Great Sacandaga Lake World Record Northern Pike Caught in 1940
By L.L.Decker

During morning of September 15th 1940, Peter Dubuc cast a 6" long, wooden, flap tail plug lure with 2 treble hooks on a 12 lb test with a 48” bronze leader into the waters of a quiet bay in the Great Sacandaga Lake. Not a man to “ just fish for whatever he could catch” Dubuc’s focus was pike. But he may not have expected to catch what hit the line. The battle ensued for an hour and ended with Dubuc landing a world record Northern Pike. That world record held for almost 40 years.

Almost 70 years later Gail Dubuc Freeman was searching the internet for stories about her fathers famous catch and happened upon the website visitsacandaga.com which had made mention of her father and the pike. Upon further communication with Freeman she related that Outdoor Life magazine reporter Ben East in 1959 spent a few days with Dubuc. Gail provided a copy from the original magazine of the story written by Ben East, as told to him by Peter Dubuc, it reads as follows:

“I’d worked back and forth over prime pike ground for over an hour and a half without a strike, something that rarely happened to me in those waters. Now, approaching an area I knew was spiked with stumps , I revved the outboard a bit to bring my plug up where it wouldn’t snag.

The water was only 9 or 10 feet deep. The drowned stumps left when the timber was cleared before the valley was flooded (1930) were a favorite hang out of big Northerns. If couldn’t raise a pike here I might as well quit. But I knew I wouldn’t do that for a while, no matter what happened.

I passed over the first of the submerged stumps with 75 yards of line out. When I was about that far beyond the stumps, a fish smashed into my lure like a starved cat taking a mouse. The speed of the boat and the savagery of his rush drove the hooks all the way in, and almost before I knew I had the strike the surface of the water boiled like someone had tossed a small hand grenade.

I was using my standard trolling rig, a 6 foot rod with enough backbone to handle the big ones and 300 yards of 12 lb. test mounted on the trolling wheel. For a minute the fish fought like a wild steer on a rope. Then quieted down and came along the way I wanted it to.

I brought him in within 25 ft of the boat before he changed his mind. He didn’t make much of a fuss about it, just swapped ends and lit out. I could tell by the feel of him I’d better let him run. I set the drag on the wheel up to all I thought it could stand, and he walked of with 115 ft of it as easy as a breeze carrying thistledown. Then he came to the top. Breaking water three times coming far enough out for me to get an eyeful, as near as I could tell there was no less than 4 ft of him. He took off in a big circle but I pressured him in close enough for a good look. He was a whopper sure enough. When he whipped around once more and headed for the far side of the reservoir, I gave him all the line he wanted without any argument. The only way I’d win this fight would be by outlasting him. With the 48” bronze leader between the plug and the line there was no chance he could sever that. If I could keep him away from the stumps and snags chances were good I’d come out on top.

I set the drag as tight as I dared to keep him working every minute, and edged the boat toward deeper water. The pike bucked and thrashed and took line, and I won it back only to lose it again. It was 45 minutes before I saw any sign of let up.

He was beginning to play out at last. Another 10 minutes and I had him close to the boat. But I knew he wasn’t quite ready for the taking as he was still belly down in the water. You don’t make a final pass at a pike of that size until he rolls over.

This fish moved like forked lightning flailing end for end and flashing under the boat with a wallop that knocked a bucket of water in my face. But I was ready for him. I gave what I had to, turned him and made him come into the open then punished him with the rod until I saw his long white belly roll to the top. He was ready now. I never gaff a pike. If you have the patience and the know-how to tire your fish there’s no need for a gaff. I always release everything except my biggest Northerns, so I like to bring them in unhurt. I learned a long time ago that when a big pike gives up, you take him right then. Grant him a minute to get his second wind and you’ll have half the job to do all over again, maybe lose him.

So the second this lunker turned over I moved fast. I reached for his eye sockets with my thumb and middle fingers holding him as hard as I could then with all my strength hauled him aboard, then looked at my watch. It had been an even hour to turn the trick. He was the biggest pike I ever caught but right then I didn’t know exactly how big.”

Dubuc went ashore and had the fish weighed at what his daughter Gail remembers as Pelchers store in Benedict, northeast of North Broadalbin. The 1959 Outdoor Life Article reads as follows:

“The pike was 52 1/2” long and 25” girth. His weight was a record smashing 46 lbs.2 oz. We weighted him twice. Once in the town of Broadalbin, then again in Albany on beam scales both times. It was soon established I’d taken the biggest northern pike ever landed on hook and line anywhere on earth, a world record that still stands 19 years later.

I don’t happen to care much for mounted fish and at $1 an inch, the rate local taxidermists quoted me, I couldn’t see a $52.50 investment in this one. So I gave the fish away. I’d had the fun of catching him and the satisfaction of setting a world record that was all I wanted and more.”

By L.L.Decker

See the Legend of Peter Dubuc for yourself at the 4th Annual Adirondack Outdoorsman Show. Peter Dubuc's daugher (Gail Freeman) will be on hand at the show to share stories about her Dad and his illustrious fishing accomplishments. She will have photos and scrapbooks about him, as well as "The Plug" he caught the fish on! Also, New York Outdoor News will have a replica mount of the Record Pike on hand. Get your picture taken with it!