Mountsberg

[MuskieBait]

Definitely a juvenile Northern Pike, not a Grass Pickerel.

1) Only the upper half of the gill plate is scaled (Grass Pickerel's gill plate is fully scaled)

2) Spots on the dorsal fin, anal fin and tail fin (Grass Pickerel's dorsal, anal and tail fins are not spotted)

3) There is no horizontal stripe intersecting the vertical stripes. (Grass Pickerel has a light coloured broken horizontal stripe that connects the light coloured bars. This horizontal stripe starts behind the eye, continues onto the gill plate, and onto the side of the fish. However, in some adults, this light stripe might be faded or lost)

Usually you only need to check the gill plate for scales to determine if you caught a juvenile Northern Pike, Muskellunge, or Grass Pickerel.

Look carefully at these pictures of Grass Pickerels. You can see that the gill plate is fully scaled, no spots on the fins and the light horizontal stripes connecting the vertical stripes.