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Giant Northern Pike - My PB Crushed!

Aaron Shirley

By Aaron Shirley
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Aaron Shirley Guide

Aaron Shirley

Posted
Posted

I had an opportunity to film a pike show with Bass Pro Shops employee Andrew Marr over the long weekend. Actually, Andrew worked his last day at BPS on Friday before the long weekend, as he is heading far north soon to guide for big pike at a resort. We had an absolute blast fishing for a day and a half on one of the central Ontario lakes that Andrew knows well. Our other friends Mike, Glen and Melanie fished in Glens boat, and Andrew and I fished in my boat. What made it even more fun was the 2-way radios we had to razz each other throughout the day :)

 

Things started a bit slow with a small pike in the first couple spots and some missed fish, so we started to spot jump to try and find bigger pike. It didn't take long for Andrew to find the bigger pike and a pattern with his experience. On our 3rd spot, I saw a log close to shore, so I made a cast to it. The water erupted and the log moved making a plume in the soft bottom! I shouted "holy crap, that isn't a log!". Andrew looks over and said "it's still there". I made a cast back and twitched my gold\black Husy Jerk, and the big log moved toward my lure. Another twitch and it was nose to my bait. Another twitch and SLAM! I had on a nice pike. It was peeling drag like mad as I let off on my drag a bit. Every time I got it closer, it would peel off more line. My heart was in my throat when I finally got a good look at her beside the boat, then she made another few runs. We thought it was about 44" which is about the largest size in this lake. As I got it beside the boat, Andrew slid my big Beckman under the biggest pike he has ever seen on this lake, and we were as excited as a couple of kids finding a hundred bucks :)

 

I unhooked the big pike and held it up for a quick photo op, then in my Frabill floating cradle for a measurement in the water (a technique I adopted from Marc Thorpe). The big girl had a length of 46.5" without swiping the tail or pinching it. It was at least 8" thick across the back and heavy. It was a muskie-sized pike and crushed my PB by a long shot! She swam away well, and I didn't care if I caught another pike the entire weekend lol.

 

A couple shots of my new PB northern

 

Pike_05_2011_01.jpg

 

Pike_05_2011_02.jpg

 

We did get into a few each and lost a few over a day and a half. Andrew had the big pike hand after my biggy (I used up all my big pike mojo in the first hour lol). Andrew got one close to 40", lost one about 40 and got a nice 41" pike. Our best lures were Husky Jerks, Lucky Craft, size 5 Mepps bucktail and Mepps Marabou in-line spinners. Andrew found the fish in less than 4 feet of water in shallow warming protected areas. We had to run and gun to a lot of various spots and shallow bays to keep finding fish.

 

Pike_05_2011_04.jpg

 

Pike_05_2011_05.jpg

 

A couple shots of Andrew's 41" pike

 

Pike_05_2011_06.jpg

 

Pike_05_2011_07.jpg

 

It was a great time, and I would like to thank Andrew for the invite and his hospitality. He is a class act, and the people who have him as a guide at the lodge he is going to for big pike are in for a real treat. It was also good to see you again Mike, Glen and Mel. Good times :)

 

Good fishing!

 

Aaron

Joey Fishing God

Joey

Posted
Posted

I bet you are still vibrating with excitement Aaron. What a wonderful catch. Good for you man, that's awesome.

 

Glad to see there are still some "logs" left in the lakes :thumbsup_anim:

 

Congrats bud.

 

Joey

irishfield Imperial Angler

irishfield

Posted
Posted (edited)

Didn't care if you caught another fish all day??? You couldn't... your friggin knees were shaking too hard to cast! :D

Edited by irishfield
bigbuck All Knowing Angler

bigbuck

Posted
Posted

BassPro lost their most knowledgeable fishing associate in Andrew. I saw him on Friday on my way up north when we stopped in at BPS to pick up a couple of things. He's off to northern Saskatchewan to do some guiding for the summer and I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavours. I'm sure he is going to get his guests into some nice fish.

Aaron, good going bud!!! That is an absolute hog you caught there!!! Lake X was good to you guys!! Nice to see there are still some nice lunkers up in that area.

Ron Fishing Icon

Ron

Posted
Posted

OK,

 

New By-law,

 

You and anyone you are fishing with, are no longer permitted to catch any more of the following:

Trophy, Personal best, PB's, Monsters, it just makes the rest of us sick on how well and how many PB's you have been involved in/caught yourself.

 

Seriously, congrats to the new PB. Good thing you decided to take some well deserved time off from the fishing industry to spend more time with the family! ha ha ha

 

Good on ya brother!

 

Cheers, Ron...

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