Yesterday we made the trek out to the Connecticut River to hunt for the mighty Northern Pike.
We were invited out to another super secret spot by guest angler Chris Call, he is on his own quest to catch the NH State Record. He was confident that he had the perfect spot.
When we arrived we noticed that the river had risen a few feet from the day before (Chris had scouted the spot in advance) This was not a good start, we had to cross several feet of open water to get on the 2 feet thick ice.
Once we got on we were good to go.
Chris immediately drilled a dozen holes and we began to set up the tip ups. As soon as they were all set up we had our first flag. And it was a hit and run, probably a perch or crappie banging on the large bait.
10 minutes later FLAAAAG! We sprinted across the ice and landed a pretty but small Northern Pike, probably 14inches in length. Half the size we're looking for. After a few pictures we let it go.
We reset the flags, had a cup of coffee and FLAAAG! This time we were in business, the spool was unraveling so fast the water on top of the hole was boiling. Chris coached me (Clay) through landing a large fish through the ice. I set the hook and felt the fishes weight. It felt like a log was on the end of the line. Except logs don't fight back like this. I got excited and pulled the fish towards the hole. When the leader got to the hole I felt the fish do a massive head shake and... NOTHING.... he broke free...
We had several more flags after that but the only fish we caught the rest of the day was a terrible looking but fun to catch 5lb large mouth bass. Check out the sores on this fish's face!
We're not giving up on pike and will be back for more abuse. Stay tuned.
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