Finally Caught One

After 3 winters of ice fishing, I finally caught a fish. And it's about time. If 3rd time wasn't the charm, then I was going to hang up my ice fishing rods for good. But the one thing about ice fishing is that it's really not about ice fishing.

On Day One our house (Dan, Mitch and myself) caught 17 fish, and only had to throw 2 back because one was too big and the other too small. However, the low lights of Day One included 2 broken fishing rods by Dan in a matter of 5 minutes. At least he was able to catch both of the fish that broke his poles. The other mishap of the day was when I helped Mitch try to bring up the Big One and as his line broke, one of my poles got sucked into the icehole and disappeared underneath the ice. Needless to say, I was pissed.

Day Two, the bad news is that we only caught 4 keepers and a lot of little fish which we threw back. The good news is that not only is Dan the expert fisherman at catching fish, but by some random chance he also was able to reel up the line from the pole I lost the day before. A miracle that was to even get it back. But just when I thought my luck changed, I caught the last fish of the day. Well, I don't even know if you can call a burbot a fish because it doesn't even look one.

Next year, I'll have to redeem myself by catching the Big One whom almost took my pole away.

Here are the few lessons I learned on the weekend trip:

1. How to filet a walleye/sauger.
2. Beer for breakfast is allowed when fishing in freezing weather.
3. There is such a thing as eating too much beef jerky.
4. How to play The Mexican (a drinking game with dice).
5. There's nothing nastier than a burbot (aka eelpout), and they stink too.
6. Never bet when it comes to fishing contests.