Monster Match: Muskie vs. Pike

Fishing for pike and muskie is like hunting in the tall grass for a lion—you’re constantly on edge because somewhere just beyond your sight, something lurks. Catching one is a bloody knuckle, war-cry type of angling success that feels like being victorious in The Colosseum and leaves you wanting more.

Both pike and muskie have created their legions of dedicated and obsessive anglers who fall in love with the predator fishing game. However, while the two species are similar to one another and are often lumped together, there are some distinct differences between the two fish that have created their own individual mystics for the anglers.

Esox Basics

Northern pike and the muskellunge are part of the pike family and the genus Esox. Just like their smaller cousins, the pickerel, pike and muskie have long, torpedo-shaped bodies and flat, duck-billed jaws full of razor-sharp teeth. In the lakes, rivers, and reservoirs they haunt, pike and muskie are the dominant predators with diets consisting of everything from rough fish like suckers to other game fish like bass and trout. Their aggression is such that amphibians like frogs and salamanders, as well as turtles, ducks, goslings, and even small mammals like muskrats, can regularly end up on the Esox menu.

“They’re just killing machines,” avid pike and muskie angler Samuel Brown said. “I’ve caught pike with whole ducks in their stomachs. I’ve seen big muskie T-bone and rip chunks of flesh off spawning chinook salmon. Wherever pike and muskie swim, they’re the boss, and nothing in the water is safe. That’s why fishing for them is so much fun! You’re almost going on a safari of sorts where you’re challenging a predator on its home ground.”

Due to their similar appearance, size, and aggressive nature, most pike and muskie anglers use the same heavy action rods and similar large, flashy lures, massive streamers, and monster live baits when fishing for both species. However, while the two fish may look the same, share the same water, and are actually closely related enough to cross-breed and create tiger muskie, their similarities stop there. Muskie and pike have different habits, different qualities, and even different catchability that, when you’re fishing for them, almost makes them feel like polar opposites

The Many vs. The Few

Population may be the most obvious difference between pike and muskie. With a range that extends across the US and Canada, pike inhabit most of North America, while muskie populations are isolated to only a few regions. While you can find and catch pike in almost every state in the US, muskie can only be pursued in the Midwest, Northeast, and parts of Appalachia. Yet there is much more to their population differences than just range, as pike simply breed more. Female pike will drop eggs in every suitable bay and estuary that they can, occasionally spiking pike populations to the point where they completely take over a body of water.

“There are a lot of places that just have too many pike,” Minnesota fishing guide Wil Neururer said. “In some ponds and smaller lakes, there can be so many pike that they reach sexual maturity too young and end up stunted with nothing to eat. Their success in their breeding and their ability to populate create these fisheries where there actually needs to be less of them for the pike population to be healthy and grow.”

Muskie, on the other hand, tend to spawn in smaller, more segregated areas, so their populations remain balanced and more isolated in most bodies of water where they’re found.

“You can have a lot of big lakes with not a lot of muskie in them,” Neururer said. “And the muskie that are in there can only be found in one or two spots. It makes muskie a fish that has to be hunted and sought after, whereas pike can be anywhere and everywhere and will come to you. The need to cover water and find muskie makes them a different animal from pike, and they both require a different sort of fishing game.”

The differences between catching pike and catching muskie extend well beyond just their population. Both species overlap in a lot of places, and though there are plenty of occasions when you can catch a pike and a muskie in the same day, targeting them individually often requires distinct changes of strategy.

Moody vs. Aggressive

The fact is that pike are simply easier to catch than muskie. While this is partially due to their population as there are more pike in more places, it’s mostly due to their natures. Both fish are dominant predators, yet they go about it in different ways.

Pike are voracious and will chase down and eat anything from small minnows to panfish and basically everything that moves. This makes lure and bait selection easier as northern’s will eat just about anything put in front of them. Muskie are more selective and eat only one or two extremely large meals a day. This pickiness, along with their notable sensitivity to fishing pressure, just makes them much more difficult to catch.

“Muskie have sort of created their own mysticism around catching them,” said fishing guide Drew Price, owner and operator of Masterclass Angling Guide Service. Drew fishes and guides for both pike and muskie on Lake Champlain. “The fish of 10,000 casts is a well-deserved nickname for muskie because they behave differently than pike. Pike are always available and always willing to take a fly or lure. Muskie, on the other hand, have two modes where they either slowly follow your baits back to the boat and then turn away, or when they’re hungry, they come in super aggressively with an ‘I’m going to grab immediately’ sort of ferocity. You never know what kind of mood a muskie is in where pike are almost always hostile.”

