Bested by a Trophy Pike

I am reminded of the time Mike and myself went out fishing for anything that would bite. We had gone all the way around this small lake with plenty of fish caught. It was early in the evening in late August and the fish had all at once quit biting. We started casting up tight against the lily pads and reeling back slowly using black and white spoons. We sent cast after cast into the pads and back again with nothing to show. We had already put a couple good sized Pike on the stringer and were looking to end the day on a high note. I felt a slight tug as if I had snagged the weeds again. There were lots of them on this day. I pulled and reeled back towards the snag up. Pulled again and reeled, over and over again. We say this huge mass of weeds come floating to the surface alongside the boat. I saw a set of eyes poke out from under the weeds then the long body of a huge Northern Pike slowly swimming along then we notice that the large fish had another cross ways in his mouth . I quickly released the reel bail and watched as the line went out and down then stopped. I was hoping the larger would grab the small one from the front and I could get a hook into him. No such luck. I waited for nearly twenty minutes before bringing the smaller fish in. We noticed the cut marks on the sides of the smaller fish which was about two and a half pounds. We took a small fishermen's tape measure and measured the distance between the cut marks. Thats when we truly knew a monster pike had gotten the best of me. It was nine and half inches between those tooth marks. We estimated the fish to be in the twenty to twenty-five pound bracket. We fished that entire end of the lake with different methods and baits for nearly three hours. He had gotten the best of me and was not interested in trying his luck again. This all happened on a lake in Minnesota.