Jim Karsnia’s caught some big fish in his day — even bigger than the northern pike he took July 1.

But what made this day’s catch unusual is that he caught the dead fish with a net and it had a 2-pound sucker in a death grip.

Karsnia surmises the 12-15 pound northern pike attempted to eat the sucker and died when it became lodged in its throat.

Jim Karsnia poses for a photo with an unusual find from Rainy Lake.Karsnia said he’d been fishing with his two brothers-in-law and came back to their cabin near Rainy Lake’s Point O’Pines area for a fish fry.

“I saw three or four seagulls looking for something in the water,” he said. “Finally a fish floated toward shore and everyone said ‘Gee, that’s a big fish out there.’”

When it got to the shoreline, the group could see there was another fish in the mouth of the larger fish.

“I took it out of the water and we took some pictures,” he said.

And while many avid anglers report times in which they were reeling in a fish when a larger fish grabbed at its tail, Karsnia said he’d never seen anything quite like this.

He practiced catch-and-release after the photos, pushing the two fish back into the water toward the waiting gulls.

“Everybody’s got to eat,” he said.

It was a good day of fishing — both for live and dead fish, Karsnia said. Prior to finding the northern, he reported that he and his two brothers-in-law filled up on walleye and caught about 25 crappie.