Pike is a predatory fish beloved by many fishermen, distributed mainly in fresh water bodies of Eurasia and North America. Its length can reach 1.5 m, and its weight can reach 8 kg. Thanks to such a decent size, pike is a desirable prey for many fishing enthusiasts. The most successful time for catching a predator, according to experienced anglers, is the pre-spawning period after a long hungry winter.
When the pike goes to spawn
Pike begins to spawn much earlier than other fish species. Pikes inhabiting the southern regions begin to spawn quite early - at the end of February, the spawning period of predators in the middle zone falls on March. In the northern regions, pike spawns in April. It should also be noted that in closed reservoirs spawning occurs later than in open ones. The fact is that the ice on the lakes begins to melt later than the icebreaker on the rivers, therefore, the pikes living in them begin to spawn only after the reservoir is completely free of ice.
The early spawning of pike is also due to the fact that it is in early spring that the stagnant water is maximally saturated with oxygen, a high level of which is the most important condition for the normal development of eggs. The gradual heating of the water helps to reduce the level of oxygen, an insufficient amount of which can lead to the death of the offspring. It turns out that the sooner the predator finishes spawning, the more chances the eggs have to survive.
How pike spawns
Spawning of pikes living in natural reservoirs begins in the fourth year of life of predators. This applies to females, while males are able to start spawning only after reaching the fifth year of life.
Pike spawns not far from the coast, as a rule, within 1 m. Starting to throw eggs, the fish move to shallow water and begin to splash actively and noisily. The peculiarity of reproduction in pikes is that small individuals start spawning first, and only after them larger males and females.
Before spawning, pike, unlike most fish species, do not gather in large schools, but form small groups, including several individuals. If the female is small, she is surrounded by 2-4 males, but if the female is large, the number of male fish around her can reach 8.
During spawning, males belonging to the same group, as a rule, swim next to the female or above her, moving away from the predator by only a few centimeters. At the same time, the fins of males periodically appear above the surface of the water. The period of spawning in pikes is characterized by the constant movement of fish along the spawning grounds. At this time, predators do not stay in one place even for a minute. At the end of the reproduction process, all the fish spreads in different directions. At this time, you can see how many females jump out of the water.
During one breeding period, a female pike is able to lay up to 215 thousand eggs, which attach to aquatic vegetation and reeds, but due to their weak sticky ability, they easily fall off even with the slightest shaking. That is why, within a few days after the end of spawning, all pike eggs are at the bottom of the reservoir.