In most fishing circles, muskie have sort of pulled away from pike because of their different behavior. Muskie are slower growing and eat only a couple times a day, so catching a big one is a rare occurrence. Anglers pursue them with giant lures, flies, and baits that they cast and fish for hours and even days at a time, just hoping for a strike. This has caused muskie to be put on a pedestal by much of the angling community, to the point where many hardcore muskie anglers look at pike with disdain and almost consider them to be a trash fish.

“I’ll never understand why some anglers love muskie and hate on pike,” Price told MeatEater. “I mean I understand the muskie obsession. There’s just a quality about muskie that’s a little different. They invoke the imagination and once you see a big one follow, it’s just all over. Yet at the same time, pike are great because they are more than willing to take a fly or lure, and they’re always available. One of the things that I find cool about pike is that they are the most widely distributed freshwater fish in the world! The pike here are the same ones in Germany and Russia, and that’s super cool!”

Like many other anglers, Price believes that pike can and should be just as coveted a prize as muskie as they are a quality game fish and that the favoritism many anglers have has more to do with the muskie’s scarcity rather than the pike’s negative qualities.

“Muskie might be a little more acrobatic when they’re hooked, but nothing hits like a big pike,” Price said. “Pike have a vicious strike and they’re so strong. I’ve had a 35-inch pike tow my boat around and that’s just nuts. I think that the mysticism of muskie is the only reason that they get more attention and more protection. It’s the same reason that trout get more attention than bowfin or gar. Anglers just want that rarer, more ‘challenging’ fish. So many anglers have this ‘it’s just a pike mentality,’ when they catch one that the pike really doesn't get the attention that it deserves and the species doesn't get the favoritism that it should have.”

Blurring the Lines

As previously mentioned, pike and muskie often inhabit the same water and can be caught on the same lures on the same day. This has led to a sort of revelation in many Esox fishing circles in recent years, with open-minded anglers going out to hunt both species at the same time.

“Chasing pike and muskie in the same water is a hell of a good time,” Wil Neururer told MeatEater. “In late July to August, muskie and pike will both be fairly shallow and during that first cold front of August, they’ll overlap a lot. It’s a pretty fantastic way to fish when you go after both species. The muskies will make you want to run your head into the wall trying to catch them, while the pike are trusty rusty, old reliable, and catching a bunch of them is a great way to get your anger out after getting your ass handed to you by the muskie.”

While pike and muskie have different feeding habits, there are a lot of great techniques that appeal to both their natures. Muskie are legendarily picky and prefer larger lures and flies, but pike are water wolves that will smash and kill nearly anything you can drag in front of them with no qualms about hitting larger lures. As such, fishing with large swim baits like the Realimage, spinner baits like the Musky Killer, and suspending jerkbaits like the Husky Jerk will appeal to both their natures. However, it’s still important to remember the differences between the two fish and to fish the lures accordingly when pursuing them.

“Presentation makes a big difference when trying to catch both pike and muskie in the same water,” Neururer said. “Both fish tend to follow lures to the boat, but with a hesitant pike, you can stop that bait and let it sink to the bottom, and eventually it will bite, but you’d be a fool to do that with a muskie. If you stop the bait on a muskie follow and don’t figure-8 or find a way to keep that lure moving, that fish is gone. So, it’s important to understand all the little nuances before trying to double down on pike and muskie, but it can and should be done. They’re both such awesome fish, you’re missing out on a lot if you only concentrate on one of them.”

To Catch a Predator

As much as we enjoy going fishing for peaceful pleasure, sometimes you just need a bit of tension. To see a big pike or muskie following your bait back to the boat like an intelligent torpedo fills you with anticipation and a little bit of fear. It’s like watching an ax-wielding psychopath stoically walk after a sprinting teenager in a horror movie. You don’t know exactly what’s about to happen, but you’re pretty sure it’s going to be violent.

Pike and muskie fishing appeal to that small part of our brains that remembers what it is like to be hunted. Whether you’re having them chase your lures to the boat, waiting for them to devour soaking dead-baits on the bottom, or watching them explode on topwater, both pike and muskie add a bit of extra excitement to fishing that can’t be found anywhere else. No matter how different the two species are, the appeal of catching both pike and muskie is one in the same…to bring the thrill of battle into fishing.

Feature image via Drew Price.