Urban Pike Legends
 

well, I hit the lake again this morning, weather sucked, kept clearing up and no rain. First 8 or 10 casts brought hits, landed 3 or 4 of them. Action slowed down a bit over the morning, I ended up with 16 pike today, thats all :( The highlight of my fishing day was a very very fat pike, bit over 8 pounds, but very fat. I was curious about the lake trout gut on a pike, so I checked inside her mouth to see if there were any signs of what she was feeding on. Oh yah, big signs. The smell of rotting flesh was strong when I opened her jaws, and I can now claim to have proof that yes, pike eat birds! Pictures are on the way. What a sight, 2 long huge feet sticking out of her throat. I dont know why she took my lure, must have been reflex because I dont think this pike will be eating anything more for a while yet! I was very tempted to open her up and see what sort of bird it was, but I figured she deserved to go free, I thought maybe Catherine would like a chance at her on the fly this weekend! Oh and dont worry Cathy, I know where I let her go, I made sure to mark an X on the bottom of the boat so I could find it again!!!!:lol:
all of these fish were caught on my new Uglystick Junior. A couple were within 10 inches of the length of the rod, Im working my way up to it . And 2 were over the line breaking weight, I love ultralight!!!!!!
http://s787.photobucket.com/albums/y...%206%2009/

I dont know what sort of bird it was, some sort of shorebird since the feet arent webbed. If someone knows please let me know.

have to see the pics first....

My guess is sand piper, but need to see pic of course.

Wayne arent you supposed to fish barbless in Alberta???

geez, you know what, I just put those weedless on, forgot to crimp one. I feel like a twit. but that wont happen again!!!! thanks for pointing it out! I took them off anyways, I figured I was missing the strikes too much.

Likely a young grebe or coot...a shorebird is unlikely as the pike would take the bird off the top of the water. Foot looks like a coot to me.

I figured coot too, no big loss there. there are a lot of them in that reservoir

It doesn't look like a small bird..

Well wayne your lucky your in a fiberglass canoe:p, when I land that big Pike streamer were you marked the X and give it a big jerk it wont leave a hole. But never fear I may just hook a Jerk:lol::lol::lol:.
Nice fishing Wayne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!: innocent:

Next time you're toying around with your Wildeyes, Wayne, you should try adding some feathers and bird legs. :)

It wasnt very small, I think the legs were from a full grown bird. I really toyed with keeping the fish, it took 1/2 hour to revive it, but in the end it finally did swim away quite well. It would have been nice to see what the bird looked like, but judging by the smell it was in there for a little while!

I've seen Muskies pick off ducklings a few times and they are very similar to pike and pike seem to be pretty voracious and revenous lol. I wonder what other stuff they eat to ?

Ive heard they eat muskrats too. I was at PCR and there was a gopher on the dock, it jumped in and swam to shore, I was really hoping one of those big pike would pick it off too!

we have found a baby duck in the stomache of a pike in northerne sask. just wondering< have you ever tried fishing with beef/deer heart chunks on your jig? we use this alot in sask and it works.

havent used jugs much for pike, been using the soft crankbaits since I discovered them last year, and spoons. catching most of them lately on spoons. If I can get 32 in one day why change :D did use jigs for walleye tho at PCR, but I think I could have caught them on pretty much anything there. 175 in one day says pretty hungry to me.

Awesome pictures Wayne

only problem taking pictures while catching pike, you end up with water drops on most of them LOL and on me!

We caught a 6-8 lb pike in Sask in the 80's and when we opened her up she had a small loon in her. Still eating, they just are pigs sometimes I guess.

It is like you are watching TV after supper and you know you are full, then someone comes in with fresh popcorn and you just can't say no. Maybe we are distant cousins:lol::lol:

for sure, Im not sure why she took my spoon, maybe she was p 'o-d because the bird was stuck or something. didnt even put up a big fight, maybe it was hoping I had some rolaids or something :lol:

Pretty cool stuff Wayne. I agree with the other posters that they appear to be the feet of a coot. Not trying to pick a fight here, so dont take it that way, but when water temps are high as they are right now, dont over play your fish. Put the ultralight tackle away till you go to the trout pond. Upsize to the proper equipment for the job, land these fish ASAP and release them with confidence that you are not killing them. Guaranteed you will not be needing 1/2 hour to revive a small pike. Tight lines!

I know what you are saying, only reason she took so long was the bird sticking out of her gut Im sure. the rest dont have any problem, even with the light gear they come in pretty fast.

i have used deer heart but only in Sask. LOL......i dont know why I don't use it here. it works great for walleyes