New NJ state record Northern Pike

[Big Phish]

The NJ DEP Division of Fish and Wildlife has announced that John Viglione of Ringwood made his way onto the state record fish list recently by landing a new state record Northern Pike. John was fishing in Pompton Lake, Passaic County when he reeled in the 30 pound, 8.5 ounce fish, eclipsing the old record caught 32 years ago in Spruce Run Reservoir by 6.5 ounces.

John was retrieving his line after the 13th cast in the early morning hours of September 7, when the line suddenly stopped. He initially thought it was snagged, but it kept moving in a very heavy manner. Perhaps a snapping turtle had gotten ahold of his bait?

That question was answered quickly, as after fifteen tense minutes - that included a spectacular "tail walk" by the fish - a new state record Northern Pike was landed and in the books.

John was using a Daiwa spinning reel spooled with 8-lb. test Ande line and a Shakespeare 6' 6" pole. For bait he had on a swivel and a Blue Fox Vibrax spinner.

The new record pike measured 46 inches in length and had a girth of 22.25 inches.

[Big Phish]

And this came from the most polluted lake in whats supposed to be the most polluted state in the U.S.

[J Francho]

Huge congrats to the angler, but I don't think that's the record fish. I've seen pics of mid 20's, and they are WAY bigger than the fish pictured. For reference, here's one that was a bit over 12 lbs. that I caught this past Sunday:

[J Francho]

Here's a 26-14 fish.  I call bologna on the picture being the record pike.  BTW, do you have a link to the story?

[Big Phish]

Yeah it's on NJ's fish and game site

http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/news/2009/recpike09.htm

So it's official, I kinda thought the same thing myself, but maybe it's just the camera?

[Big Phish]

I just entered the length and girth into the BR weight calculator and it estimated 36 pounds.

[J Francho]

I don't doubt that a fish of that size was registered.  The picture is not of that fish.  No way.

[bigbill]

Great catch!!!!!!!!!

We have a few local rivers and lakes that have northern pike added to them to control the white perch population.  They added  the pike to one place called Bantam and they spread out into all the ajoining rivers and lakes that are all connected.

Now don't under estimate the Chain Pickerel too.  I fish small places were the fish are not bothered.   Thenormal size of the pickerel have been 12" to 18"  but inbetween i will upsize my baits when the bite slows down and the larger pickerel will strike.  The bigger fish like the bigger bass will come in to see what the action is all about.  My biggest pickerel have been 27"/28"/ 29" and 30".  These are so fat at the girth you can't wrap your hand around them.  I'm sure you have big pickerel in NJ too.

BTW;  I was born in Teaneck.Nj and grew up in Westwood.Nj and fished at Bogarts pond with my older brother when i was just 6 yo.  that was in 1956.

[CRFisher]

You can only tell the size of the fish from the picture if the guy is "regular" sized.  If the guy is the size of Mickey Rooney, it's definitely not the record fish, if the guy is the size of Bill Lambeir, maybe it is.

[bdiggy]

We have a few local rivers and lakes that have northern pike added to them to control the white perch population. They added the pike to one place called Bantam and they spread out into all the ajoining rivers and lakes that are all connected.

Bantam river/lake system is loaded with Pike! I got a great one on Labor Day this year out of Lake Winchester, where they were introduced about 15 years ago. Nice Pike, even if that is the wrong pic.

[Dwight Hottle]

Here is a picture of a 32lber I caught this June for comparison. She was 49" long by 21.75" girth. You be the judge.

[J Francho]

Beautiful fish Dwight.

[roadwarrior]

I remember...Beautiful pic, too!

8-)

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Dwight, we REALLY need to get together and fish sometime....

That is a horse!!

[BigJohnny]

I suddenly have the urge to go pike fishing

[Tin]

With this cold weather and those pictures. I want to go make some steel-leaders...

[RoLo]

Here's a little better image of that Jersey pike ;D

Roger

[Dwight Hottle]

No No,  Rolo

This is the real photo.  : :

[jbiz163]

all great fish, and this is the most polluted state. pompton is a bit of a surprise. then again i do not hold the record pike...lol

[RoLo]

all great fish, and this is the most polluted state.

New Jersey is the most populated state in the union, but it's not the most polluted state in the union.

There are several ways to quantify pollution, for instance: ozone, lung cancer, industrial pollutants,

and last and least the EPA superfund. To be fair to Mike Iaconelli, California was deemed the most polluted state.

The cities below were rated the 10 most polluted metro areas in America (Jersey didn't make the list):

1. Los Angeles, California

2. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

3. Bakersfield, California

4. Visalia, California

5. Fresno, California

6. Birmingham, Alabama

7. Houston, Texas

8. Sacramento, California

9. Detroit, Michigan

10 Washington DC, Maryland

Roger

[D4u2s0t]

New jersey is not one of the most poluted states, while we do have some nasty cities.  Once you get out of north east jersey and away from cities like trenton, jersey city, newark, passaic, etc. it's a whole new ballgame.  It's actually overall a cleaner state than some of our neighbors who like to bash us lol...  here's a top 25 poluted areas list.

http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/09/07/the-25-most-polluted-regions-in-the-united-states.htm

That being said, it's a great fish.  But come on guys, we should all know by now that it's very, very hard to look at a picture and guess the weight.  Especially when comparing it to other pictures.  Doesn't work that way, and we all should now better than to call bs so quickly.  How do you know the guy is not 6'6?

I'm a full time videographer, so I understand a lil more about pictures and perception than the average person.  and I bet I can take 2 VERY SIMILAR pictures of a fish, and if I asked you to guess weights, they would be no where near each other.