January of 2015 to Lake of the Woods will always be remembered by me as a trip of a lifetime. It was one that brought a couple friends and I much closer. Possibly closer than we wanted… Three guys in a sleeper cabin, 17 miles in, lots of time and no showers (the stench alone was one that will not be forgotten). Let me start out with a little background on us.
I have been ice fishing with my Father since I was very young. We would spend New Year’s out on the ice, a tradition I still wish we practiced. I still go every chance I get. My cohorts were not as experienced. For story sake I will refer to them as Jim and Adam. Jim has been ice fishing a few times but not a regular to the sport. Adam on the other hand has never been. He was quite worried about the ice when we were driving out to the shack. He quickly got over his worries when we got into the fish.
Now as most of you know Lake of the Woods is a working man’s lake. We would fish Sun up until Sun down. The First couple days we got into a few sandwich stackers and threw them in the skillet for dinner. On the third day we really got into the fish. We were catching Walleye, Sauger, Tulipe and Eelout (Nothing of significant size). A bottle of Icehole or two may have been opened. So the day was ending and the bite died down when the story gets good. We each had two poles in the water with a Marcum and Lawrence on opposing ends. Adam was in the middle with Jim and I on the outside of him. We were in the middle of a story when Adam stops what he was saying and noticed a large mark on the Lawrence next to Jim.
His bobber goes under the water, into the dark abyss of his hole. He lets out an “Oh my God!” The hook is set, line is going out and the hooting and hollering begins. All of a sudden Jim shouts “Holy hell!” when his bobber goes under and he moves into action. I’m standing by Adam talking him through his first big bite when he says “Dude your pole!” I quickly grab my pole when a light bulb goes off. I say “Guys let the line out from your poles. He is catching on all or our lines.” Jim responds, “Yeah I was kind of thinking that as well.” Adam says, “Guys I almost got him!” At this point the fish is at the bottom of the ice and all Adam see is its eye and he lets out an “Omg, Omg, Omg! Guys I can’t breathe! I think I’m going to pass out!” I respond with, “Adam, get the head up into the hole or you’re going to lose him!” Adam replies, “OMG! OMG! OMG!” I look up and see him about to try and lift the fish out of the water with the pole… now we all know that doing something of this nature will result in disaster. With the large heart that I have would not allow me to see this happen. So I reach into the hole and grab the walleye from the gill. Adam drops his rod and reel and proceeds to back away from the hole saying, “OMG! OMG! OMG! Guys Im really going to pass out! OMG! Is this really happening!” Jim and myself are laughing hysterically saying, “Dude! Calm down! Calm down! You Caught this on your First Time ice fishing!!!” I’m holding the fish telling Adam, “Hey come grab your fish, we have to unwrap the 5 other lines and take the hook off.”
After all that we measured the big Walleye at just shy of 26 in. It was not the largest fish out there but it was one we landed that I will never forget. Jim and Adam now ice fish more regularly and love to tell this story. Oh, and we also have a group of 8 guys who go every year. I believe we now have a few more addicts to add to the list. Thanks for reading.
December 4, 2017 at 11:04 am
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