Red C asked:
The Northern pike is a powerful Predator, they eat they’re share of bluegills and have been known to attack a hooked bluegill while an angler is reeling it in. But largemouth bass are pretty big and anglers catch them all the time. For example, would a 10 lb pike kill and eat a four lb bass? If a northern can’t eat a bass, could a muskie?
Sphere: Related ContentThe Northern pike is a powerful Predator, they eat they’re share of bluegills and have been known to attack a hooked bluegill while an angler is reeling it in. But largemouth bass are pretty big and anglers catch them all the time. For example, would a 10 lb pike kill and eat a four lb bass? If a northern can’t eat a bass, could a muskie?
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I would guess that a Northern Pike would probably leave a large mouth bass alone. But i could definitely see a Muskie attack. Muskies are extremely aggressive and have been know to attack dogs and people swimming in the rivers, not to mention they just love the baby ducks swimming on the surface.
If a Pike is big enough it will attack anything it wants!
Last summer my kids (and their cousins) were swimming in a lake and were attacked by a POed Pike. He was only 34″ or so, (I later caught him on a Rapala suspending Husky Jerk Minnow.)
Having fished for “Cuda on the Flats of the Keys and elsewhere I understand why they call Pike the “cuda of the North”.
I’m not sure if a 10LB Pike would “eat” a 4LB Bass but it would certainly attack one!
(Thumbs to Donald)
Only if the bass is too loud! I think it might attack the bass player too!
Northern and muskies will eat whatever they can get past their mouth and sometimes die trying to eat fish bigger than they can swallow. I caught a 21″ smallmouth on Shell Lake once that did not fight the way it should have. It was not near as healthy as it should have been because it had been hit by a muskie, I’m assuming. The fresh horseshoe wounds were on both sides of it and more towards the tail. I am guessing that when the muskie tried to turn it head first the smallie got away. They have to release or loosen their grip a little and then thrust their tail to work their prey down to their gullet. There are pike and muskie big enough to eat very large bass but that would not be their preferred food. Bass are strong and fast, pike like as easy of meals as possible. If they can get a bunch of smaller panfish, a small walleye or sucker they don’t have to expend near as much energy getting their food. I also had a muskie grab a 17″ walleye I caught, 10′ from the boat, off the same set of cribs where I got the smallie. After running line for 5 minutes it finally let go and I reeled in my dead and gashed up fish. On another lake I had a really big fish that went to the bottom of the lake. After fighting it for 10 minutes or so I reeled in a dead northern that was about 2′ long. I never even knew the smaller fish had hit first and was hooked, a big muskie or northern must have grabbed it about the same time.
Of course. A pike is a fresh water version of a shark. It will attack anything that is smaller than itself and looks like food or appears crippled and vulnerable. A four pound bass seems like a little bit to big of a mouth full for a ten pound pike, but never say never. If that bass was a bit smaller or the pike was closer to the 20 pound range then I would not bet against the pike at least making a try. I have seen a pike eat a full grown wood ducks and medium sized snakes so a bass of similar size would definitely be a target, if not a common food source. Remember, pikes and muskies are apex predators, so there there is little they fear other than larger pike.
for the definitive answer CHECK THIS OUT!!
I was bear hunting in Manitoba and had some time one morning so I hit the lake to do a little fishing before heading to the bear stand. It was a small lake in the Duck Mountains and was full of pike. We had caught several smaller pike when I hooked a pretty good one. When I got it in it had teeth marks where a bigger pike had grabbed it. The pike I caught was 39″ long so I would have loved to hook the one who bit it. I doubt a 10 pound pike could eat a 4 pound bass but there’s no doubt in my mind that one would try. Muskie are the same way, but they get bigger than pike. I used to live 1/4 mile from the Niagara River and have seen some huge muskie caught. A 42 pound er had a tail sticking out of it’s gullet and when the taxidermist skinned it found it was a walleye about 4 pounds and it also had an 11″ sucker in it’s stomach. With already eating these 2 fish it still hit a crank bait.They are just eating machines. A muskie that would have been the Pa. state record was found dead in the Susquahanna River with a full grown mallard duck stuck in it’s gullet so sometimes their eyes are bigger than their stomach, so to say. Have fun fishing for those big fish
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