Spring Silver

[MT204]

Did I miss the lure it was caught on?

[Do-it Rep]

Did I miss the lure it was caught on?

A black back and white bellied swimbait on a teardrop jig. The walleyes were not biting it so I didn't get too caught up on what it was exactly - haha.

[Mike J]

The highlights on them are really cool

[WALLEYE WACKER]

It’s always amazing how different colors are in the same fish and from state to state.
And the pearls shades are mind blowing.

[Lamar]

  I'm going to be the odd guy out here. I've heard this fish tail from others before and I'm going to give my un asked for opinion. I'm posting two pictures. One of my buddy holding a musky. If you look at the musky it has very few markings on it and is shinny like yours. The Northern Pike I'm holding has a lot of markings and very little shine. Not like yours. By this I'm saying you caught a musky in cold water. We catch musky in my home lake all the time and if you get them in late March or early April they do get a silver cast to them. Bass do the same thing white when they first move up and darker as the water warms up. So do brown trout. Silver early in the year and dark brown later.

[ctom]

The fish Kyle and Mike posted came from a relatively small river and as far as I know there is not a musky population in there. I do know that there are pike in there and ranging as far north as Austin, MN and further where the river is a mere stream or creek actually. I have also heard of the silver, or blue, pike but have not caught one myself. Personally I'll call it a pike. The only river that I know of this far south in Minnesota that might have muskies is the Zumbro or maybe, remotely maybe, even the Cannon River system and these flow to the mighty Miss. If I  am not mistaken there are a couple lakes in north central and northwest Iowa that have a muskie population but neither have a watershed that would get muskies in the Cedar.

Another indicator that these are pike is the gill cover immediately behind the eyes. Both of these fish have scales on that portion of the gill flap. Muskies have no scales or just partially scaled where these are fully scaled.

[Lamar]

The fish Kyle and Mike posted came from a relatively small river and as far as I know there is not a musky population in there. I do know that there are pike in there and ranging as far north as Austin, MN and further where the river is a mere stream or creek actually. I have also heard of the silver, or blue, pike but have not caught one myself. Personally I'll call it a pike. The only river that I know of this far south in Minnesota that might have muskies is the Zumbro or maybe, remotely maybe, even the Cannon River system and these flow to the mighty Miss. If I  am not mistaken there are a couple lakes in north central and northwest Iowa that have a muskie population but neither have a watershed that would get muskies in the Cedar.

Another indicator that these are pike is the gill cover immediately behind the eyes. Both of these fish have scales on that portion of the gill flap. Muskies have no scales or just partially scaled where these are fully scaled.

 I'm sorry I don't see that. Just my opinion

[efishnc]

The biggest/easiest identifier (IMO) is the tail... muskies have pointed tips on their tails while pike have rounded tips, and muskie tails are also more V-shaped while pike tails are more fan-shaped... although Lamar's pics don't have close-ups on the tails, the difference is still notable (at least to an avid esox hunter).

I've caught plenty of washed out muskies (though never a blue pike), and at first glance I thought the fish posted was also a muskie.  After I read the text, I looked back to the photos again, checking the tail... Kyle's buddy's fish definitely has the rounded tips and fan shaped tail... no doubt in my mind that it's a pike. 

[Lines]

Interesting subject. I found this.
https://strikeandcatch.com/pike-vs-musky/
I've never caught either one.

[Do-it Rep]

Muskygary?  Any opinions?  In the meantime, I added a poll to the top of the thread.  Lets hear it gents, Silver Pike or Musky???

[Muskygary]

Being that there is no known Musky population in this river...I would say silver pike.

[Do-it Rep]

Being that there is no known Musky population in this river...I would say silver pike.

The caveat is that there is indeed musky in this river.  Mike could probably tell the full story but the rumor was that years ago a DNR stocking truck en route somewhere broke down in the area and the Cedar was the easiest place to dump the fish that were all going to die.  Every year someone seems to catch a big Ski up at one of the dams in our area. 

[Lamar]

Either way a great fish. I'm not taking away from that at all. Just from what I've read there is very little known about this fish. It's like Sasquatch. Is it real or is it myth ?

[efishnc]

I definitely understand the "blue" - the blue highlights on the fish which do not show well in the photo were incredible.

Therefore the real spring silver might have been your pocket watch 

[Mike J]

The caveat is that there is indeed musky in this river.  Mike could probably tell the full story but the rumor was that years ago a DNR stocking truck en route somewhere broke down in the area and the Cedar was the easiest place to dump the fish that were all going to die.  Every year someone seems to catch a big Ski up at one of the dams in our area.

Kyle I have heard this story my whole life, but no one can confirm it. The most likely reason the Muskies are in the Cedar River is because they are stocked in Clear Lake. The outlet from Clear Lake dumps into the Winnebago River, the Winnebago empties into the Shellrock River and the shellrock empties into the Cedar River. There are a lot of Muskies in the Shellrock. These fish we catch are definitely silver pike. You can tell the difference by the pores on the underside of their jaw. Pike have 5 or less and Muskies have 6 to 9. There are also Silver pike in a couple north central Iowa lakes. One is the start of the Iowa River so I wouldn't be surprised if there are silver pike in the Iowa River as well.