Pike Esox lucius

Pike weighing over 30lb have been caught in Hickling Broad in Norfolk. Pike are a top predator and therefore are dependant on healthy freshwater food chains.

Conservation status in Norfolk

Not threatened

Click to see the Biodiversity Action Plan Species for this species

How to help

Pike are a top predator and therefore are dependent on healthy freshwater food chains. Helping ensure our rivers and wetlands are in good health, free from pollution and well-protected is the best way to help this and other native freshwater fish.

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Broads Authority

Information on the Pike

How to recognise

The pike has a distinctive profile with a long and broad flattened snout. The body is long and well streamlined with the fins set well back on its body. The colour of the pike can vary. In vegetated waters they can be a mottled green and yellow whereas in brackish waters (slightly salty) they can have a yellower tinge. As Pike get older their colour darkens to brown or grey. The male pike is much smaller than the female and ranges from 25-80cm. The larger female reaches up to 130cm.

Where to see

Pike are found in freshwater bodies with plenty of oxygen. Ponds, lakes, rivers, canals, ditches and dykes are all pike habitat. Pikes are solitary fish, only rarely forming small groups outside of the spawning season. The younger pike tends to stick to weedy waters whereas the adults prefer open water. Pike are common in the Norfolk Broads, rivers and fishing lakes.

When to see

Pike can be seen all year round. Spawning takes place between March and May. They usually feed at dawn and dusk which are the best times to spot them. On sunny days you may sometimes see large pike lying motionless in shallow water.

Did you know?

Pike of over 30lb have been caught in Hickling Broad. The British record for a pike is 46lb 13oz caught in Llandegfedd Reservoir, Wales in 1992.

Large pike have been seen to take ducklings, little grebes, small ducks and brown rats.

Finding out more

ARKive

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