Tell us your story of your biggest Boundary Waters or Quetico pike. When, where and how deep were you fishing? What did you catch it on?

The biggest one I didn't get in the boat. It was on Eddy lake and I was trolling a 3 inch crawfish colored shadrap or something similar. Didn't have a net and had no leader with 6 or 8 LB test. Our hands wouldn't go around the neck, and didn't want to grab under the jaw cause the lure was somewhere deep in his throat. I'd guess it was 45 inches long. One mean brute to be sure. Came out of the water 2 times. The 2nd time was right at my face and he landed into the stern of the canoe with a bang. Was like the scene in the movie Jaws. I do not exaggerate. My Dad is my witness. :)

I've boated 2 other 40+ inchers but neither fought like this one.

I got a pike about 38" last spring on a chatterbait.

I caught it out of oyster lake, fishing shallow, near a river entrance. we only caught 3 or 4 pike out of there, and most were 24 inches or less.
it was less than 6 feet deep.

I caught it out of oyster lake, fishing shallow, near a river entrance. we only caught 3 or 4 pike out of there, and most were 24 inches or less.
it was less than 6 feet deep.

Didn't measure it, but it was from my ankle to belt length when I was 17, LOL. Accurate scale, weighed 24#, big fish. Caught on leech and #6 hook walleye fishing, no leader 8# test. Caught right on tip of upper jaw, very lucky to have landed it.

42" in Quetico on a red eye wiggler. August heat wave, right out in the middle of the lake in about 20' of water. As with all things it wasn't on purpose---we were just getting water for the night and I decided to make a few casts---the brute must have been hunting smallmouths on that reef.

Tim

45" pike on Amber Lake BWCAW in late September on Red and White Daredevle spoon (2/5 oz size known as the Imp). FIshed all the way around the lake without a single bite and before leaving got P.O'd and just flung a cast towards open water and to my shock hooked this beast. So much for skill requirements to hook a big fish.

38 inches caught on a red and white dare devil in Moosecamp lake. June 1999. I was fishing with my son and he was 14 at the time, he had just asked me where would be a good place to toss his lure and I said here I'll show you and I tossed the lure between two large rocks on the south west end of the lake near shore and bang it hit. When I landed it he asked me if it was the biggest fish I had ever caught! It was and is the biggest fresh water fish I have ever caught.

I’m still not much of a fisherman and this was quite sometime ago. I’m thinking it was 1988, Bentpine Lake in Quetico. I was trolling from my kayak when I caught a 30something” pike on 4lb. test line that was already 5 or 6 years old. I paddled to shore where some friends netted it for me. We measured it for our big fish contest and it was shy of 10 lbs. Later that evening when everyone returned from a fishless day, they were ready to eat pike, but I didn’t know that pike were edible and released it.

36", rapala, smallie fishing in the shallows in early spring

I was trolling a shad rap on Disappointment in about 15 feet of water in late June. I didn't get to see the pike because it broke my 10 pound test with a steel leader. I've caught many 36-38" but it fought much harder.

I didn't measure or weigh my biggest pike but I'd guess it went 15#. I was on 27 island on Lacroix. A stong wind was blowing from the south right at dusk, and we were trolling jointed raps (sorry TGO) RIGHT next to the shoreline and just hammering the walleyes. There were three of us in the canoe, and often we would have two walleyes on at the same time while the third person clung to to the willows along the shore. Anyway, I hooked this big pike that actually lunged at my hand as I was trying to grab it. I never even took it in the canoe, just grabbed it by the gills and unhooked it in the water. It was such a crazy night--waves crashing into the shore, the canoe half the time banging into the willows as we played fish after fish. Definitely my most memorable fishing excursion.

South Iron 37". Slevad copper bladed red bucktail spinner. Followed it right up to the canoe in less than 2' of water and BAM!! Early June

I landed one for my son on Agnes(bw) that was 47-48. #3 Mepps-red white blade, dark hair-not white Lost one in Iron that was about 40-42. He broke my walleye diver in half...left me with a split ring and a plastic bill.

44" pike caught in late May on PoohBah, throwing a Dr. Spoon up against a downed tree.

39" pike in Horse lake.
Trolling a firetiger rapalla

Best freshwater fish I have ever seen or caught...

42" brute in Insula October 2007. It hit a Dr. Spoon which I was bouncing along the sandy bottom in 15-20' of water for no apparent reason, on a hard break just outside of a neck-down that went into a shallow bay. We ended up having to land the canoe to get the monster off the trebles - and since it was so late in the season, the thing was really, really thick. I'd have like to know how much it weighed. I'd guess around 25 lbs. Both my hands went about half ways around its gill plates.

39 inches...Never-fail bay, Lac La Croix Caught on a spinner and leech rig.

Approx 15 pounds. Alder Lake 2002.
Was on my stringer for 10 seconds while he was eating my smallmouth. Then he looked right at me like, what are you going to do about it!

About 40 inches, over 20lbs, fat like a football. Minn Lake, Quetico on a original Rapala floater black and silver

My buddy and I both caught 40" northerns on my first canoe trip ever. Unbelieveable!! We were fishing in Quetico using Mepps spinners. Mine was a Mepps #5 bucktail with a gold spinner and my buddies was a Mepps #4 with the standard red and white spinner. We caught these two fish in the same area and only 40 minutes apart. We were fishing an area where the lake narrowed to a river with a fair amount of submergent vegetation. We worked the edge of this vegetation in 6-8 feet of water with unbelievable results. We caught many norhterns but only photoed the big ones. Oh yeh, I almost forgot, June 7, 2003. We have returned to the area but never with the same results. Check out the photos.

Bernie.

37 inches of thick pike on Insula. Not a "snakey" pike at all. Caught it on a Little Joe spinner tipped with a leech. I've lost bigger pike next to the canoe, but that's the biggest I've landed.

I posted this before, but I caught this in September 2005 in the Basswood area (not saying an exact location) on a white and red weedless Johnson Silver Minnow.



45" on the head. I think this is the biggest fish I've seen a picture of out of the BWCA that I can recall.I've heard of a few people claim of 47-48" fish, but have yet to see supporting pictures.

That seems like the kind of fish you might want to take a picture of.

n i c e fish!

Thanks!

This fish was a true tank, but it was only a little over 20 pounds. I see a lot of people claim that a 40-42" fish was 20 pounds. The truth is that 20+ pound northern are extremely rare. You really need to be above 44" to get to that weight. This was a fall fish, so it was already pretty thick.

We had to land the canoe on the rocks, because there was no way to land it in the canoe. We lost a 40+" fish earlier in the week that we tried to land and it nearly cost my brother his hand. One of the treble hooks slashed his hand open when it went nuts.

A pictures are worth a 1000 words!

Found this on LLC. How much do you guy's think it's weight was?

10...maybe 12

According to "standard" weight calculators for pike, a 41" pike is just shy of 20 lbs.

I'm sure there's plenty of pike under 44" that go over 20 lbs.

And whatever it weighs, any pike in the 40" or above range is an impressive trophy fish!

I usually don't target pike, but catch them while fishing for lakers or walleyes. The last nice one I caught was about 38 inches while jigging off the bottom in 60 feet of water on Knife Lake. It was a beat-up, fat, ugly fish that must have spent its entire adult life lurking in the dark depths, eating ciscoes.

I released it quickly, but the depressurization injured it, and we found it in a bay the next morning, its dead body feeding an eagle.

I've also caught several between 38 and 41 inches in Ontario.

clk1977, here is your 47 incher. My son caught it in Agnes on a #3 Mepps. It was July and fish was lean, I would say just under 25lb.