History Of Fishing
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I could not imagine any type of fishing being more exciting than going after northern pike. Fortunately for me here in eastern Connecticut, I have a number of good choices when it comes to my pike fishing. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection has done an excellent job of introducing northern pike into the area#039;s waters. As a matter of fact, the northern pike are actually thriving in at least three different lakes in the region, and they have filtered into a couple of others, making fishing for them as easy as deciding which body of water is closest to you.br /br /Northern pike are a much larger cousin of the toothy pickerel, with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth that are not to be messed with. Their long streamlined bodies make them extremely fast, and one of their nicknames they have received from those fishing for them is the Water Wolf. Take it from me, you do not want to be a frog or a shiner in a lake where there are northern pike. They are an olive green color with many different hued spots all along the body, but it is the mouth that will get the attention of anyone used to fishing for less aggressive species. Found in abundance in the Connecticut River, they have been introduced into a number of lakes throughout the state and are flourishing. The state record northern pike was caught by a man fishing in 1980 and weighed a whopping 29 pounds; the legal size of a keeper in the Nutmeg State is 26 inches with a limit of two per day. Northern pike can be taken by fishing for them through the ice or by angling, and provide more than enough fight either way you try to catch them.br /br /To keep the northern pike population at a fishable level in these select lakes, adults are captured in the wild and placed into closely monitored marshes in various towns around Connecticut. When these northern pike spawn, the young are kept in a controlled environment until they are fingerlings that range in size from three to eight inches. They are then stocked into the select lakes for Connecticut citizens#039; fishing pleasure. The three that hold northern pike now in eastern Connecticut are Pachaug Pond in Griswold, Quaddick Reservoir in Thompson, and Mansfield Hollow Lake in Windham. In 2005, Pachaug received over 6,000 northern pike fingerlings, Quaddick got 4,000, and Mansfield, where the northern pike reproduce on a limited basis naturally, got 1,000 fingerlings.br /br /Some of the northern pike in Pachaug Pond have worked their way down to a pair of much smaller lakes by way of the Pachaug River.. Hopeville Pond and Ashland Pond now both offer northern pike fishing, with fishermen having a chance at one of these gamefish. I have seen a 40 inch plus northern pike caught by a fellow ice fishing at Ashland, and have also watched as an individual behind me in the bait shop brought in a 42 inch northern to be mounted this past February; he had caught it while ice fishing at Quaddick the day before and had kept the trophy in his freezer overnight until he could get it to the shop.br /br /That was good enough for me, so it was off to Quaddick the next day for my first attempt at pike fishing. The winter of 2006 produced very little safe ice in eastern Connecticut, with Quaddick Reservoir in Thompson far enough north to be one of the few safe fishing spots. Even then, the ice was only about four inches thick, and on this particular day I found myself all by my lonesome, fishing out on the water of one of Quaddick#039;s many coves. I set up my tip-ups and waited for the flags to fly. I was having a decent day fishing, catching a few pickerel and bass, when I had to return to my car to retrieve my lunch. As I made my way back out onto the ice I noticed a flag had gone up on a tip-up near the middle of the cove I was in. When I got to it, the line was not moving, but I have done enough ice fishing to see see that something had taken the shiner and gone off with it. When I grabbed the line and set the hook, I felt a fish, but did not believe it was anything out of the ordinary. This is because the northern pike that I had hooked was now swimming towards me and the hole, and when he passed under it I almost passed out. It was the largest fish I had ever seen while freshwater fishing, and my heart was in my throat as I played him and finally tired him enough to try to pull him through the hole. br /br /Northern pike, as I have mentioned, have quite a set of choppers, and it is not recommended that you put your hands where you can find this out the hard way while fishing. Most ice fisherman use a gaff or have a special tool that they can grab the pike by the mouth with and still be able to count to ten on their fingers when they are through. I however had no such luxury, but I did have a very thick pair of gloves I had brought with me fishing that afternoon; I quickly decided that they were expendable. As I guided this monster through the ten inch hole that I had cut, I grabbed him by his lower jaw and pulled him out. He did a number on those gloves, but no fingers were harmed in the making of this great fishing moment. With my chest thumping, and of course no witnesses anywhere to be found, I unhooked him and brought him over to my sled where he was weighed and measured. This northern pike tipped my Rapala digital fishing scale at 13 pounds and 8 ounces, and was 38 inches long! I took a couple of pictures for any non-believers and back in the drink he went to be caught by someone else out fishing another day. If I live to be very, very old I will always remember my first northern pike.br /br /I have yet to target northern pike in the spring and summer with my spinning rod, but it is only a matter of time before I do some of that fishing as well. They will attack live shiners, spoons, spinner baits, and plastic worms. In the hot summer months, the really big guys head to cooler, deeper water and the only way to pique their interest is by fishing with a spoon with a lead weight attached. Northern pike are very territorial, staying in one area. When fishing for northern pike, it is imperative you use a steel leader, as they will chew through regular monofilament like Jaws chewed through Robert Shaw at the end of the movie. To borrow a line from that classic film, when I saw my northern pike swim under me I thought, I#039;m going to need a bigger hole!
