(NEWS CENTER Maine) -- "Look at the size of that megasaurus!"
In a video posted on YouTube Maine ice fishermen, Joe Holland and Brady Ouellette, are seen celebrating after catching a northern pike weighing nineteen pounds.
"They'll eat just about anything they can swallow," says biologist, James Pellerin. "They'll also compete with other species because they'll eat the same food, resources, that other species need."
Pellerin says these fish are not native to Maine. Someone, and biologists aren't sure who, put them in Maine's lakes and rivers.
Northern Pike were found in Pushaw Lake in 2003. The concern then was that they'd continue to swim into the Penobscot River. They did. The species spread,but only to one part.
Before then, they were discovered in the Belgrade Lakes Region. They were also found in Sebago Lake, where Brady Ouellette reeled in a massive northern pike this week.
"This is Maine's new game fish," said Ouellette.
The 24 year-old from Lewiston never expected his Facebook post to be shared over a thousand times.
"My biggest pike before that was fourteen pounds so it's still pretty big. My goal is to break twenty pounds which I got close."
The state has a no size or catch limit. Biologists encourage ice fisherman to catch and kill as many as they can, wherever they are in the state. Ouellette says he let the one he caught Tuesday, go.
"I always practice catch and release because if you kill everything you won't have nothing to catch."
In some of the comments, Ouellette is praised by other Facebook users for the big catch. "There's a few people that are saying it should have been killed because they are invasive," Ouellette explains.
In 2005, biologist Nels Kramer of the Penobscot Region proposed a state regulation for northern pike to be killed on a mandatory basis. He says the suggestion didn't go anywhere because it was said to be unenforceable. Kramer mentioned they looked to copy similar regulation that's in place in California, where northern pike are also devouring native fish.