Sounds like you caught a gar fish to me.

Know the differance for sure.....It was a Pike and damn fine lookin one at that...

We used to call them cottonfish, they are acutally chain pickeral as mentioned, look a lot like a Pike, but Pike's ain;t usually down this far south

Looked um up.....That is what it was, hard fight'n fish.....Thanks for the clarification.
Looked like a the pike I had caught up north before......But Pickerel It Is....

We catch them in Larto pretty regular. If I'm not mistaken, the state record is only a few pounds. Never tried to eat one before. We have caught them in ditches in Montpelier also. Only those were just 4-5 inches long. They made awesome aquarium fish.

....Is Only In the Five Pound Range.....You Might Of Had One There...I Know The One I seen Roll On Bait Was Damn Close To Five If Not Bigger...

The #1 Louisiana Chain Pickerel record is 5.75 pounds and the #9 record is 4.38 pounds. There is a tie for 5th place that's why the records only go through 9.

http://www.laoutdoorwriters.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=cenQv21ttMQ%3d&tabid=87

I might be record hunting this winter....LOL..
Start telling people that I own an 06 Nitro 911 CDC Pickerel Boat.....LOL
Actually was a pretty fun fish....Smashed a crank bait, Pulled hard to stay down, made a good run then broke the surface several times....Thought I had a real Nice Bass At First.....

They love anything white in color. Spinnerbaits, cranks, plastics, etc.

Damn,I know i once caught one that was right at 5lbs or better about 10 yrs ago. Caught it on char/white spinnerbait near the spillway. Don't know if it was a record, but it would have been worth investigating.

Put on a hell of a fight too

I grew up in SC and caught a bunch of them as a kid. We always called chain pickerel Jackfish. A lot of fun to catch - bite well on spinners and minnows on warm winter days whenbass don't. Very good to eat but bony.