Gigantic Pike

[buzzsaw]

I was sent this picture and told it was a 54 inch, 44 lb Pike landed on Rainy Lake. I am however skeptical... but figured I'd post it for others to see. I'm guessing it's European... Norway or something like that.

[buzzsaw]

FYI....

Minnesota STATE RECORD

45 pounds, 12 ounces, length not available, Basswood Lake (Lake County), 05/16/1929.

[MJBo]

I saw this pic posted on another forum. I think the consensus was it was a european fish. Gosh that thing is enormous.

[riverrat56]

I'm gunna throw the talk flag on this one, the head is distorted and the tail doesn't look right around the edges, also the lighting on the tail is wrong

[thewalleyeguy]

The sizes seem a bit off to me.

[eyepatrol]

Certainly doesn't look like Rainy Lake. Too flat, not enough trees, etc.

HUGE fish though...wow!

[matthothand]

That's an awesome fish. That's all I've got for ya's.

[ocf]

i dont know if its real but holy cow is it large

[hanson]

Anyone seen those photos of Doug Stange with those monster alligator gar?

First time I looked at this photo, those photos of Stange were the first thing to pop into my mind.

The big flat head, super fat belly, and the paddle shaped tail all screamed monster gar to me.

Maybe I'm seeing things but that is one of the goofiest looking pike I've ever seen.

But then again, I've never seen one that weighed 40+ lbs either!

[hanson]

Hmmm...

Does the big pike above have 2 gill plates on this side?

[fishermn]

Yeah something about that head looks funny...

But, whatever it is its BIG and I bet it was a blast to catch!!

[SledNeck]

Northwest Territories Possibly. Could be Great Slave Lake.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Looks real big and real fake to me. The head seems way weird and like hanson said, 2 gill plates????

[toonfish]

And the dorsal fin looks too triangular to me, they are usually rounder are they not?

[MercMan]

If indeed this fish is real, is this the best picture this guy could find to email out? If I would catch a fish that big, I would take as many photos as I had film, would have witnesses and a story, and would send out a photo that would end speculation.....I'm not buying this one.

[Fishguy75]

Post deleted by Fishguy75

[Tyler Holm]

Also, if you look closely at the tail fin, its jagged, as opposed to a round/symetrical fin.

[Time Rider]

I'm not so sure. It looks to me like he's sitting on the edge of the seat, on only one cheek so to speak. His left knee bears that out as it looks lower than the right. In that situation the proportion is correct.

I don't know what the black spot is underneath the seat, but it could easily be something other than the seat. It looks almost like it is leaning or attached to the rear deck support.

Also, if this is a fake it is pretty well done. It took some time to do it. Someone with patience and this kind of computer skill leaving something so obvious as an extra gill plate? That makes no sense to me since I went into Photo Suite and removed the blemish in about 5 minutes just to see how hard it would be to do. I don't think it's a gill plate at all.

As for the tail, I've caught many Northerns right after the spawn with tails that looked worse than this one. He's wearing a pretty heavy jacket, this could be in the early spring no?

It could be a fake, I wouldn't rule that out, but then again maybe it is the real McCoy.

It is a shame that there is not more information about it.

~TR

[LEECH21]

That there is a real European Pike!

They get a lot larger there than their North American cousins.

[Dbl]

I agree with Leech21, buzz, and a few others. I did not want to use another sites photo so here is a link to a site from Ireland that shows a photo of European Pike. The two gill plates and the tail are found on these fish. So I would go with a real photo, just not out of Rainy Lake!

http://users.bart.nl/~slagterj/ireland.html

[Northlander]

Sure looks like it. If it is for real its a slob!

[buzzsaw]

Nice work DBL!! Nothing like the powerful search engines of today.

[TSCTSC]

Well, fish does look funny. But fat fishes always look funny. There is a post somewhere that shows a football shaped salmon.

That COULD be rainy river. Assuming that u are looking north towards the bay with the trees there forming part of the inlet to that bay.

Also, his boat is a Smokercraft and the electronics set up looks American to me. I am not sure how a european boat setup would be like, but it looks American.

[ChuckN]

I'm not buying it.

I see higher elevations in the background, along with what looks like a lot of white....snow?

The guy is dressed pretty warm and I wish I could get a read on the label of his coat.

There are large muskie/pike tackle boxes on the floor of the boat.

Looking at the rod holders in the boat...I have never seen a rod holder like that, have you? At least I presume that's what it is.

A fish like that is definitely possible in MN, but looking at the fish itself with pointed tail along with other things...my $.02 says no.

[hobbydog]

I think everyone is trying to read way too much into the picture.

I think it is probably real, taken somewhere in Europe. They grow bigger there. Certainly not Minnesota or you would have heard about it.

http://www.finefishing.com/aaspecies/pikemusky/europike.htm