# Differences between Pike and Muskie



## Reel Lady (Jul 4, 2004)

I am so new to this whole Pike/Muskie thing..being that I just caught my first pike out of West Branch last week  
Here is my question.. is there one (or more) physical characteristic(s) that will allow me to know immediately whether this fish is a Pike or a Musky? I _Hated_ catching this fish and not knowing for certain what the heck it was!
I had read somewhere about there being a different number of gill plates.. One had 3-5 the other had 6-8.. or something like that. The only problem is that they never really defined what the gill plate, or was it "gill scales?" actually were... 
Thanks all,
Marcia


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## Lake Milton Joe (Apr 14, 2004)

All fish have gill scale, when you clean a fish you will see them come off, sometimes they will take one and pull it off because they can tell alot about the fish and how old it is. Years ago their was a cross breed in that lake it was called Tiger muskey, the top of the head looked like someone hit it with a hammer, a Pike will have spots on the body and it is long and slender, Muskey will get big an mean and will vary in color and no spots but a nice shiney body.


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## blance (Apr 5, 2004)

http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/Fish_Boat/pafish/fishhtms/chap14.htm


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## iwdavefish (Apr 30, 2004)

The tail of a pike has rounded lobes, a muskies tail is pointed. A pike is green or almost blue with lighter colored spots. A West Branch muskie is lighter with a tan or green back and dark bars or stripes. See luredaddy's wb post from the 12th.


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## Reel Lady (Jul 4, 2004)

Thanks Blance... That was a great link with TONS of useful information


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