2 pike in 90 mins fishing

[Tom]

Went fishing twice today to test out my new lures, first time i went to a river for about 30mins and caught a fish of about 6-8 pounds on a sr9 sb. Later in the evening i went fishing to a pit/lake full of large pike for an hour or so, and hooked a pike probably 12-15 pounds on a deadbait i was reeling in to recast. The pike snapped me up almost straight away, i was using 12lb mono to 20lb trace wire tied with a size 1/2 catfish hook on a hair rig. Luckily my line snapped on the loop of my knot, so i managed to keep my float, although the poor pike is probably still dragging round 3 lamprey sections and a size 1/2 hook as i am typing
The line i was using was berkley big game, and i am afraid it is not one i can recommend, nor buy anymore I have lost count of the number of times it has snapped as i have tightened a knot, and it is supposed to be 12lb bs, i guess i should have taken notice of that. Nevermind

[casey10]

Thought I would slip this pic in here. A pickeral I caught a couple of weeks ago with most of his top jaw missing. Still put up a good fight and bit the senko no problem.

[Tom]

2 more pike today, i can't use trebles on the lake, so rapalas were out of the question, but i had the next best thing, storm shads. First cast of the day, and a lovely pike of around 5-6lbs took a storm wildeye pike, and after trying it in the next swim, a huge pike grabbed it and decided he was gonna munch the tail off. After changing to a storm wildeye 6inch jig in a green tiger colour, and making about half-a-dozen casts, the pike grabbed it again, and this time he was hooked!!! After a long fight he went 17lb 4oz, and had almost bitten the tail off this lure aswell!! I have just repaired the tail with a lighter.
Both fish were caught on my left hand shimano callisto that i mentioned in a post a couple of months ago.
Another good result ;D

[Tom]

i got the pics, i just cant figure out how on earth to upload em a little help please ?

[lipripper]

dang casey , thats the first hair lipped pickeral ive ever seen ...lol ... nice catch though ...

[Tom]

i faintly remember catching a pike a few years back with a far less severe "mutation" than that. I have also seen a few pictures of pike caught in books and magazines too, although they have all been far less severe than that little critter LOL. That is by far the worst deformed jaw i have ever seen!

[rocfish]

Nice tough survivor pike. Its mouth is probably most likely the result of a healed injury rather than a deformation. That severe of a deformity from birth would have probably not survived to adulthood. I'm always amazed at how resilient fish can be as they grow and learn to survive.
Interesting.

[Tom]

pike also eat worms and stuff, so it might not always need to chase fish. Mine was caught on deadbait, so it could have just lived off dead fish and worms and whatever else comes along.

[Tom]

oh, and i caught another pike today, on the same storm jig that caught the 17 pounder. It came off eventually; After hooking it and playing it in for a long while, it came in to about 20-30 yards, then leaped straight out of the water, completely (tail and everything), shook its head in mid air, and literally launched my lure, it must have travelled about 15 feet, then got stuck in the reeds just to the left of me, luckily i got my lure back, but the pike was long gone. It wasn't a huge fish, but it wasn't a jack pike either, i would estimate it at about 12 or 13 pounds

[indafishinhole]

I once caught this pike off of a private beach once... It was a meter long. Very nice fish. Sadly, it was only 6 pounds.... It must have been starving... But on the bright side, he did taste really good.