Speaking of large northern pike and pink toenails......
I used to duck hunt quite a bit and one time was out in the marsh with my lab who was a very good retriever.  I shot a mallard and it fell in an area just out of view.  The dog went after the duck but didn't come back for quite a while.  After whistling and whistling I could finally see the dog swimming towards me dragging what looked like a log.   When the dog got to the blind I saw that the "log" was a 52" northern pike. I scolded the dog and told her to go back and get the duck.  She just sat there and gave me a look like the one on the YouTube video with the helium guy.  Anyway, I figured why not keep the northern as it would supply me with fish for about a year.  When I cleaned the monster pike that evening I found the mallard in it's stomach. That dog was the about the third best one I ever had.

Really Jim.......pink toenails?

Forgot something about that 56" northern, or was it the 52 incher?
Anyway that northern had a hookless pink daredevil attached to a steel leader and about a foot of 80# test Fire Line firmly clenched in it's mouth .   It also had an Underwater Canadian Passport with it.   Never did figure out what that was all about.

Anything you care to share about that Marten?

Solotripper.....wondering if on non windy days if you could just rock the pendant back and forth, hypnotize the fish and have them beach themselves for easy retrieval?  You know that they're out there just watching you anyway.

Jim.....LMOA on the dehydrated water thing!  I'm returning the ones I bought for the trip.

[quote author=mpeebles link=1554294511/33#33 date=1554991368]Forgot something about that 56" northern, or was it the 52 incher?
Anyway that northern had a hookless pink daredevil attached to a steel leader and about a foot of 80# test Fire Line firmly clenched in it's mouth .   It also had an Underwater Canadian Passport with it.   Never did figure out what that was all about.

Anything you care to share about that Marten?
[/quote]

I think your big pike is the one that capsized my canoe up in WCPP. I had a nice eating size Walleye in the bucket but was starving so dangled the hot pink Dardevle one more time over the water. A 19 inch Walleye came hurtling up and swallowed the lure. I was after a frying size fish so  ushered the big female out over the water so it could cough up the hookless lure and be on its way. Imagine my fright when a 46 inch pike came up and tail walked until it had inhaled my Walleye head first. This was a few years ago and it must have grown fast to be so big when your dog retrieved it to get you the duck. The 80 pound test line saved me a lot of lost lures over the years but this time the choice backfired. The large pike hit the water and headed south. My canoe was pointed east and because the drag was stuck it was able to pull the canoe over. The force of its pull took me away from the canoe. The good news was I had on my tricked out survivors life vest.The bad news was that when I got yanked away from the canoe the heavy line tangled around my neck. I quickly pulled back on the line and was able get a wrap of it around my left hand. The fish accelerated so I thrust my legs forward to gain resistance. Wrong move! Next thing I know I am barefoot waterskiing and heading south. With the line cutting into my left hand I pulled the knife out of the sheath and cut the line.

Forgot to ask......where did you end up barefoot skiing? 

I heard a story from some guys in Red Lake about seeing someone being dragged down the Chukuni River and over Nester Falls where they quickly lost sight of him.  They thought he was yelling something to the effect of "can't cut the damn line" or something to that effect.  Obviously, no one they told believed the story so they took to drinking and carrying on with women of ill repute.  At least they found happiness.