The Pike is Ireland ’s largest native fresh water fish, and one of the most voracious predators to be found anywhere.

It is built like a torpedo, with a narrow, stream-lined body, and fins set towards its rear, which allows one flick of its muscular tail to send it speeding towards its hapless prey. Once it has caught its dinner, there is little chance of escape for the prey.
The Pike’s large mouth is lined with huge, razor-sharp teeth which point backwards and once the Pike has a grip of its prey, it shakes it until it’s stunned, then turns it round and swallows it whole.
Pike are known to eat Trout, Perch, juvenile Pike, Ducks, Water-Voles and just about anything else they can get their jaws around. Funnily, though, one fish they are known to have trouble with is the tiny, harmless Stickleback. Footage has shown a Pike swallowing a Stickleback, only for the spines (stickles) of the prey fish to become lodged in the roof of the mouth of the Pike, forcing the Pike to spit the tiny fish back out, unharmed!

Pike are common round Galway in the local canals and rivers, and also in just about all the fresh water lakes in the region. They are seen as a pest by anglers, particularly in rivers such as the Corrib, where they compete with fishermen for the highly prized Brown Trout.