Northern Pike Spawning
Nick showed us some areas in our own backyard where northern pike swim to to spawn each spring. Here are some more interesting facts about how the fish spawn.

• Spawning season starts anywhere from late May to early April, as soon as the ice begins to break up.

• The northern pike really like cold water, and most spawning occurs in water that is anywhere from 34 to 40�F but seem to prefer temperatures around 36 or 37�F.

• They swim to their spawning areas in the night. This is called nocturnal migration.

• Pike swim to small streams, brooks, or even ditches (like in the show) that have fairly shallow water and lots of plant life.

• Each female is followed around by 2 or 3 male attendants.

• As they swim over the vegetation, the males slap the female with his tail and she releases anywhere from five to sixty eggs and he fertilizes them at the same time.

• This act happens every few minutes for an hour or more, and over a few days a single female pike may lay 8,000 to 100,000 eggs.

• The eggs hatch in twelve to fourteen days, but the babies – called “fry” – aren’t ready to fend for themselves just yet. They have an “adhesive organ” on top of their heads. This acts like a suction cup as they stick themselves to the surrounding plants.

• For five to fifteen days the fry hang onto plants while their mouths and fins grow until they can finally swim free and feed themselves.

• The fry stay in the water where they were born for about a month and then swim out to the water where their parents live.

• Pikes eat just about anything and their fry are no different. Once they start fending for themselves, they eat everything from zooplankton to other smaller fish like muskies.