If you’ve ever handled a northern pike or prepared it for dinner, you’ve probably noticed it is slimy. In fact, pike are such slimy fish that they’re sometimes referred to as “snot rockets.” This is a far cry from the more prestigious “water wolf,” but why are pike so slimy to earn it?
In short, northern pike are slimy because it helps them move through the water faster, protects them from fungus, parasites and disease, acts as a medicine against wounds, and affords them a measure of protection against predators. Read on to find out all about this in more detail.
What Is Fish Slime?
Fish slime is created when glycol-proteins that are produced in the epidermis combine with water to create a mucus coating for the fish. The point of this slime is multifold:
- Slime acts as a natural barrier that helps protect fish from fungi, bacteria, and parasites.
- A fish’s slime provides lubrication so it can move through the water with less friction.
- Slime can sometimes contain medicinal properties for fish, which helps them heal their wounds.
- The slime aids in balancing essential electrolytes for the fish by basically acting as a filter, and allows respiratory gases to move across a fish’s skin more easily.
- As with other animals, some fish’s slime has toxins that either aid them in hunting or offer them some protection from predators.
- A few fish are known to use slime to create nests, or even a food source for their offspring (source).
Clearly, slime provides many benefits to fish. One should therefore take care not to remove it unnecessarily when fishing.
Why Are Pike So Slimy?
Now that we know what fish slime is, the next question is why are pike so much slimier than many other fish? There are a few theories. First, a pike’s slime acts as a lubricant which helps it move through the water faster by reducing friction. Given that pike are speed hunters that chase down their prey, this makes a lot of sense. The less friction they have, the faster they can move through the water. Over time, pike that had more slime than others would likely thrive and thus the species has evolved to become the snot rockets we all know and love today.
Pike benefit from their slime in other ways. As with all fish, slime is basically an outer layer that offers a degree of protection from bacteria, fungus, parasites, and disease. Protecting a fish’s slime is a huge reason why Major League Fishing, for example, has rules that give anglers penalties if they treat a fish in such a way that would remove the slime, such as dropping it. While those rules are meant to protect bass, it stands to reason northern pike should have their slime protected for the same reason.
Some even theorize that a pike’s slime is a good way to protect its skin from damage, or even it from being eaten. Folks note that a pike spends a good amount of time in or near cover such as weeds and wood, and that their slime may help prevent them from bruises or cuts if they slide across the cover too harshly. Likewise, a pike’s slimy skin could, in theory, help them escape predation. This likely isn’t that big of a boost once a pike is fully grown, but on its way there, any little edge helps!
Tips for Handling Slimy Pike
Your approach to handling slimy pike is going to depend on if you intend to keep your catch or not. If you intend to release the fish, you should try and protect its slime as much as possible and not rub it off. Given that the pike’s slime is necessary to fight off bacteria, fungus and disease, as well as the benefits it gives the fish in terms of speed, it would be a shame to rub it off. Thus, you should handle pike with care while landing them. If you don’t feel comfortable landing them by hand, you should use either a net with rubber mesh, or, ideally, a landing cradle. These will help safely land the pike without wiping off too much slime or unnecessarily injuring it.
Frankly, if you fish for northern pike routinely, you should certainly consider buying the products I listed above. They make the landing process safer for the fish, and for you. Keep the slime on pike where it belongs and off your hands!
On the other hand, if you intend to eat your catch, you really won’t care if you wipe off some of the pike’s slime, as you’ll need to remove it prior to cooking, anyway. I personally don’t find it that difficult to handle pike regardless of how slimy they may be, but if you struggle, consider buying yourself some fishing gloves. They’ll give you a little bit better grip on slimy fish and keep your hands warm to boot.
Likewise, you can purchase yourself a good fileting glove so the pike doesn’t cut you from beyond the grave. These slimy fish are difficult to handle while fileting and accidents happen!
How Can You Remove Slime from Pike?
The slime from a northern pike smells and tastes awful, so if you intend to eat this fish, you need to remove it. Your options will depend on how you caught it and what you have at hand.
First, if you intend to eat the fish, kill it quickly so it will stop producing slime. You can do this by thwapping it on the head or by putting it on ice.
Once the pike is dead, some people then proceed to scrape the slime off where they are fishing. You can roll it in the grass or sand to accomplish this. Tossing them in an old gunny sack also helps remove the slime, and let’s you pretend you’re Huckleberry Finn to boot.
Many people simply swear by wrapping the pike in newspapers and waiting 20-30 minutes before attempting to clean them. It’s certainly a cost effective option assuming you still purchase a newspaper these days.
Others recommend freezing the fish and then as it thaws, wiping it down. Ice fishermen claim this takes the slime away easily and also stops the fish from secreting more.
A final option is to take a five gallon bucket, fill 1/3 of it with warm water, and another 1/3 with vinegar. Toss your pike in and stir it around. The vinegar helps the slime fall off of the fish which makes fileting it much easier.
Conclusions
While northern pike are so slimy that they deserve the name, “snot rocket,” the slime is there for good reason. It helps the fish move through the water quickly. The slime helps protect pike from bacteria, fungi, and parasites. It might just give pike a little extra edge when a predator is about to nab them. Finally, it can give northerns a good revenge, as the slime might cause an angler to cut themselves while fileting the pike for the table!
A pike’s slime is so important to its health that you should try to preserve it when practicing catch and release. If you do intend to harvest the fish, do so humanely and then practice the tips above for removing the smelly slime before you cook it. Otherwise, your dinner guests might have to leave unexpectedly.
I hope this article helped you understand why pike are so slimy. Feel free to leave me a comment below or send me an email with any other questions you have!
Thanks,
John Paxton
