Biggest pike of the year (so far)

[Jon P]

Stuck my biggest pike of the year yesterday afternoon! Our rivers are in their summer low water phase, and in a few weeks here the state will impose “hoot owl” regulations on fishing the river. That means no fishing after 8 AM and no fishing before 8 PM. The purpose being to keep fishing pressure off sensitive cold water fish. 

When it gets hot like this big pike are easy to target. They’ll be schooled up in deep water, preferably under the shade of a bridge pylon. Last Monday I went out to this spot after work to “test the waters”. To see if any truly big pike moved up under a particular bridge that has historically held some massive fish. Got a few follows from fish in the high-twenty low-thirty range right off the bat and wasn’t too impressed. Near the end of the day though I had a beautiful fish in the high forties low fifties follow me in and turn away at the rock I was standing on. I’ve been trying to catch that one big female, but still to no avail.

The pictured fish is one of the larger pike, but not the largest. It ended up nailing my 11” Hiro at my feet and did one long run under the pylon before tuckering out. Just short of 34” and I didn’t bother weighing it as it seemed pretty beaten by the fight. At most it could have run 10-12 lbs.

[CG_Fishes]

Awesome fish. Makes me miss pike even more. While your rivers are in their low stage mine have been flooded and muddy for weeks with the rainiest July on record ever here. Out of the first 20 days of July, 16 had severe T-storms. Good luck on getting that true giant to eat, I can't even imagine seeing one that big, I lost my mind when I saw a high 30 low 40 follow

[bassbass]

Great pike

[BassinMass978]

Good looking pike!  Sounds like an epic eat too 

[nikopap1]

Nice pike man!