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I never realized there was a debate over pike teething till I joined this forum. I was reading another thread and someone mentioned it was a myth. I'm sure if there is a myth but every pike we caught over the weekend had red gums and was almost toothless. What is your spin Ranger
Pike I caught this past weekend had the legendary swollen gums. At first glance it appeared they didn't have all their teeth but ater a closer look, they were all there but not poking through the gums very well.
Was going through this debate a couple years ago when I was getting my degree. We had two fisheries biologist on the staff and the question came up in class to the older of the two, Frank Smith. He agreed that there is something to them losing teeth and asked if I'd bring up an example. Brought him 3 different pike,2 females and 1 male over the course of that winter, all from different bodies of water. He called the condition "tooth morphology" and said to me after the third pike "you and that tooth morphology, ain't gonna let it go are ya?" What he explained to me and the class is that they lose the teeth for a variety of reasons,but mostly during feeding, and that the replacement teeth that usually replace them in the warmer season lay in the fleshy part of the jaw almost like cartilage, kinda "floating" not part of the jaw itself. He had an x-ray photo to back it up,really cool old guy, anyway, he further explained that like most fish the pike's metabolism slows in the winter to the point of not putting the physical energy into the replacement of the teeth until the water temps go up and the ice is out and usually not until after they spawn.Same reason why they lose them so easily. It takes them all they have energy wise to survive in the winter, less feeding, yes less, and the energy conservation helps maintain the critical body functions. Since the teeth are there anyway, once the feeding picks up and their metabolisms rise and they get past the spawn which uses a lot of their already low energy they start replacing their lost teeth and its an involuntary process that does it. Hope this helps. If you were to meet him on the water you wouldn't think he was as knowledgable as he is and certainly wouldn't think he was a biologist by his look, just an old fisherman who likes Wild Turkey on the boat and a wad a chew for the day. Info and intelligence comes in all shapes and sizes, but it is hard to weed out legitimate from the far fetched when it comes to scientific theory
I read these posts and start afew of my own, and find it difficult that some anglers have a problem reading a post about pike losing their teeth....and possible slow downs during specific weeks of the hardwater season....some will say.....I dont believe it....others say....they lose their teeth year round.....I agree....but during cold hardwater extremes, they are not regenerating teeth as fast until they hit prime temps...how in the world can you say this is a MYTH?........the razor sharp inner jaw and upper mouth never change....its the OUTSIDE JAWS that take the brunt of feeding.....Grump
some anglers have a problem reading a post
possible slow downs during specific weeks of the hardwater season
pike loose teeth and replace there teeth year round. they just break off grabbing food etc, and there are new teeth in the gums ready to push out and replace the missing ones.but in the winter before the spawn, as it was stated in a thread somewhere else around here, they don't expend the energy to replace these teeth until after the spawn.