NJFishing.com Your Best Online Source for Fishing Information in New Jersey - First Ever Pike Caught in middle of night on Senko

- NJFishing.com Fresh Water Fishing (https://www.njfishing.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=8)

- - First Ever Pike Caught in middle of night on Senko (https://www.njfishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102069)

First Ever Pike Caught in middle of night on Senko

I headed over to Spruce Run for some night fishing about a week ago and decided to fish the point where Spruce Run Stream enters the reservoir. I figured some of the trout stocked in the stream might have found there way down to the reservoir with all the heavy rain and I also just wanted to fish.

I was fishing mostly with jerk lures looking for whatever would bite but I also had another rod rigged with 8 lb mono and a wacky senko that I would just cast into the current towards the van syckle bridge and hop back towards the end of the point. It was a very cold night and honestly I wasn’t really expecting to catch anything but after about a half hour I picked up the senko rod I had cast five minutes before and forgot about and when I tried to give the lure a little hop I realized I couldn’t budge it. That is when the drag started screaming and I had to carefully tighten it so that I didn’t run out of line. I knew whatever I hooked was big and figured it was a cat but was praying maybe it was a hybrid. I fought the fish for about five minutes and finally got it close enough to see that (1) it was a large pike! And (2) there was no way it was going to fit in my trout net. Luckily the bank where I was fishing was gradual and I had waders on so I got the fish as close and shallow as I could and then grabbed him by the gills and rested him on the shore. It was really cold so I quickly removed the hook with the pliers I was happy to have (I usually don’t) and took two quick picks before getting the fish back in the water. I realize resting the fish on the Bank is not ideal but it was the only way I could remove the hook before releasing. Please no lectures on fish handling, next time I will make sure I have a bigger net! Believe the fish was around 30” and fat. Great random catch!