Jp 122cm northern pike

Yesterday was one of those days you can only dream of. So here is the story. A few months ago I finished a first cast of a new model design and went out on the lake to do some testing. It did not look like much really, a bright white uncolored blank with holes drilled in it to test out ballast weights. First cast was close to the boat and I remember thinking; That is not so bad really.. bid odd... but it could work. Second cast was a few meters from the boat and in the crystal clear water it was easy to observe the hunting action I am looking for. Then it happenend; in a split second, a BIG Northern Pike shot from the depth and litteraly inhaled my little prototype! As I was just testing I had my reel shut tight and the massive hit broke my line instantly. Shocked i observed the big pike swim away with my lure in its mouth and a few meters away opened it's mouth and spit it out like it was some annoying splinter. I had cut off the hookpoints as I always do when testing and lucky for me this model is a floater so I could pick it up easily. Good start! The next half hour I had several pike follow and hit the prototype so I was quite excited by the action of this design. <br />After a few months of experimenting with resin types and overall action yesterday I finally had a first model worked out with pretty paint and finish. <br />After a few casts on the lake I steered my boat to a new spot that I know is a hotspot in early summer; not so deep -close to the spawing fields- and next to big deeper water. <br />Second cast I observed the lure swim as a BIG Northern shot from the bank and took the lure. It immediately took off ripping many meters of line from my reel. The thing with big pike is that you can tell when it is a true big one by the way they bite and take off; it;s like you hook a truck that starts taking off in the opposite direction and there is nothing you can do about it! <br /><br />This pike was so strong it literally towed the boat and it took me about 20 minutes to wear it down enough to be able to lift it in the boat with both arms. Quite a challenge when you are alone without any net or gripper.. those teeth are very impressive. <br />When I had it free of hooks I spotted a guy sitting on a bench at the shore and fortunately he could take a shot of my new PR; 122 cm!<br /><br />Ofcourse the pike was carefuly released and swam away unharmed.<br /><br />What a day. <br />JP