We were in a bay in Sand Point Lake in Ontario, not too far from Crane Lake, MN. It was such a windy, cold and rainy day we tried to find areas that were protected from the wind. We were fishing mainly for Walleye using minnows. In the area I caught the Northern Pike, we were catching a lot of small Perch and throwing them back. A Perch bit my minnow and the Northern Pike bit the Perch! According to Allan, it took about 15 to 20 minutes to pull it in but felt like two minutes to me. J
We did have a guide – a great and personable one who we’ve used before – he actually came to the US from Sweden when he was the age of 21 – he’s now 66. He’s very fun. Anyway, I’ve caught Northern Pikes before and know they really fight but this one felt like I was catching a Marlin! The guide coached me on what to do and I caught her (according to the guide, the larger girthed fish are female and that’s why I named her Northern Nancy). We did measure and weigh it. It was 45 inches long and weighed 26-27 pounds. In Canada, any fish longer than 29-1/2 inches has to be thrown back so, of course, we did.