I have a picture of me holding this pike, but I didn't know this particular photo still existed. It is a few years old, and really started me off on by hunt for giant pike. This one is not too big, but at a thin 36" and around 8 or 9 pounds, it was the biggest to date. The best part is that bass was the bait. That is about a 16" or 17" bass around 3 pounds. I had gotten off of work and had about an hour and a half until sunset and a bucket of shiners from a previous trip. All I did was set out 2 tip ups and sat in my truck reading a magazine. Less than 15 minutes later the shallow tip up flag went up. I set the hook, but it felt like I was pulling in weeds. Eventually I turned the fish up the hole and saw a bass. Around it was a huge pike mouth holding onto its dinner. At the last minute the pike let go, but it couldn't turn around in the hole. I just side swiped its body with my hand and drug it out of the hole. The pike was never even hooked. This is the picture I took moments later. You can't use a bait too big for pike.
