Mike W’s big pike on Mille Lacs

Just saw the pic, must have missed a thread. How big was that bad boy? As a guy who loves pike, you gotta appreciate a ‘slobbo’ like that one.

Great catch, Mike !

Where is the picture of this monster?

Gator Hunter

She was a nice one. 42, 43″ I am not really sure. This was my second night of fishing with james and I was kinda out of it. This fish was a true 3 man effort to get in and release alive. From tangled lines, wrong lines cut, some handling and a lure that was completely inhaled. I was happy to be able to see this one swim away. Maybe James or TBO could give a idea on the weight of this fish. What a great fish. Thanks James for the great photo.

Here she is…

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Where is the picture of this monster?

Gator Hunter

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Yikes! Mike! Heck of a fish!….But wrong hat!

Congrats Mike… thats one BIG northern!

If I remember correctly she was 45 inches. I know the tape we had wasn’t long enough to measure her. We marked her length out on the floor of the boat, then measured it after we got her back in the water. I wish I would have thought to take a picture of that husky jerk deep down in her throat. James and I struggled to cut hooks, hold her down, and be as gentle as possible. I will let James tell the story about the crossed and tangled lines, then the miss-cut line to make it really exciting. I have to say that James was cool under fire with this “turbo snot rocket”, handlining and all.

I gotta tip my hat to you for that fish. Nice lookin northern.

SOOOOOOOO What Me & Dad want to know is WHY WHY WHY didnt you bring it home?????????? I am telling on you!!!!!! HA HAAA

What a pig. What do you think 25LBS.?

Gator Hunter

We didn’t weigh her as she had already been through quite an ordeal… and here’s the story on that fish.

We were trolling HJ’s on the west side of the lake, 3 rods out, all in holders. My rod doubles up and Mike grabs it. I tell him to take it easy as its obviously a huge fish given the doubled-up rod. I reel Mike’s rod in without a problem. Joe SMith is fishing opposite Mike and his plug rides up the line to the fish. No biggie I say to the guys. This happens on occassion and as long as the guy fighting the fish can still retrieve line, there’s no problem.

Mike calmly and slowly works the fish to the boat and its quite apparent that this is an enormous fish given the length of the runs and the size and power behind the head shakes.

And then Mike can’t retrieve any more line. The crank that had ridden up his line had wrapped around a few more times and stopped everythng dead. Bad deal.

I grab the line to the fish and Joe grabs my side cutters. I tell him to cut the line at the crank in the hope that the line could be quickly freed before this fish was lost.

Long story short, in the darkness and in a hurry to get everything freed up, the wrong line was cut and I ended up attached to a very angry pike. I had wound the line around my hand a couple times and once the line was severed, I was stuck handlining this fish to the boat. I carefully wrapped the line around my hand so I could play it back out smoothly if this big fish ran. And she did! Actually, if she had taken off in a straight line away from the boat, she would have taken a couple fingers with her as we were using spiderwire. Instead of heading on her runs away from the boat she would cut a wide arc behind the boat from the starboard to port and back again! After a couple more runs we had her in the net and I got to keep all my fingers.

A big thanks goes out to Joe who helped my remove the plug from this big ol’ girl. We had to go in behind the gill plate and cut hooks that had stuck well back in her mouth… going back out the front would have likely killed the fish. I held her… Joe clipped and manuevered the plug back out the gill flap and in no time she was in the livewell to revive before a quick pic. She release well and was off like a shot. Truely a great fish with a pretty cool story to help us remember that particular night.

These will make you really hate him……… not really.
Look at these two piggies, only a couple of the many we boated that same night.

Hey Joe, how cold does a guy’s hands have to get to be that purple?!… lol

Nice pic.

He looks part Smurf

One hell of a fish story guys! This one’s right up there with Moby Dick. James, glad you got to keep your fingers. Could have been a very bad situation… Does say something about the strength of superlines though…

We warned him about taking crap about those mits. I bet he doesn’t wear them again when we take pictures. LOL!!!!

Boy am I glad he wasn’t wearing those things the night before, it sure would have made me question his masculinity.

At least I didnt have to worry about you guys trying to steel my gloves.
This was my first test of latex gloves. after wearing them for a not even real cold night I give them maybe a 1. They do keep your hands dry but do nothing for warmth.
Now I have about six pairs of purple latex gloves to do something with. Maybe Xmas presents for my fishing buddys.

Those other fish arent too shabby either! I didnt even see those gloves!!!! You do have some purply hands there! Guess I know what I am getting for x-mas…. LOL!!!!!! Give Dad a pair he can use them for deer hunting!

Maybe someone can help me with this. Im looking for the photo of the pike that went along with this post. Is the post to old that the photo is lost? James or TBO do you still have the photo?

Oh ya, I have the picture….but now it will cost you…

OK, OK, OK I will send it to you…….

Thaks Joe. The only copy I have is one that is printed off on the computor.

Did you get it?