Pike Perch

[valpomike]

To all,

When in Poland I ate something, I think they call Pike Perch? What is this? A Pike or Perch? Is it fresh water or salt water? How big do they grow? What is the best way to make them? I had it broiled, and it was all right.
Do we have this fish here in the U.S.A.? If not why?
Just another dumb questions from me, but I am sure, one of our many teachers, or other smart people here can help, if they will, without calling me names, or laughing at me.
Also, when at my friends summer home, north of Warsaw, on a lake, they caught and cooked another named fish that I don't remember, it had a odd Polish name. Do you think you know what this was?

Michael Dabrowski

[livia]

valpomike said:

To all,

When in Poland I ate something, I think they call Pike Perch? What is this? A Pike or Perch? Is it fresh water or salt water? How big do they grow? What is the best way to make them? I had it broiled, and it was all right.
Do we have this fish here in the U.S.A.? If not why?
Just another dumb questions from me, but I am sure, one of our many teachers, or other smart people here can help, if they will, without calling me names, or laughing at me.
Also, when at my friends summer home, north of Warsaw, on a lake, they caught and cooked another named fish that I don't remember, it had a odd Polish name. Do you think you know what this was?

Michael Dabrowski

Michael, the Wikipedia says the pike-perch is zander (sander). It is very very delicious and one of my favourite fish.

[justjohn]

valpomike said:

To all,

When in Poland I ate something, I think they call Pike Perch? What is this? A Pike or Perch? Is it fresh water or salt water? How big do they grow? What is the best way to make them? I had it broiled, and it was all right.
Do we have this fish here in the U.S.A.? If not why?
Just another dumb questions from me, but I am sure, one of our many teachers, or other smart people here can help, if they will, without calling me names, or laughing at me.
Also, when at my friends summer home, north of Warsaw, on a lake, they caught and cooked another named fish that I don't remember, it had a odd Polish name. Do you think you know what this was?

Michael Dabrowski


Mike, It probably was a pike. I believe the term in Polish is szczupaki. It is a fresh water fish and is fished quite extensively in the US. Caught many of them myself in my youth.



Northern Pike
Esox Lucieus

* Length: 18 to 30 inches
* Weight: 20 ounces to 8 pounds
* Coloring: dark shades green, through olive green to brown on back and upper sides; lighter on lower sides; cream to milk-white on underside
* Common Names: pike, great northern pike, jack, pickerel
* Found in Lakes: Michigan, Huron, Ontario, Erie and Superior

This long, jut-jawed fish has an image problem. In some regions of Lake Superior, fishermen prize it as a tough and worthy game fish. In other areas, they disdain it as a "slimy snake" and a destroyer of worthier fish.

Without a doubt, the northern pike is a voracious predator -- consuming three to four times its weight during the course of a year. Besides smaller fish, its diet includes frogs, crayfish, small mammals, and birds -- almost anything within range.

Northern pike inhabit protected, weedy bays. After the spring ice melts, they move further into the shallows and marshes to spawn. They retreat to deep, cool waters in summer.

They are usually taken by trolling, though in the heat of summer still-fishing in deeper waters near weed beds is recommended. Unlike the muskellunge, which often breaks the surface in its struggle with the angler, the lean, muscular northern pike fights the hook in deep water. It's not as flashy as the leaping muskie, but just as strong.

Fishermen who land a "northern" harvest a fish of exceptional flavor and texture -- provided the skin is carefully removed before cooking. In the 17th century, Izaak Walton gave a recipe for roast stuffed pike that called for sweet marjoram, pickled oysters, mace, claret wine and anchovies. The result, he claimed, was "too good for any but anglers and honest men."

When cooked it was tasty but very bony.

[justjohn]

livia said:

valpomike said:

To all,

When in Poland I ate something, I think they call Pike Perch? What is this? A Pike or Perch? Is it fresh water or salt water? How big do they grow? What is the best way to make them? I had it broiled, and it was all right.
Do we have this fish here in the U.S.A.? If not why?
Just another dumb questions from me, but I am sure, one of our many teachers, or other smart people here can help, if they will, without calling me names, or laughing at me.
Also, when at my friends summer home, north of Warsaw, on a lake, they caught and cooked another named fish that I don't remember, it had a odd Polish name. Do you think you know what this was?

Michael Dabrowski

Michael, the Wikipedia says the pike-perch is zander (sander). It is very very delicious and one of my favourite fish.

I believe Livia got it correct.

[valpomike]

JJ,

Yes, I do know of Northern Pike, have had it, and don't care for it, but this is not what that is, it is Pike-Perch, or Perch-Pike, another kind of fish. Could be we don't have any here in the U.S.A.

