The first time Valentina Thomson hooked into a northern pike, it took her about 15 minutes to get it into the boat.

It was just last week at Hayden Lake that Thomson reeled in the 20.3-pound, 41-inch pike.

Inside the fish, Thomson and her husband, Kurt Thomson, discovered an 8-inch crappie and a 7-inch bullhead catfish.

"It's no wonder the crappie population is down. This fish was a beast," Thomson told The Press.

A few days before Thomson caught her monster, Kurt pulled an even bigger one from the same spot. The Press published a photo of Kurt with his 26-pound catch last week.

Thomson said before she hooked her fish, the creature picked up the bait a few times before eating it.

"That's when he started to fight," Thomson said.

The last week of March, Jackie Bachtel of Coeur d'Alene, caught a 32.5-pound fish at Lake Fernan. The people at Fins and Feathers Tackle Shop on Sherman Avenue in Coeur d'Alene said it was the largest pike pulled from Fernan this year.

Fins and Feathers owner Jeff Smith said it's unusual for a smaller lake like Fernan to produce several large fish in one season. He knew of three pulled from Fernan that were roughly 30 pounds and another that was 26.

"But this is the time of year that you see a lot of those big ones," Smith said. "They come into the shallow water...it's their spawning time, so they're as big as they're going to get."

Brock Morrow, chairman of the board of the North Idaho Pike Association, said pike fishing is particularly exciting because at any time, an angler's next catch could be more than 40 inches long.

And with that comes the strength of such a lunker.

"It's the strike. Nothing hits as hard as a pike," Morrow said. "At the very last moment, there comes this big white flash out of the jets and the strike. Amazing."

LandBigFish.com lists Kim Fleming of Coeur d'Alene as the record-holder for the largest pike ever caught in Idaho. Fleming's fish, pulled from Twin Lake in 2010, weighed 40 pounds, 2 ounces. It was 51.5 inches in total length with a girth of 22.75 inches. The fish was caught on a 6-pound test line and broke the old record by 5 ounces.

The Idaho Chapter of the American Fisheries Society's website reports that pike are native to central and northeastern North America, but were illegally introduced into Idaho in the early 1970s. They were first planted in the Chain Lakes in the early 1970s, and rapidly spread throughout the Coeur d'Alene River drainage system.

"We have a member of our club who has a picture of a pike he caught in Cave Lake in 1968," Morrow said, adding that Idaho Department of Fish and Game representatives dispute the claim. "But I think they were being planted here before that."

Morrow said the purpose of the 12-year-old North Idaho Pike Association is to bring together people who are passionate about pike fishing, to provide a venue for them to become friends on an informal competitive level.

"It's all about fun. It's not about winning money," Morrow said.

But there are some opportunities to win a few bucks. Cash prizes are awarded at the seven member tournaments and one open tournament the association hosts each year.

Morrow said association members occasionally give classes on pike fishing at local sportsman's stores like Cabela's and Mark's Marine in Hayden. They also do some community service by cleaning up one of the local highways, and they work with Idaho Fish and Game to help preserve the local fisheries.

"We were excited to work with Fish and Game and the Coeur d'Alene Tribe to limit gill-netting on Windy Bay," Morrow said.

He said association members hope to work more with the agencies.

To those who don't like pike because they're predatory fish who largely eat other popular sport fish like trout or bass, Morrow said he's read more than 14 different states' biological studies on pike.

"They keep themselves in check. Generally it provides a better all-around fishery," he said.

An abundance of small pike can cause problems, and that does happen sometimes, Morrow said.

"But for the most part, they're here and there's no way to get rid of them," Morrow said. "And they're excellent table-fare."

Some people are put off by the fish's many bones, he said, but added that with the proper filleting technique, that's not a problem.

Morrow said he sometimes uses Cheez-It crackers to bread the pike fillets.

"I've had people come up and say, 'That's amazing chicken,'" Morrow said.

For more information about the North Idaho Pike Association, visit the group's website at northidahopike.com.