2 for 1... Sort of.

[pikestabber]

With steady temps this past week the spearing has been fun... Not for pike so much, but we've been seeing lots of gills/crappies, bass, dogfish, and the like. Keeps it interesting. When our steady 30s dropped 15 degrees overnight, that was enough to shut things down for Sunday and nothing seemed interested in coming by (and the few panfish I saw just skirted the hole). Right about quitting time the top right of my hole started to light up, and without a doubt it was going to be a dogfish...they like coming in right under the ice and will even pop up to grab a gulp or two of air and say "hi" which is cause for a change of drawers if you aren't paying attention

Well, it slipped into view, but I couldn't wrap my mind around that fact that it had a pike head! Sure enough, it was a 3lb pike with something sticking out of its mouth that I figured was a gill, but she was having a hard time swimming (as evidenced by it's location if nothing else). I ended up sticking it for a better inspection, and 3lbs is enough to get a slab of meat off of. When I had it topside I could see it had a decent bluegill swallowed sideways and it seemed rather lodged in there (I couldn't pull it out for anything). After cleaning it I could see the head was starting to dissolve, so it had been stuck in her mouth for a little while anyhow. Thought you guys might enjoy the sequence. You can see how wide the mouth is flared due to the fish its eating. For reference, the gill was 6 ounces:

This fish wanted no part of what I was offering. Just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time where some curious guy with a spear was above him

[pikestabber]

I forgot to mention, but in the first pic the newspaper ad directly under the pike's mouth says "New Life Together" which I wish I would've gotten in a full pic. Kind of a funny coincidence