This is one of the strangest things I have ever seen. My partner hooked a small pickeral today and got it to the side of the boat. Before he was able to lift it in the boat it shook loose. But what we seen on the end of the line wasn't just any old pickeral. THIS THING WAS BLUE.  :-? No joke. Its face and mouth was blue and its tail also BLUE. Any one else ever see or hear of this?

:o :o :o

Thats one messed up pickerel! Maybe someone dumped those pills that stop diarea  in the lake, hence blue-in-the-face fish.

And no, i have never heard of a blue pickerel. All the ones i catch are green.

Prehaps it wasn't a pickerel? maybe some type of hybrid.....

The fish looked healthy, heck he was certainly hungry. Just strange.

The fish looked healthy, heck he was certainly hungry. Just strange.

I would think if his face was blue then he must be terribly sick.

If i where you i would go back there and fish for more pickerel, see if you can catch one that is simular, and get a closer look and some pictures.

Use rapala orrigonals and spinnerbaits, they work great.

How big was it....when they are really young and small they have brillant colors to ward off predators...also it may have been the water or glare. It could have been a number of things.

I'd say atleast 15 inches. I'm sure that it wasnt because of glare or anything of that sort. I sure would like to have gotten a pic of him(or her). I may have to make another trip back there.

When you say "pickerel", are you referring to a true pickerel (eastern chain) or a walleye?

Roger

It was a chain pickeral.

It was a chain pickeral

Hmm...that's odd!

There is a fish called a "Blue Pickerel" but it's a "walleye" and is now extinct (click the link below)

http://www.outdoorcanada.ca/cgi-bin/ocforum1/oc_config.pl?noframes;read=2266

Roger

I agree with jake we need to go back there and try to get another one.  As the partner who hooked the fish I can tell you the outer rim of his mouth and his tail were both a bright blue.  I think maybe that some of the fins on the fish's belly were rimmed with blue also.  Having caught a lot of pickeral over the years I have never saw one with this coloration before.

Matt

When I was in Ontario this year, an old timer spoke of blue pickerel.  There are claims of very remote lakes that still hold them.  Supposedly another guest at the lodge was in one of these lakes and they caught one.  It was a 2 day hike, or some silly story.  Fishermen and their stories.  After clicking on Rolo's link, I bet they wasted 2 days hiking!  

Nice find Roger, interesting!

I would be dumbfounded if I put a fish on the snow and it left blue slimecoat behind after.  Freaky.  I've never noticed any "color" or "hue" to the slimecoat of any fish.  Cool.

Hey Jake,

That's one I haven't seen before for sure! My partner is more of a multi species angler than I am. I'll touch base with him tomorrow and see if he's ever seen anything like that!

Hey Jake,

My partner and I talked a little bit ago. His take on it was the fish could have had a deficency that causes the mucus membranes to produce a blue enzymes. He said it's rare but usually happens to walleyes. It would make an interesting pic but I wouldn't try one for a shore lunch!!!  :-X

This is one of the strangest things I have ever seen. My partner hooked a small pickeral today and got it to the side of the boat. Before he was able to lift it in the boat it shook loose. But what we seen on the end of the line wasn't just any old pickeral. THIS THING WAS BLUE.   No joke. Its face and mouth was blue and its tail also BLUE. Any one else ever see or hear of this?

I have heard of blue pickerel species that died off decades ago. You might have caught a fossil. ;D

I really have no credible explination and the only ictheologist at the college here retired this year but one explination for the ble color may have been due to blood circulation, not in that the limbs were turning blue due to lack of blood flow (which is possible) but perhaps the pigments in the skin of the fish were not receiving adequate nutrients.  Of course it could be due to Aliens  :-?

im very late to this post obviously but Blue pickeral do exist i catch them every year wher ei go fishing

This might be an old thread but it is interesting. There are documented cases were people have caught chain pickerel with blue coloration around the mouth and fins. Northern pike are also known to sometimes have a rare coloration that makes them appear blue or silver. These northern pike are known as ''blue pike'' or ''silver pike''.

22 hours ago, soflabasser said:

This might be an old thread but it is interesting. There are documented cases were people have caught chain pickerel with blue coloration around the mouth and fins. Northern pike are also known to sometimes have a rare coloration that makes them appear blue or silver. These northern pike are known as ''blue pike'' or ''silver pike''.

 

I was told the silver pike was an actual subspecies in the esox family. I have caught two blue walleye before not knowing what caused the coloration change. A taxidermist that mounted the first walleye told me it was actually an algae film that scrapped off the skin. When I first saw the fish in the water on his way to the net it glowed blue in the water. Surreal looking for sure. 

This a picture of an actual silver pike I caught years ago up in the northwest territories on Lac La Martre.

 

 

Nice catch @Dwight Hottle. That is a beautiful Northern pike with silver blue coloration. From what I researched silver pike are northern pike that have a unique genetic mutation that allows them to have a silver blue color. Some people feel that silver pike deserve to be named as a different species since there are some anatomical differences between a silver pike and Northern pike. There are reports of blue walleye caught in some parts of Canada, these are also normal walleye with a unique coloration. There was a type of walleye called blue walleye it has been extinct for several decades now. I am sure there are people still alive that have caught these blue walleyes.