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Weighed her 4 times on a digital...got from 19 to 21lbs... Seems these kind of pics/claims always get disputed. I don't want to argue or fight about it. Believe what you want. I'm over 6'2" tall if that's any reference for you. She was just under 40", fat as a pig, w/ a full belly...
I hope you put that one back to make more pike that size. Too many ppl keep them just to kill them. Nice fish tho
Great fish, heading up this morning to try Noxon myself. Do you guys keep all your bigger pike? I usually keep a few in the 2-5lb range, but after that they all go back unless they are going on the wall. Those big spawners are important in the health of the fishery, and it's tough to grow 20 lb + fish if you kill them when they are 12lbs. I see the same thing with trout, Browns lake turns out tons of nice trout, but could produce numbers of fish in the 10lb class if some of the mid class fish were put back (lots in the 4-6 lb range). Nothing against harvest, I love to eat fish and try go bring home some meat every time I go out, but thin we could turn out a few more BIG fish with selective harvest. Maybe a idea for a new thred. Good luck and tight lines.
The perch fishing was pretty slow, but they were all good sized. Got a two-fer-one deal w/ the pike though, and she had already skinned this one for me.. (Image removed from quote.)
Honestly, most fish I catch go back. I fish a TON for large/smallmouth bass in the summer, and I haven't (to my knowledge) killed one yet. I don't do a lot of pike fishing, but I catch a few, and the big ones normally get a free pass back to the water. This one was a special case for me, and I did feel a little bad about it, but she sure tasted DAMN good. Fed my family plus company one night last week. In fact, it was so good, it convinced my buddy that ate w/ me that he's now going pike fishing w/ me...(= See.....she didn't die in vain. [/quoteSounds like we are on the same page. I bonk a couple of big fish a year (hooked deep or if they really stand out in some way) and feel a little bad about it. Your still harvesting selectively and putting back more mature fish than your taking. I've just seen pics of stringers of pike in the teens out of that lake and wonder how big they would get if more of those fish went back, ya know:).
+1