Throwback Pike

[Sluggo]

The big Idaho gator brought back a memory from 1991. I and a buddy, who is no longer with us, went shore fishing at Sak. The ice was not completely off as you can see. We got 1 bite that day, my buddy caught a 51” er. My buddy always released big fish so getting it weighed was not considered. Had I caught it, I think it would’ve went to a scale. We rushed through taking photos with my 35mm camera and released her. He caught it on a smelt under a bobber and a 6” steel leader. I gave him grief about the tiny leader but he caught the fish, not me, so what do I know. I often wonder what that fish would have weighed.

 

[svnmag]

Wow what a beast! I'm guessing 28ish...

 

[Maddog]

Cool. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Vollmer]

That is a TANK! Great story.
Pretty great that he put it back, too!

 

[svnmag]

Looking at the Idaho fish again I'm going to give three more pounds(31ish). I believe it's a giant male. I really don't "know" squat.

 

[LBrandt]

Bigger than the Dog. LB

 

[scrotcaster]

You know its big when a grown man has to brace his wrist up to lift the thing lol such a cool picture. thanks for sharing

 

[Bfishn]

Wowzer, that thing was probably close to 30#. Back in about 02-03 I got a 24# through the ice in the spring on Sak. I didn't get a measure on it though. Only fish we caught that day as well and released her to swim again. This pic reminds me of that but this one looks bigger than mine.

 

[Sum1]

28-30ish

 

[Sum1]

Crazy how hard it is to break the 30lb mark with a pike. You would think with all the smelt in Sak and Oahe it would happen more often. I don’t believe I have ever even seen a pic of a legit 30 lber come out of ND or SD in my 45 years. Doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened but I’m just not aware of it. Rare fish indeed though Sluggo!

 

[fishman]

30.07 out of Pollock SD 47 inch. Great pike Sluggo

 

[walleyewanker]

ND state record pike has an
eight pound basket included.

 

[svnmag]

Crazy how hard it is to break the 30lb mark with a pike. You would think with all the smelt in Sak and Oahe it would happen more often. I don’t believe I have ever even seen a pic of a legit 30 lber come out of ND or SD in my 45 years. Doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened but I’m just not aware of it. Rare fish indeed though Sluggo!

 

[Opie11]

ND state record pike has an
eight pound basket included.

Is this a legit claim? I hadn't heard it before and it was a couple of my neighbors who caught the fish. Before my time however, so hadn't really gotten any first hand accounts of it.

 

[Retired Educator]

Not an expert but pretty sure in order to be record size is also determined by spawned or not. Many years ago was fishing in northern Canada and my grandfather caught 2 big pike (big as in long.} Fish measured 39" and 39 1/2". Big old bellies were empty and weights were 12# and 12 1/2#. Normally both should have been in the 20# range.

I'm not anywhere near a biologist but had to be due to spawned out pike as they both looked very healthy otherwise.

 

[wslayer]

Big old bellies were empty and weights were 12# and 12 1/2#. Normally both should have been in the 20# range.

Holey crap, that's about like an eight lb bowling ball dropped out of them.

 

[Shockwave]

Those are some big fish. I hooked onto a big pike on Oahe a couple years back (not as big as these). My son was 7 at the time and I handed the pole to him as soon as I felt it was a heavy fish. It was like watching a deep sea fisherman reel in a yellowfin tuna. Good times! He got a catch and release whopper patch for it and still talks about it all the time.