Was he talking about somewhere else? 🙄
OK, having made my obligatory snide remark, here's what I really think: Maybe if pike were managed differently in MI, some of them might have a chance of making those large sizes… Problem is, when many people catch pike like some I've gotten in Ovid and Thorn (in the high 30s), they end up in their freezer faster than a Toyota with a stuck accelerator. (Oops, there's another snide remark!. Sorry! 
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There are some awful big pike in Saginaw bay. Several that were well over the 40" mark were speared this winter on the east side of the bay. Although people are spearing these pike I believe that there is an untapped trophy fishery for giant pike on the bay and the fact that the season is open all year should mean that there is a shallow water bite both early and late if someone had the desire to put the time in to find them. I don't obviously, but I bet if a guy hit it right he could have fishing that would rival the northern Canada lakes.
"MuskyDan" said:
There are some awful big pike in Saginaw bay. Several that were well over the 40" mark were speared this winter on the east side of the bay. Although people are spearing these pike I believe that there is an untapped trophy fishery for giant pike on the bay and the fact that the season is open all year should mean that there is a shallow water bite both early and late if someone had the desire to put the time in to find them. I don't obviously, but I bet if a guy hit it right he could have fishing that would rival the northern Canada lakes.
Especially now with the whitefish coming to the inner bay to spawn in the fall, if 25in walleyes were eating 10-12in baby whitefish just imagine the diet of the northerns in the bay, I would have to think this will help since the shad populations flucuate so much on the bay. Just look at the size of the pike in Higgins, whitefish, trout, and smelt, now the bay has it all.
There are some really good ones in the southern Michigan counties too, not optimum habitat and conditions but I've been surprised at what I've stumbled on at times. They thrive on neglect, one has to work hard to find where they're neglected. On most waters they get picked off well before they have a chance to get bigger.
But I was just having fun with the MUCC article. Romanack likes pike and musky a lot so I like him too, but given his experience I was surprised about the observations on Esox sizes!
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