Your true stories, big pike gabbing hooked fish...

[The Grebe]

I was fishing the Snake River a number of years back and I was hauling in a small walleye....it came to the surface and was maybe a foot from shore, in about 6 inches of water and I was just going to lift him out and the water opened up!

All I seen was the huge head, with mouth open and gills flared....I mean, it looked like you could have put a football in this things mouth! Startled the beejeebers out of me!

The monster pike held on for a minute or so and then let go and I pulled in the little walleye...he looked like he had been put through a shredder.

There was this old farmer type standing on the river bank and he says, "Yah, ya shudda let er take it."

Yeah, like that old timer would have made the right move! He would have probably let go of the rod, fell in and drowned! A person would have had to have the reflexes of a cadaver to have not reacted to that mighty strike.

Heres another, this happened two summers ago. My one son was reeling in a crappie and we both seen that it was a crappie and all of a sudden it started pulling really hard and running and when he got it in, it wasn't a crappie anymore, but a pike!

[Standard]

I had a small pike hooked once, was reeling it in close to the surface when I see this huge flash and my drag starts screaming. Didn't hang on, so I'm not sure how big it was.

Another time on a lake up north, I was in a kayak going after some sunfish. Super clear water, and they were all kind of schooling underneath me and in my shadow. Then I remember looking down, and there's nothing around. A few seconds later this pike just comes screaming underneath the kayak. Obviously looking for breakfast.

[SnakeRiver]

Here's a picture from a dualie in the BWCA. Look at the slime!

[Scott K]

I wouldnt speak to loudly of casting out a game fish for bait!

[federline]

OK, not quite pike/freshwater, but its saltwater cousin -

Florida Keys, just finished up pulling some lane snapper out of a reef, and we were now freelining yellowtail in chum clouds. After catching a couple boxers, another guy laid into a nice on, and started hauling him up when the captain yells "REEL! REEL! REEL! GO! GO! GO! HURRY!" so he puts the afterburners on the reel crank and as this nice fat yellowtail pops outta the water, this big BARRACUDA t-bones it in the air right above the water surface, surgically removing the body directly behind the gill plates, leaving entrails dangling from the fish head on his hook. He was devastated, and very pi$$ed, he was sure he had the big yellowtail for the day.

[hill7410]

It happened last night 3 seperate times. They all bit on to rockbass. They must taste a little better than the crappies.

[Hammer Handle]

My nephew, about 4 -5 at the time...was fishing sunnies with me and his grandpa in the boat. He was using his Snoopy fishing pole when he caught a nice sunnie. Right before the boat, a 5 pound northern launched onto it.

The splash scared the boy and he dropped his pole into the lake. My dad grabbed it (lucky the button on the reel was pushed by mistake) and handed it to the boy. My nephew shoot his head "No" and my dad said, "You hooked him, you reel him in!"

My nephew fought the northern, who somehow got hooked on the tiny hook. I was amazed the Snoopy pole held up. My nephew got him to the boat and we netted it.

The boy was so proud and he smiled the rest of the day. He was so excited to show his dad his fish that we had to go in. I will never forget his line as he ran to his dad on the shore. "Dad...look! I caught a fish so big we had to bend it to put it in the pail!".

BTW - It was legal to fish with gamefish (sunnies) many years ago. Or, at least I think it was. So don't slam the guy that says his Uncle used a sunfish for bait 30 years ago.

[Jarrod32]

This is about 10 years ago now...we were ice fishing for perch on Waubay Lake. My buddy hooks into one towards evening...now we're using ultralight perch gear here...and is reeling it in. Nothing spectacular...just another moderate perch, he figured.

Then his little ultralight rod is suddenly bent in half and the line is screaming out. After several minutes, he managed to get the 34" pike through the 8" hole...it hit the ice and spit the perch...and the little perch jig was hooked in the pike's upper lip.

[UMDSportsman]

I have had two pike grab sunnies when i was fishing on a bridge in northern mn, not a chance at either one. I also once hooked a northern by the pectoral fin with an ultra light panfish rod with 3 lb line. what a fight. luckily there was only 8 inches of ice. coat came off and sleeve rolled up, reached in and on the forth or fifth try and a couple runs later, i pulled it through the ice. what a fight.

[Walleye Guy]

I have been in the BWCA a few times where big pike have grabbed on to our stringer of walleyes. However my weirdest situation cam in Wisconsin. I was slip bobber fishing for walleyes and was mainly catching nice sunfish and bass. I had a sunfish on my line and a 10-12 lb pike grabbed the sunfish. I could never get the pike close enough to net him. He finally let go. I through back out and had a 13 inch bass bite as I was realing it in, the same northern grabbed the bass. Same story as I couldn't get him close enough to net the northern and the bass. I had my muskie gear in the boat so I thought casting for the northern would be a good idea. On the first cast of my bucktail I had a fericious strike. I figured it was the same pike. It ended up being a 42" inch tiger muskie. It was definitely not the same fish as I saw the pike very well.

Just a weird situation.

Good luck this weekend!

WG

[Kylersk]

I was about 12 years old or so. We use to head to this local lake and catch sunnies.

One day, a friend of mine was reeling in a little sunnie, when a big northern decided he wanted it instead. He took the sunnie and snapped the line. It scared my friend so bad he actually started to cry.

Well, not knowing the laws, we found some big line and a big hook. Caught our next sunnie and hooked him on the big hook. We didnt have a rod or reel for this line so we tied it to the dock. Sure enough the northern came by again and took the sunnie. We let it tire out and then pulled him in by hand. As we were holding him up on the shore, a passerby saw us and he brought us to the local paper. During our trip there we explained how we caught it. He informed us that it was illegal, so we had to change the story. We both ended up in the paper holding onto (what I told) was a ~20# northern.

I havnt seen the photo in years (my mom cant find it).. It would be nice to see if in fact it was big enough to be 20#'s or if that's just what I remember.

[Big Julie]

A couple of years ago we were fishing the fall walleye bite. The eyes were down deep in the deepest holes of the lake...70-80 feet. We were jigging them with fatheads. We had a half dozen that ran 16-17 inches and then I had another one that seemed like the others (initially).

When I got him about a third of the way up, it got heavy and started going back down.

It ran me up and down 9 times and then cut me off.

I never got it even halfway up.

Man, I wish I could have seen that fish!

It probably was a big musky.

[lawdog]

I've been with my brother two times when he has landed Northerns that were not hooked, but instead had bitten the fish he had hooked. The first was not a big fish, probably a 4 lb pike that bit on a sunfish and held on while my brother (using a fly rod I might add) brought them both in. Sunny had bite marks on the top and bottom where the pike had bitten it from the side.

While in Canada he had a small hammer handle pike on while jigging for walleyes and a 10+ lb pike swallowed the whole thing right up to the gills. We couldn't even see the small pike until they were both in the net and the larger one spit it out. That fish broke the water twice and went under the boat all without letting go of that fish. Those two fish are to this day mounted that way with the little one still in the big one's mouth.

I've never had anything like that happen and he's had it twice, both when I was along to witness it.

[Muddog]

OK. Last year I waded into a lake waist deep. I was catching some small fish and having a nice quite evening. I hooked another fish and I was bringing it in when all of a sudden it started pulling hard and started taking out line. Then it started comming in like a small fish again . I brought the fish to the surface and was about to pick it up and WHAM! Teeth, gills and water fly all over. After a moment to slow my heart down and count my fingers, I started to laugh out loud. The guy fishing 50yds down must have though I had gone mad .