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| The Big Fish Story~the one that got away.
Some where near Big Bend, Flaming Gorge, Wyoming. Elevation of the lake 6,025 feet. Overcast day, falling barometer at 30.01. Windy.
Here's the lucky bait of the day. A 3/8's ounce jig, rapid glow 3" swirl tail tipped with a little strip of sucker meat. Note the loop for the terminal knot....a later to be learned fatefully bad choice of knots. The reel selected from the gallery, a Pro Magda 20 DS by Okuma. Our line choice is a 15 pound P-line flurocarbon. Fighting glove is a Kmart thinsulate size 7 1/2. The glove was more important than you would think in a long drawn out battle in a 15 mile an hour winds and 5 degree wind chill. The line counter was very helpful at measuring the distance to a fish once hooked. The star drag is a necessity.
Early morning finds me with one small laker on the ice. At 9:45 I see a high cruiser slide in at 20 feet, and crank wildly to his level on the fish finder screen. With out a hesitation, a large Batman-like POW!
Fish on, and a big one!
The fatally chosen Shakesphere ultra light graphite rod, recommended line wt. is 2-6 pound. Note the tip was previously removed by a car door. I worry the rod will break~ it has no "beef" as seen and can not move a fish of this size without the potential for failure.
Going down for the first time! See the fishes tail movements on the screen. This felt like being tied into an immovable log on the bottom. This is a big signal from a big fish. The fish finder was found to be a real asset. The fishes tail is seen sweeping the bottom with the 4X zoom in the left screen. Isn't the 256 color screen cool? Thank you Garmin for a fine piece of electronic fishing gear.
A real fish odessy. Talk to me Hal. I am here for you Dave. This time to the bottom and holding steady. Not seen in any of the screens were half dozen echos of his like-sized associates swimming with him at times. That made me sweat out an early break off if one's tail hit the taunt line. I have heard of the big predators hunting prey in packs. The two ten inch holes were not adequate for the task at hand. I now drill three joined holes and always spud out the "V" between the holes BEFORE I fish. In the fresh snow, is evidence of my path around the hole. I have a large look of concern as I peer down the hole for any clues of the fishes next move. From the flag being out vertically, you can see the wind's force. Note the real rods are in the holders, not in my hand. I wished I had used a much stiffer rod. I have successfully spudded out the V's between the holes at this point. This being a task in itself, while playing a tackle buster hugging the bottom. Not bad for using the spud with one hand. Here we go on another run for the bottom after a dozen (or more) trips in a circle around the hole about thirty feet out and thirty feet below the ice. You can see my path in the snow around the hole. No those are not wrestling slide marks in the snow~I don't think but I can not recall for sure.
Here's my first look at my monster adversary. Who has who? (not a direct reference to ACDC, but it could have been) This one's a true scrapper! A holding pattern at 37 feet. Note the tail echo's continue to taunt me. On the right split scren at a dozen feet are bait fish and sonar echos from the ice deflection of the sonar. The blue in the clutter are the bait fish "Scrapper" was hunting for brunch. We take on another power sprint. The drag is running hot~the fish is running line fast. The rod is at it's breaking point. I read "made in China" on the base of the blank next to the "ultra light" once he anchors on the bottom to wait me out.
Coming up a little again as I keep the zoom adjusted to his level and the star drag cinched down tight as possible. It's a game of inches. Who will win out in the end? I mentally calculate the five hours of daylight left. We play peek-a-boo~I see you. Note the head never came above the bottom plane of the 12 inch thick ice. The rod couldn't lift his head into the hole, I could not reach the big guy no matter how hard I tried while holding the willow stick rod.
His pectoral fins were 6 inches long and the back was about 8 inches wide. The length was estimated at 48 inches with a weight estimated at 40 pounds. The size and weight estimates were later compared to a mounted 32 pounder with only 4 inch pectoral fins. He has two pink wounds on the nose, and a rip in his lip as seen. The green jig is slightly visable above the lip rip and to the right of the lower pink wound. I saw the lip hook with a small jig and a wire hook as a very fragile point in the battle. This fish charged the hole twice on me and I thought I had lost him both times. I am sure he had been to some other ice hole before mine as he did everything right. His only error was snapping at the jig as he did his high cruising for suspended bait fish at 20 foot down. This is about a 30 year old fish, a wise one. Here's the bad news part. Below, my last glimpse of a gone trophy fish departing the scene. My line and soul go limp at the same moment in time. The tale of the tape, or in this case the line. Line failure. You can see the line stretch before the line failed, Tie the polamar knot...always, from this day forward! A dejected and "had enough for one day" look. A bitter pill in this day on the pond. While the fight dragged on, I called a brother back east for ideas, and a friend in Green River that arrived fifteen minutes too late for assistance landing the fish that never came back up to the hole a third time. Circle gets the square~ checkmate. Game over.
I made a few mistakes and also did a few things right. I hope to have learned much from both.
Try not to ever fish alone. The nearest fishermen on the gorge were over a mile away.
Do not ever fish the gorge with an ultra light rod. Leave them home, not in the truck even, KARMA you know.
Use only a palomar knot, never a loop knot. These are not small bass or rainbows.
When the fish comes up green, try and get to him at all costs as once he goes down to the bottom, it is in the fishes favor. I think the fish knew this.
Test the drag very often. This worked well for me as the rod did not break in half.
Always cut three holes, or maybe even four so there is plenty of room to grab the fish if the head doesn't come up the hole first.
Always spud out the V's between the holes before the bait goes down the hole.
The sonar probe being located in it's own hole worked well.
Leave the glove on if you ever get the chance to get a hand grab in the gil cover. This is only speculation as I never got to try it out.
Keep the area around the hole shoveled free of cuttings from the hole, and the area clear of extra gear so you can go around the hole to follow the fish and not have to dance around gear. This part worked very well.
Take a few photos during the tug of war so I can relive the battle and to prove that the event even happened as so often there are, well, fish stories of the one that got a way while fishing alone out in the middle of no where. NOT A DREAM.
Maybe think about fishing closer to the truck it makes the lonely walk to the truck shorter.
It was a great experience...followed by my largest lake trout I have ever successfully landed to this date; a discreet bug-eyed six pounder. Thanks for reading the story. This was a truly "Old Man And The Sea" battle,
I hope you all get to experience one of these days, and hopefully this one is my last with this end result. I would have preferred to have written about the big one hanging on the wall, and maybe I will one day soon. See you on the ice!
Oh, and I know where he lives, I GPS'ed it.
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