Ice out fatties

[AndyS]

Nice catch !!!

[Chrisper4694]

No one doing that stuff cares unfortunately. Nice pike bud.

[Adrenalinerush]

Nice fish! In the future please levitate all fish and use mental telepathy to take pictures!

[NJSquatch]

Good stuff skunk!

[Skunk City]

Originally Posted by zhitoman

Skunk city, your fish handling is terrible as well. I give you C+ and it would be very generous of me. You should watch some English fishing channels and learn how to properly handle a pike. Make yourself or order an unhooking mat and stop grabbing them by the gills. I know you mean well, and I value that but seeing you lifting them by the gill plate is no good. I don't mean to sound like an ass, but its for the sake of our fishery. Best regards and be safe.

I've been preaching on here for years for guys to do simple things as easy as using the proper leader line as opposed to whatever mono they have on their bass rod, you honestly think I can convince guys to bust out money for an unhooking mat?? Your intentions are good, but given the average NJ fisherman, I think what I'm suggesting is more than feasible here.

Is it stressful for a 40lb European Pike to be held vertically? You're damn right it is. But these aren't trophies were talking about here, just some average NJ Pike that weight 1/8th of that.

[Jigman13]

Nice esox Rob. I can't wait for this crazy weather to level off. Maybe after this last ditch storm I hope!

[Riz]

nice fish

Rob beautiful fish and the title sums it up......they're some healthy looking fish. Years ago I would never have imagined the Passaic River would or could develop such a great fishery. Really great stuff. Question for the board, are those fish fat because they're filled with eggs or just eating well throughout the winter? Is there natural reproduction taking place in the system or is this all the result of stocking programs? Either way, good to see what appears to be a thriving fishery. Good job on the release, being prepared as you mentioned in your post is 90% of the key to releasing fish safely. Nice job.

[saxmatt]

Nice ones Rob! I wouldn't worry about holding pike that size by the gill plate while unhooking and taking pics, better than letting them flop around on the ground especially if there are rocks or you're on the ice. It's the big ones you have to be more careful with.