41" Pike from Tuesday

I hope the photos uploaded this time. Anyway, I thought I would post this fish because someone out there has a story to tell. I caught it on the north tip of 3rd reef on an 11" sucker/tip-up. After one heck of a battle on light line (walleye set up) I landed the hog. The crazy thing was it had a Cabelas deep diving silver/black walleye trolling crank in the side of its face, along with 6 feet or so of mono. I thought it was quite odd that the lure was still hooked perfectly in the corner of the pike's mouth. Maybe there was a weak spot in the line or the pig dove into the prop or something...either way I thought it was pretty strange. I included a photo of the lure as well, in the hopes someone might recognize it and be able to fill in the blanks for me. Oh, and as for the fish...she was safely released once my hook and the lure were removed.

Joel






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Joel congratulations on a beautiful fish. Also thanks for releasing this beauty back into the Bay, great job !

Joel any big eyes or just that 27, 25 and bunch of perch from that mud spot!!!:)

Congrats. Thanks for sharing that story!

Nice fish! Great story!

And I have to add my thanks for releasing such great brood-stock for the future fishery... I like to eat pike just as much as the next guy, but those are sort of fish that need to go back (if the're in good shape of course) and pass along some genetics... Great fish!

I'm a muskie man during the open water season, so releasing this fish was a no-brainer. The opportunity to catch big fish is what has kept me fishing LBDN for all these years. As for the walleyes, the big ones eluded us. 26.5" and 3-25" fish were the biggest. All those were caught in the mud. We have been catching some legal walleyes on the reefs though. I would say the bite has been slower than normal, but little bay is always hit and miss. We always mark plenty, but getting them to commit is another story.

So much for the myth about hooks rusting out in a few weeks when left in a fish. They still look to be in good shape to me.

Great color on that fish. Thanks for putting her back and maybe becoming part of some other fisherman's fish story.

Yep, coming from another fellow musky guy, great example of catch and release. In the days of digital cameras and cell phone cameras, it's so easy to get your shot and get them back in the water if you want to. Awesome picture and there are plenty of taxidermists doing esox reproductions these days that you could even put her on the wall in the future if you wanted to. Wouldn't have knocked anybody for keeping that one, but I appreciate the example you set after the catch. Congrats.

---Benji

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