Michael Dabrowski

[kaima]

Zander
Sitzostedion lucioperca

The zander or pike-perch is a true species and not a cross between pike and perch. It is resident in England in a few lakes and slow water systems, chiefly Bedfordshire but spreading rapidly. Active summer and winter, this keen-eyed predator feeds avidly in dirty water and at night. Methods: as for pike. Bait; small fish. Zander reach double-figure weights, but fight poorly compared with pike.


www.fishingfacts.info/fish3.htm

[livia]

kaima said:

Zander
Sitzostedion lucioperca


www.fishingfacts.

That's the guy!! I don't know how to fish it but it is great to eat. I found the recipe
www.polandforall.com/zander-fillets-in-cream-and-herbs.html

[valpomike]

Great work, you two. Now I know. Thank you very much.


Michael Dabrowski

[justjohn]

Mike,

here's a fish you want on your table. We can catch this locally.

[valpomike]

jj,

Is that a Monk fish?

Michael Dabrowski

[Bob S]

kaima said:

Zander
Sitzostedion lucioperca

The zander or pike-perch is a true species and not a cross between pike and perch. It is resident in England in a few lakes and slow water systems, chiefly Bedfordshire but spreading rapidly. Active summer and winter, this keen-eyed predator feeds avidly in dirty water and at night. Methods: as for pike. Bait; small fish. Zander reach double-figure weights, but fight poorly compared with pike.


www.fishingfacts.info/fish3.htm

That looks like the common "Yellow Perch" and found in great amounts in the Great Lakes.

[kaima]

wb4rff said:

kaima said:

Zander
Sitzostedion lucioperca

The zander or pike-perch is a true species and not a cross between pike and perch. It is resident in England in a few lakes and slow water systems, chiefly Bedfordshire but spreading rapidly. Active summer and winter, this keen-eyed predator feeds avidly in dirty water and at night. Methods: as for pike. Bait; small fish. Zander reach double-figure weights, but fight poorly compared with pike.


www.fishingfacts.info/fish3.htm

That looks like the common "Yellow Perch" and found in great amounts in the Great Lakes.

Yup, I grew up feeding on the lake Perch. I see the resemblance as well, but going back to the same source, here is the comparison:



Bold vertical stripes and spiny leading dorsal fin distinguish the perch. This common fish of lakes and rivers is big at 2lb and at 4lb-plus, the catch of a lifetime. Methods: spinning, float fishing, paternostering, running leger. Baits: small fish, worm, maggot. Lake perch feed at all levels, hunting near weed and reed beds during mild periods. In winter they seek deep water. River perch inhabit slacks and backwaters.

Though this one seems to be green rather than yellow.

[justjohn]

valpomike said:

jj,

Is that a Monk fish?

Michael Dabrowski

The wolffishes are a family, Anarhichadidae, of perciform fishes. They are native to cold waters of the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, where they live on the continental shelf and slope, to depths of about 600 m. They are bottom-feeders, eating hard-shelled invertebrates such as clams, echinoderms and crustaceans, which they crush with strong canine and molar teeth. The longest species, Anarrhichthys ocellatus, grows to 240 cm in length.

I've caught some of these out about 20 to 25 miles. They are good eating fish.

[Bob S]

kaima said:

wb4rff said:

That looks like the common "Yellow Perch" and found in great amounts in the Great Lakes.

Yup, I grew up feeding on the lake Perch. I see the resemblance as well, but going back to the same source, here is the comparison:



Bold vertical stripes and spiny leading dorsal fin distinguish the perch. This common fish of lakes and rivers is big at 2lb and at 4lb-plus, the catch of a lifetime. Methods: spinning, float fishing, paternostering, running leger. Baits: small fish, worm, maggot. Lake perch feed at all levels, hunting near weed and reed beds during mild periods. In winter they seek deep water. River perch inhabit slacks and backwaters.

Though this one seems to be green rather than yellow.

That 2nd one looks like a White Perch. The family includes: Yellow Perch, Pickeral, Pike (different types) and the Mean, ole Muskie. The Pickeral includes the Walleye and that famous or infamous PIKE PERCH. The Yellow Perch is good eating too but it takes almost a barrelful of them to get a meal. There is a lot of confusion with the ESOX family names because I have heard of the Walleye Pike, Northern Pike, Chain Pickeral, Muskie and the Yellow Perch. The main idea is that they all taste good. ;D ;D

[kaima]

wb4rff said:

That 2nd one looks like a White Perch. The family includes: Yellow Perch, Pickeral, Pike (different types) and the Mean, ole Muskie. The Pickeral includes the Walleye and that famous or infamous PIKE PERCH. The Yellow Perch is good eating too but it takes almost a barrelful of them to get a meal. There is a lot of confusion with the ESOX family names because I have heard of the Walleye Pike, Northern Pike, Chain Pickeral, Muskie and the Yellow Perch. The main idea is that they all taste good. ;D ;D

Aha .. I never did consider the 'family' of perch... it sounds like a bunch of them, and as you point out, 'good eating' is what is important!

About the only time I really wish I knew the Latin names for the fish or plants is when we talk about the similar species we know in America and those common to Europe.

Kai