Home to the 46 lb. 2 oz., 52.5” United States record Northern Pike, Great Sacandaga Lake is the best trophy Pike lake that I have found in the United States.

For years, I drove right by Sacandaga to fish other Adirondack lakes in pursuit of big Northern Pike. I traveled to remote lodges in Canada and fished my heart out, but I could never seem to break my personal best of 41”. I had heard the legends of Sacandaga. I knew about the world record Pike caught here in 1940. I heard about Danny King’s 52” Pike from the 2015 ice fishing tournament. And every year, I would see pictures of giant fish coming from this lake 42”, 44”, 46”, even 48” Northerns. Eventually, I decided I needed to fish it myself.

I came to Sacandaga with my musky tackle and a musky-fishing mindset, but I really had no clue where to start. About an hour and a half into fishing the lake, I was throwing a topwater bait when the water exploded. That fish ended up being a 46” Northern Pike, the biggest Pike of my life. From that point on, this lake and its Pike completely took me over.

The goal now is 50”. We've raised fish that I truly believe were in that class on a few occasions. We've landed dozens and dozens of 40” class Pike, including several big mid 40” fish. During the prime times of the year, we catch 40” Pike on an almost daily basis. I've also had countless clients tell me they've traveled all over the country fishing for Pike and nothing they've experienced compares to the trophy potential of Great Sacandaga Lake. There aren't many places in America where you can realistically cast for a 40” Northern Pike while knowing that a fish approaching 50” is swimming somewhere beneath you.

But I also want people to understand what this fishery really is. Great Sacandaga is NOT a high-population Pike lake. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of them. You can fish for 12 hours and only encounter one giant Pike. Some days you might not encounter one at all. In a lot of ways, it's more like musky fishing than traditional Pike fishing. We don't troll for these fish and do not sharpshoot with livescope (though we do use livescope for finding structure). We cast. Thousands and thousands of casts. Big jerkbaits, glide baits, topwaters, rubber and other large presentations over and over again. It can be exhausting. But when a giant Pike finally follows your bait to the boat or explodes on it, there aren't many thrills in freshwater fishing that compare.

The best, and also the saddest, part about Sacandaga is that I still don't think people recognize just how special this trophy Pike fishery is. Many of these giant fish are still harvested. Catch and release for trophy Pike has never been a major part of the local fishing culture, and changing that mindset isn't going to happen overnight. But we're trying. Every giant Pike caught on our boat goes back into Great Sacandaga Lake. My hope is that more anglers will begin doing the same.

Great Sacandaga Lake is one of the most beautiful, mountainous, oasis lakes in Upstate New York and an absolute precious fishery and one that is close to my heat. Come join us, make a few thousand casts, and see if the next fish to come out of Sacandaga is the one you've been looking for your entire life. And whether you fish with us or not, I hope you'll support our catch-and-release efforts and help us protect these incredible fish. The world record Northern Pike once came from Great Sacandaga Lake. I'd love to see the day it comes home.