Three Lakes resident Ty Bolling hauled in a near-record 44.5-inch northern pike earlier this month from a private lake east of Three Lakes.

Bolling said that the fish was caught on a hand line with a tip-up, adding that the fish spooled his line initially, and after one other line-run and multiple direction changes he was able to hold the fish at the ice hole while his fishing buddy, Luke Olejniczak of Eagle River, brought it up through the ice.

The pike was hauled in around sunset on a day with high pressure and windy weather.

“It was caught the day after my birthday in January during the Snowmobile Derby,” Bolling said, adding that he has been spending his time enjoying area trails and lakes around Three Lakes.

“This was my first time ice fishing for big pike since I was young,” he said.” I’m normally a spring muskie fisherman, but wanted to experience all the North Woods winter fun.”

Records show that the state record for a northern pike in Wisconsin is a hefty 38-pounder caught by J.A. Rahn at Lake Puckaway all the way back in 1952, although the catch and release state pike record was set off of Green Bay in 2019 and measured in at 46.25 inches.