Well it finally happened yesterday. Nope……DID NOT catch the elusive 17 inch crappie that haunts my sleep, but finally tagged a big pike fishing crappies in a new spot. It has always amazed me in this particular location that I have never seen big pike. Tullibee, whitefish and crappies…..BUT NO BIG PIKE?? Doesn’t add up. WELL I watched a FREAK of a marck flash through my Marcum and then scoop up my diamond jig in which frankly I was reluctant to even set the hook on. When I pulled the trigger it was evident immediately that I was a way overmatched with my tackle. Seldom will I have customers come help in my shack, but I called out saying “BOYS…….I’ve got a big big fish!!” What was about to unfold gentleman I can honestly say was the toughest battle I’ve ever had with a fish. My little noodle rod and my “horse hair” for fishing line (2lb Mono) had hooked a very large and equally angry northern pike. We honestly fought this fish for a good hour while almost being spooled 4-5 times before we finally saw the fish. Of course the first goal was simply to identify the fish. From there we knew we had another huge challenge to bring this overpowering fish topside. Well as expected for this big pike not to simply cut the line I had that diamond jigs barely hooked on the outside of his large jaw. When the fish finally came to the hole there was simply no way to back it up to start it up the hole. In faith I handed the rod to my customer and started taking off sweatshirts. I said I am going to get wet and I don’t know if I can reach that far down the hole. I stripped down to just my bottom shirt and went shoulder deep tickling this massive pikes head,gils and TEETH. Finally I slipped my hand into the correct position and brought her topside. The girthy gal taped 37 1/4 inches and had an estimated weight of 15-16lbs.
I assure you we also landed an awesome whitefish yesterday and even though neither were our targeted fish they made for a very memorable day on the hardwater!!
Congratulations to Big Jim on the fantastic Whitefish. 
We also did manage some nice crappies (are targeted fish….LOL), but they were again a bit tight lipped with the 30 below start to the morning. I suspect the 37 inch pike roaming the mud did not help the matter!! 
Man do I love fishing this time of year!! CANNOT WAIT TO get back out there!! 
Thanks for adjusting my sleds rear shocks. I think we all enjoyed that! 
It’s one of the disaster making for light line. The other one is sturgeons when you get them up next to the hole and they decide to wrap their tail around your line. It’s something that after over an hour of fight just to get the mishap.
