Notes from the Sports Desk by Tyler Julson

 

On Friday, I’ll be taking off for Lake of the Woods on my annual family ice fishing trip. I look forward to the trip every year — it’s a time where I can just sit out on the ice and relax while poorly attempting to catch fish. Albeit, this year I’ll likely be in the same ice house as my younger cousin Max, who — bless his heart — isn’t the one to be with if you’re looking for a relaxing time. Either way, it will be a great time hanging out with some family and friends I don’t get to see too often.

I hope I’m not treading too far into Dick Herfindahl’s territory here, but I’d like to share a few stories from my trips up north.

The first of which was my best ice fishing experience I’ve ever had anywhere. I can’t remember the exact year, but it was either 2012 or 2013. There were nine of us who took the trip, which made our limit of fish 72 — up to eight sauger or walleye per fisher, with no more than four of those being walleye. The bite was unlike anything I’d ever experienced; we had our limit within the first three hours of sitting in the house. They were coming in so fast, we barely had time to rebait and send our poles back down the hole. Hopefully we can get a year like that again this time around.

A few years before that, I was fishing with two poles in the water, one of which apparently had a fish on the other end. Either I was extremely distracted or starting to doze off, because all I remember was seeing the pole fly off the stand and straight down the hole.

We spent the rest of the day jigging to try and snag the pole at the bottom of the lake, but it was to no avail. We deemed it a lost cause. Coming back out the next day, Levi, another cousin of mine, started to reel in a fish he had snagged. After pulling it out of the hole we realized there was another line tangled with his. Lo and behold, after pulling on the other line, it was my pole from the day before, which also had another fish on the hook. Somehow, in its frenzy up into the light, Levi’s fish had swam around my sunken line enough to pull it up with it. Two fish and a pole in one go was one of the more bizarre catches I’ve ever seen.

The third story also involves my cousin Levi, as well as the biggest fish I’ve ever laid eyes on in the wild. After getting a few nibbles on one of his lines, Levi set the hook on what we thought would be a small, maybe keeper-sized fish. We were wrong. The drag immediately started to wizz and we all stopped what we were doing to watch him fight.

After about 20 to 25 minutes of going back and forth, we finally caught a glimpse of the monster below the ice. It spanned at least three holes (I’m probably embellishing a little), but it was one of the most exciting things I’ve seen while ice fishing. The 17 inches-plus of ice combined with the dark water made it hard to tell what the species was — my guess was a lake sturgeon — but we were fishing in 30 feet of water, so that would have been extremely rare.

The fact that I don’t know the species clues you in to what happens next. The line suddenly went slack and in a quiet panic, Levi reeled in and what came up was heartbreak. Nothing but a frayed end of the line, which leads away from my theory of a lake sturgeon. Nobody said anything for a good while as we all just stared at the floor in disbelief.

Redemption for that day is part of the reason I go back every year. Just like the Catfish Hunter in “Grumpier Old Men,” that fish has made a nemesis for life.

Tyler Julson is the Tribune sports reporter. Contact him at tyler.julson@albertleatribune.com.