Wil Wegman

Question:

Hi Wil,

Despite the poor weather on Saturday, I managed to get out on Lake Simcoe.  There weren’t too many people on the water.  Although not big, I did manage to boat 5 pike.  The biggest was 7 lbs.  The one thing I did notice was that 4 of the 5 were pretty banged up.  They all had marks on them.  Some were bigger than others.  The 7 pounder had a circle on its side a big as a hardball.  I assume this is from spawning?  I did email you about this a couple of years ago.  My biggest concern is that it looks like some of these marks do get infected and balloon into a big red blister.  Have you seen this before?  I assume that it is something that eventually heals?

Thanks,

Mike from Toronto

Answer:

Hi Mike  ...
Glad you got out. It was way too rough for any pleasant open water whitefish fishing so I stayed shore bound all weekend.  Yes you’re right 9 times out of 10 those marks you’re seeing at this time of year are from spawning and this year it appears to be worse because water levels are so low everywhere- including the Lake Simcoe Rivers. Pike go up into the shallows – even drainage ditches to spawn and thrash around ... without much care for avoiding sharp objects like branches or rocks which could cause wounds. Typically these wounds however do heal but every once in awhile – they can become infected and it’s possible some fish eventually die from the results.  Nature can be cruel.

Hope that helps and good luck with those scarred-up pike, they should start to look better in a few weeks or so.

Wil