In fact, in 2008 Mirond Lake gave up a 47.5-pound, 55.5-inch provincial record big enough to swallow pike considered trophies in harder hit waters. Indeed, with nearly 100,000 lakes and countless river miles, the province provides incredible opportunities catching pike topping 40, even 50 inches.

I'll never forget my first trip to legendary Wollaston Lake, where I broke the 44-inch barrier with the kind of gator that had eluded me during more than three decades of serious pike hunting south of the Canadian border. At least not on the kind of world-class pike fisheries found in Saskatchewan pike hotspots. The good news, however, is that you don't have to settle for 16-inch snot rockets. A combination of overharvesting mid-size to large fish, habitat degradation, exotic species, and other factors have decimated big-fish numbers in once-notable waters.

In pressured pike waters across the Lower 48, your odds of catching a gator topping 20 pounds are only slightly better than your chances of actually collecting a dime from that email notification that you've won $10 million in the Nigerian Lottery.

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