The northern pike (known as the pike in Britain), Esox lucius, is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox (the pikes). They are typical of brackish and freshwaters of the northern hemisphere (i.e. holarctic in distribution). They are also known by the somewhat misleading folk name, "water wolf".
Northern pike are found throughout the northern hemisphere, including Russia, Europe, the British Isles, and North America.
Within North America, there are northern pike populations in northern Minnesota, eastern New York, northern New England, most of Canada (though pike are rare in British Columbia), Alaska, the Ohio Valley, the upper Mississippi River and its tributaries, the Great Lakes Basin and surrounding states, Missouri, and Nebraska.
Northern pike are most often olive, shading into yellow to white along the belly. The flank is marked with short, light barlike spots and there are a few to many dark spots on the fins. The lower half of the gill cover lacks scales and they have large sensory pores on their head and on the underside of the lower jaw which are part of the lateral line system. Unlike the similar-looking and closely related muskellunge, the northern pike has light markings on a dark body background and fewer than six sensory pores on the underside of each side of the lower jaw.
Pike grow to a relatively large size; lengths of 150 cm (59 in) and weights of 25 kg (55 pounds) are not unheard of. The heaviest specimen known so far was caught in an abandoned stone quarry, in Germany, in 1983. She (the majority of all pikes over 8 kg (18 pounds) are females) was 1.47 meters (5 ft) long and weighed 31 kg (67 pounds). The longest pike ever recorded was 152 cm (60 in) long and weighed 28 kg (61 pounds).
Effective methods for catching this hard fighting fish include dead baits, lure fishing, and jerk baiting.
The Northern Pike goes by other names such as Water wolf.
