This past summer, I had caught my personal best TWICE! The first one was on a section of the Huron river in Michigan. I had put my anchor down across from a down tree. Cast my whopper plopper parallel to the tree reeling it in slowly then BAM! I felt the weight of this 30-inch beast! Fighting all the way. I prayed she didn’t get off. She started twisting and fighting for her life. I managed to get this beast to my boat and struggled with her to get the fish grips in her mouth. I was shaking and still hoping she didn’t get away or get those treble hooks stuck in my hand. I hollered for Jeremy Crowe who was quite a bit ahead of me on the river. He paddled back up stream and helped me get picture proof of my catch.

He was impressed but mentioned it wasn’t bigger than his PB of 33.5″. We are very competitive with one another, so I wasn’t surprised by his reaction. So, I put my “little” 30-inch fish back in the water to grow bigger. Thinking maybe I’d come back for her in a couple years and hopefully catch her again and beat Jeremy’s PB.

Little did I know that this day would come…about a month later, we were out on the Cass river in Michigan. I had just started learning how to frog fish. I had caught a 19.75″ largemouth on the Au Sable river the first time I tied on a Top Toad. I’ve been hooked ever since. Even though I hadn’t caught anything else on it, but I had plenty of blow ups. I took my Top Toad pole with me on this particular day. While not ideal to throw one on this type of river, I did it anyways whenever I seen a patch of weeds. 

We weren’t having the best luck this day. The river was muddy and high due to some rain fall days prior. We also had never fished this river before. Anyways…I saw a patch of weeds with a small weed less patch between the weeds that started next to the shore. I cast perfectly, landing just to the edge of shore and pulled it down the path. Out of nowhere came a HUGE blow up! A blow up like I’ve never seen. I felt the weight of this monster. WHAT is it? I thought to myself…. If this is a bass…this is going to be a AT LEAST master angler! As I fight this monster of a fish, I see her surface. I see this GIGANTIC head and massive teeth. It’s a pike! A HUGE PIKE!! Jeremy, who is a few feet from me starts yelling and cussing with excitement about how big this fish is. He anchors his Liska and jumps in the water to help me. I get her to my Coosa HD and wrestle with her…again shaking uncontrollably. Jeremy started getting frustrated because she kept almost jumping out of my boat. He grabbed her and helped me get the fish grips locked on her jaw. She wasn’t giving up. She would relax for a bit then decide to fight some more. I let her calm down in the water, so I could get her measured and get my “hero shot”. She measured at 34ish inches. She did, however, break my hawg trough.

I now have beaten Jeremy’s record! Competition is still and always will be on. But for now, I hold the record between the two of us. I can’t wait till next summer to see if I can keep my title as the current “Pike Slayer!”

– Shannon Williams