CTFishTalk.com: FINALLY! - Connecticut River Reports ( CT River Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

imsafanct · Joined: 05 Aug 2013 Posts: 118

Bill and I launched out of Rocky Hill this morning at 6:00AM. We ran North in the dark for an hour up to just below White Oak Cove. Once we could see, we started a drift back down to the launch, fishing the Western shore.

We were out for pike and pike only. They didn't disappoint Smile

Bill was throwing a black spinnerbait with big hammered Colorado blades and was the first to hook up with a very nice pike which spit his lure shortly after it hit.

Just a bit later, with the same spinnerbait, Bill got clobbered again, but this time he was not to be denied. I can still see him in my mind's eye rocking back on the boat chair in a He-Man style hookset. He was able to put both the main hook and the trailer hook into the boney mouth of this fabulous monster. The fish weighed 7.5lbs. according to my Boga.

Bill's fish was far and away the largest pike we had caught to that point, besting his 27" fish from last October. We were psyched!

We continued our drift further down and I was switching between a 9" Houdini shad, a perch Super Shad Rap, a Johnson Silver Minnow, a Mag Force Rat-L-Trap, a black Booyah Pikee w/ willowleaf blades and a perch Magic Swimmer 165. Not even a bump.

But Bill kept after it with the black spinnerbait. At one point, after he had a few more hits, it sort of came to me that I needed to be throwing something black with big thumping blades. Ok, time to consider tying on one of my "ridiculous" size lures. I went right for my new black Mepps Double Blade Musky Marabou with two big gold blades.

After a bunch of casts, I made one parallel to shore at some downed wood in the water. As soon as it landed I started ripping it and I saw this giant's back break the surface right over my lure and the highly visible blades were gone!

I was in total disbelief at the size of the fish from the moment it hit. I was screaming and swearing like a lunatic. I was so scared the fish would come off as it dove for the bottom, but both trebles were hooked. Absolutely unreal. Bill was able to get the fish aboard after a couple STRONG attempts by the fish to run under the boat. I had to loosen the drag on my Chronarch and let the fish go under to avoid breaking anything. After Bill removed the hook, I weighed the fish on the Boga at 14lbs.! And the fish, though not very long, was crazy thick.

So after wanting a nice pike all year, I finally got one, twice the size of one I'd have been happy with. Bill and I are still smiling as I type this.

Bill grabbed one more 5ish lb. pike before we made it down to the ferry boat launch, which was somewhere around 11:00AM.

What a day. What a way to cap off easily the best fishing year I've had to date. Perfect pike weather: air temp between 45-55 degrees, water temp around 60 degrees, moderate wind and moderate cloud cover. I think we've got another trip or two in us before we have to put the boat away for the winter, but today will be hard to beat. But we sure will try!

-Eric

Michael · Joined: 28 Jan 2012 Posts: 3823 Location: Bridgeport

Congrats on finally landing that pike!

The Mepps Marabou spinner is a killer for pike and muskie, so you made the smart choice.

WILD BILL · Joined: 21 Oct 2014 Posts: 25

Congrats on the monster! I'm super jealous.

imsafanct · Joined: 05 Aug 2013 Posts: 118

Thanks guys. I love it. I want another one.

I will say though that the fish didn't really fight, that I can remember. There was no clobbering hit that may have jerked the rod from my hand. I saw the fish surface at the lure and it was just sort of on. It just swam a little, slowly, but I wasn't horsing the fish in either. It did, however, try to get under the boat at least twice. It was a very heavy, constant load on the rod as opposed to a smaller pike or a smallmouth that just goes nuts. But the fish did go nuts once we got it in the boat though. Time for a musky cradle!

I don't like how I handled the fish and for how long it was out of the water, but it did swim away after my reviving the fish in the water by the tail. I was excited and unprepared on how to handle a pike that size so I'm sure it wasn't pleasant for the fish. Now that I've caught a nice one, I intend to be more sensitive to the fish's well-being on the next one. I'd like to try to keep the fish in the water while I remove the hook and only handle in for a brief photo and length measurement. They are just too majestic a fish to risk injuring it.

-Eric

Michael · Joined: 28 Jan 2012 Posts: 3823 Location: Bridgeport

If you were to look into more heavy duty spinners for pike, I'd also take a look at bigger Strike Kings and Booyahs and some big, long custom made stuff on Ebay.

There's a seller I buy from on Ebay who makes quality inlines that produce.

Dcplr434 · Joined: 18 Apr 2013 Posts: 13

I've cought a few big pike at bantom, and I've noticed they don't realky "fight" they just pull really hard, then surface, c the boat, then pull more. Wash, rinse, repeat till there tired