Pike at Arthur
Caught two northern pike yesterday at Arthur. First two I've ever seen, and I've been fishing Arthur since the early 80s. Both just legal, and I had seen some videos on cleaning them/dealing with the Y bones. Let me say this: those videos are complete BS. Those things had bones on their bones. We are eating them tomorrow night, so I'll post back if they are worth it for the taste. But unless they are the best thing I've ever fried up, they go on the "throw back" chart. Complete nightmare to fillet.
Also for those who might not know better, their mouths are full of wicked needle teeth. Like millions of them. Even the **** gill rakers were full of needles. No idea how it didn't chew off of my 6lb test tied directly to a #2 hook. The other one was swimming around with 100 yards of mono in its mouth, and my wife hooked that line on her catfish rig. Then hand lined it to the boat and lifted it onboard with the mono. It snapped and dumped the pike in the middle of the boat. Crazy stuff. The one I caught ate a medium fathead hooked through the lips.
Also caught a red eared slider (turtle) in the same spot. It was one of those days.