First time out fishing the Pend Orielle... Went up to catch some pike. Got on the water at about 3:00 at Cusick and headed up river. Wasn't sure where the pike would be in the sloughs so I cruised up shallow and jumped 5 or so out of the weeds. So I backed out into about 7 ft of water and casted the shallows. Had a few strikes that I missed (3 to be exact). Action slowed as I worked back further in the slough and I stopped seeing as many fish. Worked the other side on my way out and nailed a fish at about 6:00. I got her to the boat really quick but as soon as she saw the boat she decided to take about 40 yards of my line and run! Got her turned around and back to the boat, just to watch her scream away with another 20 yards and jump straight up out of the water. After her air show she came in and slipped into my net. Got her in the boat and there was blood everywhere! She had actually almost swallowed my lure when I paused it during the retrieve. My hook set put the hooks in her gills in the back of her throat and she bled out in my boat. Measured her at 42 inches and weighed 17lbs. After cleaning up the boat and fixing the pole that she knocked down, flipped the spool and tangled up in, I continued to fish my way out of the slough. Hooked into another fish before 7:00 got it about half way to the boat before it got off. Fish was probably about a 10lb fish judging by the fight. Called it a night after that and got off the water.

When I cleaned the fish I was amazed at the number of eggs inside her! Her stomach and intestines were empty but she had a few hundred thousand eggs!

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