Labor Day Weekend Monster Pikefest

[JDTuna]

Headed out on Saturday on the hunt for one of my favorite freshwater species: northern pike. I hit one of my spots that’s been producing well, and quickly caught a decent sized fish, but not the one I was looking for. It took a bunch more casts before I got another hookup, and this one felt like the right one. It powered me deep into a snag, but somehow I managed to pull her back out. Once I got her to the bank, I grabbed the leader and reached down to get a hold of her gill plate, which is my normal protocol. However, she wasn’t having any of it. She kept thrashing and I was having trouble getting a hold of her. I noticed she was barely hooked. She kept thrashing, and the hook popped out. I wasn’t about to lose the fish at this point. I jammed my hands into the muddy water, and tried again to get ahold of her. Then, she managed to put one big tooth deep in my finger. I figured I wasn’t going to get ahold of the gill plate, so I just bear hugged the fish and put her on the bank. The fish was a tank.

https://i.postimg.cc/j2JMy81z/20190831-163848.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/cJXkWtY8/IMG-20190901-083237-998.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/cHC9L1Mk/IMG-20190901-083238-001.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/xd0pB3k2/IMG-20190901-083238-017.jpg

After I released her, I headed to get lunch and wash out the bite. I got to the second spot and caught a couple more fish in short order, including another beast.

https://i.postimg.cc/pTS0hNsW/IMG-20190901-083238-003.jpg

[ALK11]

Nice job man. Those are some good looking fish.

[AndyS]

Of all the local freshwater fish I think Northern Pike have the coolest colors !

[oelgnal1]

Good healthy looking monsters, did you get any measurements? I would think that the first and third must have been at least 36" or close to it. Pike of that size and especially muskies can do some serious damage to unprotected hands if you loose control of them. Nice job saving the big one for a picture.

[thmyorke1]

Living dangerously! Wear those knife resistant gloves chef's use and then you can lip pike :D
Hope the wound ends up ok and clean. Nice pike

[Gfedor]

That's a big fish. My buddy pulled a monster out of Farrington lake couple of years ago thru the ice, couldn't belive the size of it either.
Nice pics

[msgdan]

Great looking pike !!! Nice going........there were several times that a pike's teeth broke the skin on my hand and arm.....twice resulting in a very nasty infection......keep an eye on that !!

[NJSquatch]

Mud wrestling gators now?

Good work and monitor that bite dude

[FASTEDDIE29]

Beautiful Pike out of the ole Millstone!!! Great fish buddy! Keep an eye on that wound. Ouch!!!:D

[Esox Luciano]

Those are a couple of beefy bruisers! Way to land the fish under pressure too, chit gets crazy sometimes!!

X3 on the wound though, hope it's healing well.