Not spawned out lethal, gutted as soon as i retain them, i only caught one skinny fish today and one yesterday. They are all thick and i don't think they're spawning yet as the eggs are still not flowing with a bit of pressure on the belly. Now that i look they do seem kind of skinny
I may finally be burbed out.....
28'' Pike, released
Caught a total of 13 burbs, released all but my three
I recaptured one particular fish for the third time today, its missing a fin and has a funny looking growth on its belly, kind of cool when a person starts recognizing individual fish.
This is the first winter I've kept numerous limits of anything but stocked trout, guys at work all really want to try burbot and there's a few senior citizens down south i haven't shared any fish with this year yet so that my plan. Let some bigger ones go today, settled with two males and a female for supper and sharing. The fact they're easy to fillet is my favorite part of these fish, sure beats trying to remove the y-bones on pike.
Anyway, here's a few release photos and the end of day bounty, the one turned around and tried to come back up on release, made for a poor photo
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Actually had my license checked today, good to see them out and about, luckily he gave me and my gear a ride back to the car as i was just walking out with the auger and stuff when he pulled up. Nice guy, gave me a few tips for perch so now i have something else to target in there. He seemed really surprised i didn't keep any pike, guess i know what most guys like to keep for supper in there.