Leaping, catapulting somersaults!

[macintosh]

My first reasonable size pike this year, not big, but feisty as all getout! 34", didnt weigh him, but he made up for it in grit. He hit about 2 reel cranks after the lure hit the water, so hard that he came completely out of the water and did a full cartwheel in the air. I figured he totally missed it, but when I reeled up slack he was still there...and he didnt quit till he was in the net.

Shawn, this one had a sore right on his keel, maybe 2 or 3 inches behind his gills--is this from spawning?

Oh, and the incidental catch today was good too--a bunch of smallies including 2 over 19"! ;D

[macintosh]

Thanks Shawn. I didnt get a pic, not sure if it helps but the wound was pink, fairly uniform in color, about 2" across (larger than the lamprey wounds Ive seen), it was round and pretty symmetrical, and it was located exactly on the bottom of the fishes keel. I assumed from all of this that it was some sort of physical wound rather than a growth or sore that I assume would likely be a bit off center and mighht not be as well defined or as symmetrical???
I really don't know how "spawning wounds" occur...is it the fish equivalent of a hickey? If I was a pike or any other fish, how might I incur a spawning wound?

Btw, mine hit a chatter bait too, but about 70 miles north of yours.

[Brian]

Thanks a lot Shawn.......now I never want to bass fish again

I had a pike hit the buzzbait close to the boat Wednesday, when it turned to go down it threw so much water in my face that I had to wipe off. Then the battle was on, short line; braid. The pike won, somehow managing to take the trailer hook and Fleck keeper off of the buzzbait

[macintosh]

Thanks Shawn! I like fish-porn as much as the next guy, but now we've got text descriptions as well...this place is GREAT!

Is the last image of the pike injury a sarcoma? That one in particular doesnt look like the rest. The sore this pike had looked like the lamprey wounds, but the wound was bigger than any of the ones shown in your pics--the red part in the middle, the sore itself, was fully 2 to 2.5 inches across. Is it just an average pike with a wound from a honkin' big lamprey? Or do you suppose likely something else?

Love the underwater pic!

[Brian]

A few more pike And a hybrid .

[rgang4]

Thanks to all who posted pike pic's, I really enjoyed all of them. Still think Brian's hybrid is one of the prettiest fish I've ever seen in freshwater.