I know this isn't a bass, but I'm hoping it's ok to ask this here. Can someone tell me what species of fish this is and how you know that? Thanks!

Small Northern Pike.

They get quite big, you caught a baby.

Just today I was fishing at a local lake and helped a young kid unhook one about that size.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_pike 

When they are small they have more vertical markings like that and then as they grow, the pattern becomes more like long streamlined spots.

Appears to be a pickerel. They have different patterning than a northern Pike

I have to second that it's a juvenile northern pike

Appears to be a pickerel. They have different patterning than a northern Pike

I don't think there are chain pickeral as far west as owatonna. I may be wrong, but I believe Chain Pickeral are mostly an east-coast fish, ranging out to only about Lake Michigan area and south from there.

Looks a lot more like a small Tiger Musky to me....

 

Tight lines,

Bob

Baby Northern Pike. 

 

Compare to:

http://www.canadaoutposts.com/articles.php/Baby+Pike

 

USGS data on ranges of:

 

Northern Pike:

http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=676

 

Grass Pickerel:

http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=675

 

Chain Pickerel:

http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=681

 

(although range boundaries are not exact -- I know I've caught pike a little ways beyond these ranges in both MN and MI)

Looks a lot more like a small Tiger Musky to me....

 

Tight lines,

Bob

Bob is correct look it up my brother knew it right away!

Small musky:

http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=679

 

Small tiger musky:

http://www.summitpost.org/tiger-muskie/736991

 

Could be. But I still think it's a pike.

Baby pike

Appears to be a pickerel. They have different patterning than a northern Pike

Juvi northern have a barred appearance when young. I caught one similar to this size. It was about 9 inches or so with the same markings.

Looks a lot more like a small Tiger Musky to me....

Tight lines,

Bob

Rounded back tail fins though point to it being pike.

And don't forget...  all these species commonly hybridize when they exist in the same water body. 

 

Could be a Northern Tiger Muskerel!  

 

Tight lines,

Bob

I've caught about a million pike in my life from 6" fingerlings to 30+. Half of tht from my last weeks trip in Canada alone, lol. Never seen one of that coloration and patterning at that size. After looking at the fins i suppose it could be a juvenile pike.

I think we can all agree this is some member of the Esox family.

Baby pike caught in a river system not a lake.

I was going to say Pike. Tigers, at least around here(PA), juvenile or not, are more brownish in coloring. Pickerel more spotted than striped.

Baby pike caught in a river system not a lake.

Actually, it *was* caught in a lake...Lake Belle Taine in Nevis, MN to be exact. My sister-in-law caught it last weekend at our cabin. They just assumed it was a baby pike, but weren't 100% sure and started to wonder if it might be a tiger musky.

not a pickerel.

Baby pike.

The Lake Belle Taine entry on the MN DNR doesn't list musky or pickerel on the survey information:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/showreport.html?downum=29014600

 

Doesn't mean there aren't any in there, but since tigers are pike-musky hybrids, they would only occur where both parent species are also present, or where they had been stocked. They're also rare, relative to pike and musky, so all things considered, it seems quite a bit more likely to be a young northern pike than anything else. 

And don't forget...  all these species commonly hybridize when they exist in the same water body. 

 

Could be a Northern Tiger Muskerel!  

 

Tight lines,

Bob

I was going to say this not to rule out a hybrid.

http://forum.nanfa.org/index.php/topic/10460-identifying-juvenile-grass-pickerel-and-juvenile-northern-pike/ 

The Lake Belle Taine entry on the MN DNR doesn't list musky or pickerel on the survey information:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/showreport.html?downum=29014600

 

Doesn't mean there aren't any in there, but since tigers are pike-musky hybrids, they would only occur where both parent species are also present, or where they had been stocked. They're also rare, relative to pike and musky, so all things considered, it seems quite a bit more likely to be a young northern pike than anything else.

I believe there used to be musky in this lake, but that was a LONG time ago. There is an annual fishing contest on the lake each summer and one of the contest teams caught a musky one year, but I bet that was 10+ years ago by now.