Dwight Hottle

120lb florocarbon leader.

Here is an other photo with Ian Besse our guide for the week. I'm 61 & she was plenty to handle for a photo. I caught her on a St Croix 6'6" legend elite bait caster rated 1/4 oz to 3/4 oz coupled with a Shimano calis spooled with 20lb braid. Thanks for sharing your congrats. I really know how special it is to get a pike this size to the boat. Very lucky indeed.

You the maine man. ;D

I just got back from our annual fishing trip to Lake Athabasca in northern Saskatchewan. My previous personal best pike was 26lbs and my buddy and I have chased the elusive 30 lber for about 15 years. This year on the first morning in camp I got lucky. We had to break ice to get to one of our favorite bays but it paid off. I caught this 32 lber on a lc pointer 100 saltwater series. She measured 49 inches long by 21.75 inch girth. She only had one hook point of the rear treble in her upper lip so I was very nervous until we finally got her in the cradle. I love chasing big smallies but this fish really made my year.

I just wanted to publicly thank FishinDaddy, * and anyone else who might have contributed to the great looking baits sent to me. I try to put them to good use.

If you don't get any help here try posting your question on fish-hawk.net. Mostly a candian site but I'm sure someone will help you with your inquiry.

FD, I'll be posting smallies until I'm dead. A lot of guys missed the contest posting last year, I know I did.

Try Tilley Hats. Great sun protection. Lifetime guarantee & they float.

Hey guys thanks for the congrats. It was a fun contest. I do think it would be more fair if there was a separate category for largemouth and smallmouth for each state then there would be two winners. What does everyone else think?

Sounds like you did real good. PIB sure is a great fishery.

Thats a beauty, especially for PA.

Roger, now I know why everone welcomed you back. Your a wealth of knowledge. Good reply.

Try LC staysee in 90 Sp. They mimic the size of rainbow smelt very well. Pick a color pattern that matches the hatch. It work on Erie with similar water clarity & a strong rainbow smelt population.

Here is another sixer. I should have left my hat on!

I got a humminbird 917C this year & have been real satisfied with the unit. It has a dual cone transducer both200/83 kHz. which you can watch in split screen for a very detailed view. I called customer service before I bought my unit & talked to a nice lady who was very knowledge about their product line. Humminbirds customer service is excellent. I saved some money by purchasing the unit at a discount from Humminbird factoryoutletstore.com. Good luck with your decision.

Nice fish, and from the look of the lake behind you it was a nice day.

Heck of a day, way to go!

That's a good looking smallmouth. It pays to persevere.

Don, Erie PA holds a lot of resident fish of good size. We get the western basin migration in late july & august which are mostly smaller in size like your thinking at 20" The fish in the pic was long but we didn't measure it. It weighed just over 9lbs on my boga scale. Usually we catch bonus walleye in april but this year my first came in may probably because of the colder water temps. My pb walleye weighed just over 12lbs.

Caught this baby fishing for smallies. My buddy caught a 12 lb channel cat shortly after this one. Mixed in with the smallies.

Good job. I told there were smallie in Catt creek.

No I'm not a professional guide. I moved to Erie PA 17 months ago so I would have plenty of opportunity to fish this area. I'm retired. I bought a new boat 6yrs ago & came up to Presque Isle bay from OH for the first time with a friend. I caught 4 bass over 4lb, one over 5lb & a 6lber my first time here. I realized I had found smallie heaven & decide to move here first chance.

Here is a shorty with great girth & pale tiger stripes.

SuskyDude nice bass. I really like that third picture with the rod displayed. Reminds me of some steelie pics around Erie.

Don, Yea some on hair jigs like this one. ;)