This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
In honor of Halloween I'm sharing a story of a "monster pike" caught last week at Yuba Reservoir. Pat Bigelow was visiting his daughter from his home in Oregon and was invited to go fishing with his son-in-law and his friend. After getting a bit chilled in the fog, the trio headed for a cove to escape the wind. Pat heard a fish surface and threw his lure in that direction. He was immediately hooked up with his first northern pike and what would prove the biggest fish of the day. That first fish was 46 inches long. The other four caught before noon were all under 30 inches. The fish was returned to the reservoir for another angler to enjoy. Pat was obviously thrilled with his catch and impressed with Utah.
"Looking forward to coming back some day to spend more time on the lake. We have the great Columbia River Gorge, but I must admit, Utah is incredible," he wrote.
Thanks for sharing the story, picture and video of what would have likely been a new state record if you had kept it Pat.
For the record, the Utah state record northern pike was caught at Yuba in 2002 and was 25 pounds even and 43 1/2 inches long. The state catch and release record was caught at Lake Powell in 1998 was 49 3/4 inches long.