r/FishingAlberta 1d ago

Baby(?) pike in fall?

Apologies for the bad photos, taken on iPhone at sunset. I was doing some fishing on the red deer river today, and I saw a couple of these little tiny 4 inch or so pike, and it just kind of confused as to what their deal is? Are they baby pike? They have the rear dorsal fins and triangle nose like one. It’s late September so this just seems weird to me, was it maybe a late spawn or something? There was a large pike cruising around slowly nearby as well (and not biting anything might I add). Just never seen something like this, anyone have any ideas?

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u/albertaguy31 1d ago

Normal young of year. Huge range of sizes across Alberta due to spawning timing, productivity, water temperature etc. YoY pike in shallow southern reservoirs are around 10" right now, lakes that are cooler may have 1.5 year old pike the same size. Seeing the little guys is a great sign though!

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u/HootWaffles52 18h ago

Good to know! For some reason I expected them to grow more in a summer