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"Allan Faust" <allan.faust at sympatico_ca>: Quest for the blue pike.......interesting twist...

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From: "Allan Faust" <allan.faust at sympatico_ca>
To: "robert a rice" <robertrice at juno_com>
Subject: Quest for the blue pike.......interesting twist..


AN INTERESTING DISCUSSION I HAVE BEEN HAVING ABOUT IS THE BLUE PIKE GONE
????? THOUGHT THERE MIGHT BE SOME INPUT FROM THE
GROUP......................................................


Message-ID: <199704120020.UAA03825 at smtp1_sympatico.ca>

Hi

As you know, I told you that I was going to go on a quest for the blue
pike.Well, listen to some of the info I've got at the moment. You can
also
"check" some of the info in your blue pike article below which might
coincide....

First of all.... The descriptions that I found on the net for the blue
pike
are as follows;

THE BLUE PIKE (Stizostedion vitreum glaucum): EXTINCT 
blue pike, gray pike, pickering, sand pickerel, sand pike, sauger
The blue walleye was designated extinct in 1985 
The blue walleye, also known as the blue pike, was a subspecies of the
yellow walleye; the back of the blue walleye was slate-blue to
steel-blue,
its sides were ice-blue to silvery and the underparts were silver to
white.
The blue walleye measured 23.0 to 40.6 cm and weighed 0.1 to 0.7 kg 
The blue walleye was found in lakes Ontario and Erie and in the Niagara
River Commercial fishing of the blue walleye was intensive from 1850 to
the
1950's; the populations of blue walleyes began to fluctuate by 1915, by
fishing continued until the fishery in Lake Ontario collapsed in 1956 and
the fishery in Lake Erie collapsed in 1959; the catch records from these
fisheries indicate that the blue walleye was once very abundant in Lake
Erie and abundant in Lake Ontario The last blue walleye was taken in 1965

Blue walleye prefered deep, cool, and slightly turbid water where the
bottom is hard; during winter and fall, these fish were often found in
shallower water.The habitat used for spawning is not known, but is
assumed
to have been boulder and coarse gravel areas. 
Ok, now after talking to my friend about this, he told me that he's
caught
"the blue pike"......To prove it.... he showed me PICTURES... which when
scanned, I'll send to you.... They do have a slate blue to deep blue back,
silver sides and white underside.  The area where they were caught was in
about 30-60 ft of water, but there are areas in that lake where its
150ft+..... The water is turbid, and it is very dark.... local divers
that
have gone down in the lake "with their limited equipment" could barely see
in front of there face at 30 ft. Second of all.... the bottom is a rocky
and gravel bottom. Third, during winter, he's caught them in shallower
water.  Fourth, concerning your article, there are NO yellow walleye in
this part of the lake. There are rapids way above and way below, and in
the
area above... no blue walleye, only pink sauger. Below the rapids are
only
yellow walleye, no blue ones or pink sauger. In between, in this area are
ONLY blue walleye, no yellow ones or pink sauger. Also concerning your
article below about the "taste" and meat. The blue walleye have a "white"
meat as compared to the yellow walleye which is an off-white, almost
yellow
meat. When prepared the same way, even the taste of the meat is
different.
Also, when preparing the fish, the blue walleye will leave a blue stain
on
newspaper. Now, like I mentioned, I do have pictures, and will send a scan
of them to you as soon as I have a scan. Within 2 months, I should have
caught one......

What do you think?

Allan







I have pictures.... they will follow once I get a chance to get them
scanned of blue walleyes.




> IS THE BLUE PIKE ALIVE AND WELL?  The Lower Great Lakes Fishery 
> Resources Office in Amherst, NY believes it's a strong possibili
> ty. Fishermen during the 1930s and 40s, who preferred the taste 
> over the larger, yellow walleye cousin, may have trucked blue 
> pike to northern Canadian lakes where populations perhaps still 
> exist. Rumors have abounded for years about blue walleyes from 
> these lakes, but a video tape documented both blues and yellows 
> from the same lake dismissing arguments the color phase was due 
> to local environmental conditions. Now the office regularly gets 
> samples from scales to whole fish of blue pike suspects, but do 
> not have a true-blue to produce a genetic fingerprint because all 
> museum specimens had been preserved in formalin which destroys 
> the DNA structure. Biologists are doubling as detectives finding 
> scales removed from live fish for aging studies and attempting to 
> use the mucous as a DNA source. Ecologically the blue pike was a 
> coldwater species with larger eyes than walleyes for seeing in 
> Lake Erie's deeper eastern basin. Biologists believe this niche 
> has never been filled, but now, may be some day with the original 
> occupant. Darter Editor Note: Fingerlings of blue pike suspects 
> were stocked in a northern Minnesota Lake where distinctly blue 
> specimens were examined in the late 1980s, but tentatively iden
> tified as walleyes. 


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