared here on this web site and was titled "What is it?"...Good question. My guess is the above mentioned hybrid. The fifth photo is a supposed Pike x Pickerel (no mention of which "pickerel". Edited by Larry Ramsell 4/8/2014 10:45 AM Attachments ---------------- Odd Pike 1 001.jpg (53KB - 692 downloads) Odd Pike 2 001.jpg (72KB - 1106 downloads) DNR Odditie 001.jpg (181KB - 1088 downloads) Odd Pike 4.jpg (61KB - 812 downloads) Pike x Pickerel Hybrid 001.jpg (171KB - 645 downloads) | |||
| Larry Ramsell |
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| Here is another one that has confused the experts. Renowned Esocid expert, the late Dr. E.J. (Ed) Crossman identified it as a northern pike x Grass Pickerel (the smallest of the Esocid species). Other biologists disagreed. A couple of them felt that it was a rare color variation of the Northern Pike. Personally, I disagree, since all other color variations (silver/blue pike will be next) do not have this type of patterning, but rather are solid colors, regardless of which color mutation it is. One problem I have with it being a Grass Pickerel x Northern Pike hybrid is the size. This fish was 38.50 inches long and weighed 14 pounds. The largest of Grass Pickerel's is about 12-14 inches long and of course very light in weight. But then again, it's Nature.... Edited by Larry Ramsell 4/8/2014 10:51 AM Attachments ---------------- Odd Hybrid 1 001.jpg (169KB - 576 downloads) | |||
| Larry Ramsell |
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| While we are on weird pike, how about this Northern Pike? It appeared in a long ago issue of In-Fisherman magazine and was considered to have "Black Spot" disease. This specimen came from the Niagara River, where 22% of the pike taken from a portion of the river were infected thusly. Black spot is a parasite. Attachments ---------------- Speckled Pike 001.jpg (51KB - 579 downloads) | |||
| Larry Ramsell |
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| The most common mutation in Esox land is what is known as Blue or more commonly, Silver Pike. In some waters, as many as 5% of the Northern Pike population are sliver mutants. I have found them throughout the muskie range. My first introduction was in 1967, when my dad caught a 42 incher from Eagle Lake, Ontario. Had we known what it was, it would have been a world record. The first two photos are of that fish (first photo it is third fish-on the right-click on photo and scroll over to see). It had alternating rows of silver and black scales. The head and body, we thought looked muskie like, but the fins were Pike all the way. We thought we had some kind of a hybrid between Pike and Muskie. The third photo is a Silver from Northern Ontario and weighed 16 pounds 5 ounces, and the fourth photo is an Ottawa River, Quebec Silver Pike. Photo number five is a 14 pounder that leans more to the "Blue" Pike name rather than Silver, but they are one and the same. Edited by Larry Ramsell 4/8/2014 11:46 AM Attachments ---------------- Silver pike 001.jpg (282KB - 569 downloads) Dad's Silver Pike 001.jpg (62KB - 531 downloads) Silver pike 2 001.jpg (90KB - 512 downloads) Silver pike 1 001.jpg (86KB - 527 downloads) Silver pike 3 001.jpg (161KB - 699 downloads) | |||
| Larry Ramsell |
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And now we return to the realm of the really Rare. This photo is of a 49 inch St. Lawrence River fish caught by my late friend Dr. John Ryan that we originally thought was an unusual "clear" muskie in waters that contained extremely Spotted Muskies. The following year, a few miles up river from where we caught this fish, I caught another just like it around 40 inches. It was then that the light went on and I realized that these fish were likely hybrids and the only thing that made sense was that they were hybrid between Muskie and Silver Pike.
Attachments ---------------- Hybrid silver pike and muskie 001_crop.jpg (359KB - 614 downloads) | |||
| Larry Ramsell |
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| Southern Pike-A proposed new species. I am including this here, as for now I consider it an oddity. In a fairly recent In-Fisherman magazine, Rob Neumann had a short article about the proposal of this new species of Pike in Italy. The first picture is drawings of the various color patterns found in this fish. The following two photo's are compliments of Jan Eggers, my Pike Ferret friend from Holland, one of the foremost Pike experts on the planet. Edited by Larry Ramsell 4/8/2014 12:15 PM Attachments ---------------- New Pike Species 001.jpg (84KB - 538 downloads) Eggers Southern Pike 2_crop.jpg (336KB - 890 downloads) Eggers Southern Pike 3_crop.jpg (391KB - 714 downloads) | |||
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