Pigeon, let the pics speak

[SNAPFisher]

I've been quietly fishing Pigeon for B I G whites since November.Came close, lost them, seen them around. As the holidays approached I had a gut feel that things would turn around. As the 22nd of December approached and the weather turned on me it seemed like it was not to be. I've been out checking on Pigeon but only for 30 min or an hour at most hear and there. Meanwhile the auger barely would start and the rest of the equipment was squeaking be in this ridiculous cold spell. I've seen a lot mounting whites but gave up a few days ago to wait for better.

Within 30 minutes I had a fish chase up and hit and I landed a 5.6 lb piggy! Within 5 minutes I had my 2nd on. A nice 3.5 lber. As I ran into equipment malfunction after malfunction, I was seriously thinking of packing up and taking off. But I stayed since the fishing was good.
I set this one down and immediately had a lot of follows. Shortly in, "WHACK!". Fish on! Immediately the line was peeling. I kept reeling but losing line.....I tightened the drag thinking it was too lose. And again, and again. This fish was taking line like nothing. I figured I must have snagged a big pike. I tightened the drag again. Tested it and found I had good resistance. Yet still, the line was going out. I got literally spooled about 10 times, no Crap. Finally worked the fish close and looked down.....T A N K W H I T E!!! Got spooled one more time. Eventually got this mega pig to the hole and heaved it out. Looked big, real big! After many weigh ins on the ice and then back home, settling on a solid 8.7 lbs. A new PB by a landslide - last year caught a 6.4 lber so smashed that record. Only 25 inches long though so the 6.4lber last year was 25.5 inches. It was the girth that was so impressive on this white. I could not stretch my hand around it at all. Only could use it to measure the girth. A pretty special fish!

I tried a few minutes longer and had quite a few more follows but packed it up and headed in at 11 a.m.

The teaser 5.6 lber first fish


N O W F O R T H E P I G!!

[Stinky Buffalo]

Beauty whites! Pays to perservere!

[Elchinodiablo]

Awesome!!! Love reading your stories!!

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[PerchBuster]

What a Beauty! They are all nice, but that is real tanker Jumbo there. Nice job, sounds like it was quite the battle. It’s sure nice when they are in the mood to cooperate.

[buckmaster]

Wow!! Some nice hogs Snap. Were you in deep water ? They sure look like whites i used to catch at Hanmore about 20yrs ago...

[kinwahkly]

Awesome catch . Live those piggy whites.

[bwackwabbit]

Fortune Favours the Brave!

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[Jawjacker]

Way to go Snap !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Zip-in-Z]

Mr. Snap .... Brass or Copper ? That's the biggest White I've ever seen here in Ab. Bet it was a struggle getting it in & out of the hole, sure is a real Bty!

My stuff is packed GPS set for SoCal back in 3.5 months. I'll be checking in on occasion to see if you break another record.

Happy N/Y.

[Fishwhere]

Wow awesome job man! That things a beast.

How is the meat on those ones? I know when i used to get them out of there the meat had a lot of fat trimming required.

[Moo Snukkle]

I’ve only ever seen those slobs cruise by on full ignore. Good on you for landing big boys today.

[NSR Fisher]

I used to see those years ago while ice fishing Pigeon, I had no idea tanks like that were still around.

I know you won't divulge your spot because you definitely put in the work to find it but I'm curious in a general tip, was it the north half of the lake or the south half where you caught that piggy? If you don't want to share even that little tidbit I will totally understand! Maybe we will cross paths one day while I'm searching :-)

[Red Bullets]

Nice fish Snap. I'd bet that you weren't using an 8 inch hole. Advice for Snap... I smoked some of the 'jumbo' pigeon whites two years ago and found they are extremely greasy. Be sure to take the back fat off the fish before smoking or baking.

It is hard to imagine but David Thompson mentioned that when he was at Lac St Anne (around 1805 or so) he weighed a whitefish the men had gotten in their nets. The whitefish was 18 lbs and change. I can't imagine hooking and landing one that big.

[pikeman06]

Oh man I was waiting for that... seen em too and had my chances. Good for you snap it's that one day on pigeon that makes the difference. You've reinforced what I always strive for. That's fishin not catchin.

[Evil69]

Wow what a beast of a white Nice post and congrats on the good day.

[RavYak]

More meat on that fish then a limit from Sylvan lol.

[SNAPFisher]

Thanks all! I'm still stoked over it.

Zip, good ole copper won again.
10 inch hole for me. That fish would have been tough to get into an 8 inch. Have a good trip down South.

The meat is wonderful. Really I do not see much difference in fat from the 3.5 lber. That one also had a good hump on it for the size. They leave the paper and your hands nice and oily. I just cut or scrape out the hump and the lower part of the belly. I find with the fat content that the Pigeon whites really do smoke the best out of the lakes I fish.

Less than 3 lbs from the AB record. That is the ultimate goal
I have seen one that was much bigger than this one swimming around...and watched 2 years ago as my hook was sucked in by this monster white, set it, and watched it come right back out again...still haunts me. Hope that potential record is still swimming around in that lake.

[swampy45]

solid fish Snap! Looks like your time has payed off!

[sns2]

Snap, that is an out of this world fish. Thank you for your contributions to the fishing forum. You make it a better place.

[Pikebreath]

Great fish, Snap,,,, congrats!!!

We used to ice fish for whites in Pigeon back in the 70's ,,, back then the whites were really the only game in town. No walleye, few pike and perch but we sure could catch whitefish albeit much smaller and skinnier than what you are catching now.

Good to see the whitefish coming back,, not sure if we will ever see the numbers of whites again like we saw back in day now with all the new predators in the lake and blue / green algae and frequent summer kills.

[fish99]

that fish reminds me of the buck lake hogs we used to catch. congratulations on biggest white I have even seen out of pigeon .

[1bluZebec]

CONGRATS that's like catching a 30lb pile out of wabamun!! Great job and story was fun read too


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[Snap Shot]

Brings back memories of walking across planks in April out by crystal springs. Have many memories a child hauling 5 gallon Pails full of big whites.

Congrats on the catch

[Fishslayer99]

Good on you for putting in the effort, certainly some quality fish!

[Vapor]

Great catch Snap! Thanks so much for sharing!

[Speckle55]

Grats SNAPFisher

Jumbo Lake Whitefish indeed

Thanks for sharing

David