{"id":81189,"date":"2026-01-08T10:43:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/81189\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T10:43:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:43:20","slug":"the-blue-pike-fact-vs-fiction-of-lake-eries-loch-ness-monster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/81189\/","title":{"rendered":"The blue pike: Fact vs. fiction of Lake Erie\u2019s “Loch Ness Monster”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\"\"<\/a>This color drawing of the now-extinct blue pike appears in the latest edition of \u201cThe Fishes of Ohio\u201d by Milton B. Trautman.
\nThe drawing is courtesy of the artist, Dave Neely.<\/p>\n

YouTube has a video titled \u201cCatching Ultra RARE Blue Pike Walleye from a Secret Lake!<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

Outdoor News published an article in 2023 with the headline \u201cDe-extincting the Great Lakes blue pike may be worth looking at<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Division of Wildlife offices in Sandusky and Fairport Harbor occasionally get calls from anglers claiming they\u2019ve caught one. But the blue pike is the Loch Ness monster of Lake Erie. People claim to have seen it, even caught it. But it\u2019s a matter of longing to revive a legend, not a matter of fact.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has captured a lot of people\u2019s imaginations,\u201d said Travis Hartman, Lake Erie Fisheries Program Administrator for the Ohio Division of Wildlife.<\/p>\n

However, the 1975 declaration of the blue pike\u2019s extinction still stands, he said.<\/p>\n

Surprising disappearance<\/p>\n

Some species are said to be \u201cextirpated,\u201d meaning they\u2019ve disappeared from a particular area or state. Like the passenger pigeon, \u201cextinct\u201d means they\u2019ve disappeared from the planet.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s especially surprising for a fish that was commercially harvested in Lake Erie for more than 100 years. Prized for its tenderness and sweet taste, it was considered even more desirable than today\u2019s sought-after species, the walleye and perch.<\/p>\n

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission\u2019s database lists the record harvest for blue pike as 26.8 million pounds in 1936. The harvests of the 1950s peaked at just under 20 million pounds in 1955 and remained above 10 million pounds through 1957.<\/p>\n

Those numbers abruptly declined to 1.4 million pounds in 1958, and only 79,000 pounds in 1959.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few were caught through the 1970s,\u201d Hartman said. \u201cThe last one was caught in 1983, and I\u2019m not even sure where that was in Lake Erie.\u201d
\"\"\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Walleye influence<\/p>\n

From 1970 to 1972, it was illegal to harvest walleye in Lake Erie\u2019s Western Basin because of their high mercury content, he said. Aside from the commercial fishing, pollution, frequent algal blooms, erosion and loss of wetlands and the introduction of invasive species may have all contributed to the blue pike\u2019s sudden decline.<\/p>\n

The blue pike was briefly considered an entirely separate species from the walleye, he said. But the science of genetics soon identified it as a subspecies of walleye. Still, the blue pike was identifiable to anglers and was targeted for both commercial and recreational fishing in Lake Erie, Hartman said.<\/p>\n

There are black-and-white photos of fishing in the Sandusky Bay area that go back 100 years. In the 1850s, commercial fishermen primarily used seine nets cast from shore.<\/p>\n

There was a huge change in the 1950s, and commercial fishing became more efficient. Now there was a wide variety of both wood- and steel-hulled boats, perhaps 30 or 40 feet from stem to stern. Gill nets were invented, with mesh openings of specific sizes that were \u201cpretty much one hundred percent fatal\u201d for any fish caught in them, Hartman said.<\/p>\n

Aside from that, a lot of the romanticism about the blue pike probably comes from the history of recreational fishing, especially around Cleveland. Rowboats would go out from Cleveland Harbor at night, with lanterns hung over the side to attract emerald shiners. Pretty soon, \u201ceach boat would be surrounded by shiners and they\u2019d catch boatloads of blue pike,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Both they and commercial fishermen could distinguish blue pike from walleye. The blue pike\u2019s maximum size was 20 inches \u2013 it was usually under that \u2013 while walleye can grow to 32 inches. It was noted for its eyes, which were much bigger than a walleye\u2019s. And its head was narrower, so there was a shorter distance between the eyes if you were looking at it from above.<\/p>\n

Optical illusion<\/p>\n

In \u201cThe Fishes of Ohio,\u201d published in 1957, a book that is still used as a reference, author Milton B. Trautman said that color is an \u201cunstable\u201d way to identify walleye. Many fish, especially walleye, adapt to the amount of light and color in the water, Hartman said. He watched a walleye that was ghostly white when captured in murky water turn a very dark color when placed in a live well with clear water.<\/p>\n

And therein may lie the reason for questions as to whether the blue pike is truly extinct. There is a pigment called sandercyanin that is bluish. It\u2019s been identified in the mucus that covers the scales of some walleye. Anglers who call in reports of catching a blue pike have probably snagged a walleye with the bluish pigment, Hartman said.<\/p>\n

But the name of the blue pike is doubly unstable; to quote Trautman, it was \u201ca poor choice.\u201d That\u2019s because \u201call these fish are in the perch family, both walleye and blue pike,\u201d Hartman said. So the blue pike was not a pike at all.<\/p>\n

The blue pike also had a different lifestyle and eating habits than today\u2019s walleye and seemed to prefer different parts of the lake.<\/p>\n

Three lakes in one<\/p>\n

Lake Erie is almost like three lakes in one, Hartman explained. \u201cThe Western Basin is mostly less than 35 feet deep. It\u2019s so shallow that the wind and waves mix the water, so the temperature and water qualities are about the same from top to bottom.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Central Basin is deeper, with a spot that\u2019s 80 feet deep north of Cleveland, near the Canadian border. But the Eastern Basin is really deep, with a place where the water is 210 feet.<\/p>\n

In the Central Basin, when the surface water heats up in the summer, it creates a thermocline. The cold and warm water don\u2019t mix, so \u201cfor a month or two, there\u2019s low oxygen below the thermocline,\u201d Hartman said.<\/p>\n

In the Eastern Basin, both the upper and lower waters are well oxygenated, so fish can use the whole water column, he said. It\u2019s warmer up high, colder below, but fish can choose where to go.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s walleye migrate from the Western to the Central Basin, chasing their favorite prey, the rainbow smelt. However, the rainbow smelt didn\u2019t show up in Lake Erie till the 1930s, so blue pike spent most of their time in the lake without smelt on the menu.<\/p>\n

They probably went after those emerald shiners that the Cleveland anglers used for bait, Hartman said. And they probably spent most of their time in the deeper, clearer Central and Eastern basins.<\/p>\n

Finally, while walleye can be found in all of the Great Lakes, the blue pike was only plentiful in Lake Erie, Hartman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little less clear if they were also in Lake Ontario, or possibly the Niagara River,\u201d he said. But none are there now, and no blue pike were ever kept in captivity for breeding purposes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe blue pike was unique to Lake Erie, and there\u2019s no option for restoration,\u201d Hartman said.<\/p>\n

So, it will remain extinct, though not in the minds of some anglers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a legacy story,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was an important fish for both sport fishing and the commercial industry. It was an important part of the Lake Erie fishing community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This color drawing of the now-extinct blue pike appears in the latest edition of \u201cThe Fishes of Ohio\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-81189","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-erie","8":"tag-erie","9":"tag-erie-headlines","10":"tag-erie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}