Bantam Pike w/ Larry MONSTERS!

Decided to go to Bantam today with Joey because of the forecast for clouds early figuring we could leave if the bite was slow,needless to say,we stayed and the bite was far better than we could have ever dreamed.Joe started off the day with a solid smallie on a black buzzbait,about 10 minutes into the morning. Then there was a brief lull, and we decided to change locations and toss some spinnerbaits for Pike. Our personal bests for pike before today were me, at 26" (I've lost many)and Joey on a rod and reel 31" .

Around 10 minutes after we made our move, all this changed. Joey ,rolling a spinnerbait outside a weed line, gets slammed and boats his new personal best at 33", not knowing that this would soon be eclipsed....he went on to catch three more to my zero. I was sobbing with joy when he offered one of his bigger spinnerbaits for me to use! Within a few casts , I had one in the boat,28". Right after this Joe and I failed to hook up 8 times with a very large pike. This fish was smashing the water after our spinner baits and within a few more casts,I had her 38" and thick. All this time we are visibly shaking and in disbelief. Joes very next cast,he hooks up with another large fish,pulling line making hard runs. In the boat at 37". By now we've handled more big pike than I could imagine in one day. 

Just when we though it couldn't get better, we proceed to get two double hook ups!! One being twin 32 "ers, and the next two being two 35" ers! I must add here that it is hard to boat two pike in a 14' boat at once without some cuts. (none severe thankfully) This action lasted three hours,and slowed the higher the sun got. Joe started throwing a chatterbait, and got two more, and a firetiger spinner bait worked for a couple more for me. Closing out one of the best fishing trips ever. We ended the day with

Joey:

- 10 Northern Pike 37",35.25",34.5",34",33",32",31",30.5",30",28"
- 1 Smallmouth
- 1 Pickerel

Larry:

- 9 Northern Pike 38",37",35",33",32.25",32",32",31.5",27".

No weights because we measured photoed and released as fast as possible. No fish we caught rolled over, and none were bad bleeders all swam away healthy.

A day like this may never happen again in our lives. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Me and Joe's new personal best are the ones at the bottom. 

Written by Larry Johnson.