\n| \n BLUE
\nPIKE OR IS IT JUST A DIFFERENT COLOR WALLEYE?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n
\nA different view<\/i><\/p>\nContents<\/p> - <\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li>
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Joe Ognibene
\nVeteran Outdoor Writer
\nThis article first appeared in the Niagara Sunday Gazette<\/span><\/h5>\n![]() Was
\nthere a true blue pike, or, as the scientific community
\nclaims, a colored variation of the walleye?<\/p>\n
\u00a0According
\nto geneticists at the U.S. Geological Survey\u2019s aquatic
\nbiology laboratory in West Virginia, a DNA study showed no
\ndifferences between samples from a blue pike and a walleye.
\nThe samples were taken from mounted blue pike in museums.<\/p>\n \u00a0Other
\nresearchers also have conducted DNA studies and they claim
\nthere is not enough difference between DNA samples taken from
\nso-called blue pike that were in museums and fresh caught
\nwalleye to make any difference.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0Carol
\nStepien<\/b>, an aquatic-biologist who heads the Great Lakes
\nEnvironmental Genetics Laboratory at Cleveland State
\nUniversity, said, \u201cThere are all kinds of different colors
\nof walleye, but they\u2019re not different fish.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0She
\nalso said her studies showed no appreciable differences
\nbetween what has been called blue pike and walleye. Most of us
\nknow walleye come in many different shades of green to almost
\nblack. In Lake Kesagami in northern Ontario, Mike Fox and I
\nfound at least three distinct color variations of walleye. The
\ncolors ran from a light green back with a pale belly to a
\nbrighter green and amber-colored belly. In shallow water near<\/span>
\npeat moss outcroppings, the walleye we caught were almost
\nblack on top with a bright gold belly.<\/p>\n\u00a0It\u2019s
\nhard to argue with scientific fact and DNA studies have proven
\nto be more than accurate, but still a doubt remains for many
\nof us.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0Many years ago, when we caught blue
\npike on the sand bar out in front of Fort Niagara, the fish
\nwere mostly all the same size. We kept the ones that weighed
\nin around a pound and a half to two pounds. These were the
\n\u201ceaters.\u201d I don\u2019t remember catching any blues much
\nbigger than that. I never heard of a blue pike weighing 10
\npounds or more, such as some of the walleye, or yellow pike,
\nwe used to routinely catch in the Stella Drift.<\/p>\n \u00a0Back then, the rule was always fish
\nthe bar if you wanted lots of fish and the Stella drift if you
\nwanted large yellow pike, as we called walleye. If memory
\nserves me correctly, there wasn\u2019t much difference in taste
\nbetween a blue and a yellow.<\/p>\n \n\n\n\n\n \u201cToday\u2019s findings are in
\nconflict with scientists, who in 1926 formally
\ndeclaring the blue pike a different species. Back
\nthen, DNA was unheard of and blue pike commercial
\ncatches were tallied in the millions of pounds.\u201d<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n ![\"Text]() It seems
\nstrange that we can catch walleye, or yellow pike if you
\nprefer, in the lower Niagara that range in weight from a pound
\nor so to well over 10 pounds on the same fishing trip unlike
\nthe consistent weights of blue pike catches. With less
\npollutants entering the river, the walleye population is coming
\nback strong. Much of the credit goes to the Niagara River
\nAnglers Association as well as fish that have migrated across
\nLake Ontario from Bay of Quinte, but there are not the schools
\nof same size walleye similar to what used to be with blue
\npike. Stepien said in the late 1990s she found blue-colored
\nwalleye caught in a Canadian lake had the same DNA as fish
\ncaught in Lake Erie, proving the Canadian fish were walleye
\nand not blue pike. She said the color could come from the
\nparticular area in the lake or river where the fish lives. She
\nsaid color variation is similar to puppies from the same
\nlitter. \u201cSome can be brown or white, others yellow, but they
\nare all the same puppies except for the color.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0Today\u2019s findings are in conflict
\nwith scientists, who in 1926 formally declaring the blue pike
\na different species. Back then, DNA was unheard of and blue
\npike commercial catches were tallied in the millions of
\npounds.<\/p>\n \u00a0Records
\nshow that between 1950 and 1957 the annual take was 26 million
\npounds. In 1964, less than 200 pounds went to market. Shortly
\nafter, the United States and Canada declared the blue pike
\nextinct. If today\u2019s scientists are correct, why haven\u2019t
\nthe huge schools of blue-colored walleye recovered similar to
\nthe \u201cyellow pike?\u201d An important point that cannot be
\noverlooked is the appearance of the blue pike by comparison
\nwith the walleye. The blue had a more pointed nose and much
\nlarger eyes.<\/p>\n I\u2019m
\nsure this argument will go on for a long time and no firm
\nanswer will be found. Gary Isbell, head of the Ohio fisheries
\nresearch program, pretty much summed it up when he said it\u2019s
\ntime for anglers and scientists to give up the quest for a
\nblue pike.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ve
\ngot serious issues on Lake Erie with other species,\u201d he
\nsaid. \u201cThe blue pike are gone; it\u2019s time to get over it.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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