[...] Then again, maybe the next world record pike will come from [...]

The 2nd italian pike was caught the last year on “Maggiore lake” (Lombardia, Italy). I saw this picture on the last year in “Le vie della pesca in acqua dolce”, a italian fishing review.
Greetings

Thanks for the info Gabriele!

This fish was caught in France. It was in a lake which name is Pareloup (in Aveyron). The lucky fishermen were Philippe COSTE et Arnaud FOISSAC and the fish’s weight was 19,4kg (43Lbs) and the lenght was 1,37m (53.9 in). You can find the origin website here : http://www.pecheaveyron.com/carnassier/carnassier.php

[...] got an email the other day with some info on a mystery pike we posted last year. Looks like this beauty was definitely caught in Italy as we first believed. [...]

Hello,
you want find the biggest pike, there is only one man who can help you “Jan Eggers”(lives in Bovenkarpsel, Netherlands) in 1995 he write an article for the “rute&rolle” magazine, the name of the article is “101 biggest pikes”.In this article i found the biggest pike. It was caught in 1983 by Arno Wihelm in Dannstadt(Germany), the weight was 30,5 KG (61pounds)

greetings
Sebastian

The Italian pike pictured was indeed caught on Lac Maggiore. The fisherman is a friend named Carlo Aimonetti. The fish was over 25 KG. He caught another a few weeks later that was just over 24 KG. This was about 3 years ago. Carlo fished muskies with me on Lake of the Woods, Ontario in 2005. Quit a gentleman and an excellent fisherman.