On tiger muskie the head area is much bigger and can be up to half the non fin body. Even on the biggest muskie or pike the head is about 1/3 of the body at most.

This is also a tell that you might have a “tiger pike” version of a tiger muskie versus a regular northern. So if you catch a fish that has all the patterns of a pike, but it has dark markings on a light skin, that might be the tiger muskie that anglers affectionately refer to as a “Tiger Pike” because of its appearance. This is the opposite of a northern pike, which has light markings on a darker background skin. Many muskies have dark markings with a lighter background color. This isn’t a 100%, but it is a really likely give away. Sometimes it is actually that easy, though many times it is not. If one fish has a really obvious pattern that is northern pike, and another that is clearly muskellunge then you are almost certainly dealing with a tiger muskie. That being said, here are some of the best/easiest common patterns to look for if you want to know if a fish is a tiger muskie or not. Once in a while it’s an obvious mis-mash. This can help you spot red flags when the coloring is wrong on that so-called pike or that muskie has rounded fins like a northern. Knowing these traits is important because a muskie will not have pike only traits just as pike will not have muskie only traits. There are certain traits that only pike have, as well as certain traits that only muskies have. So let’s start with two things you MUST know if you are going to have any chance of accurately identifying a tiger muskie. There might be certain common patterns in a local area or body of water, but not a hard and fast rule. There isn’t a set way that a tiger muskie is going to look compared to a northern pike or a regular muskie. But if you hook one of these you’ll remember as a big one will give you the fight of a lifetime even as an avid angler! One picture of a tiger musky – this is just one example of what these fish can look like. Generally this fish is catch and release wherever you find it because of the very low numbers. These fish combine features of a northern pike and musky and can grow larger than both. They are normally bred in hatcheries however sometimes a tiger musky does occur naturally in the wild. The tiger musky is hybrid fish that results from a pike and a musky breeding.

Which is double impressive when you consider they share the same family as the vaunted northern pike and muskellunge. The Tiger Musky is a gigantic fish, and in fact the largest member of the Esox family.

Fishing planet unique tiger muskie