BlogJanuary 2015

Fish Story Time

Fish Story Time

By Andy Whitcomb

Jan 19, 2015

Ice fishing requires patience. Fish are sluggish in cold water so it is a good idea to commit to a hole for a while. As you and your fishing buddy are waiting, and maybe jigging your line every now and then, this might be a good time to share some fish stories.

Ice fishing requires patience. Fish are sluggish in cold water so it is a good idea to commit to a hole for a while. As you and your fishing buddy are waiting, and maybe jigging your line every now and then, this might be a good time to share some fish stories. Fishermen are renowned for their fish stories, which makes sense because if you fish long enough, you are bound to witness something amazing.

For example, my grandfather was fishing in Canada and lost a large pike when the teeth cut the line. Later that day on the other side of this large lake, his friend caught the same pike, later identified because it still had my grandfather’s lure in its mouth.

Bassmaster Elite angler, Zell Rowland was fishing a tournament early in his career where the bass fishing was really slow. Out of 130 boats of competitors, only 20 teams weighed in fish the first day. On the second day, one bass hit the lures of both Zell and his co angler almost simultaneously, so they reeled in the same bass together. They had to flip a coin to see who would get to weigh it as theirs. (Zell won.)

It sounds like a “fish story,” but I watched Jimmy Houston on his fishing show catch two bass at once on the two treble hooks of one topwater lure called a “Heddon Zara Spook.”

At about 4 years old, my son dangled his fingers in the water off our dock and was bitten by the resident aggressive 5-pound bass. The injury was minor and his admiration for largemouth bass and in particular, “that crazy bass,” as well as fishing in general only grew out of that experience.

I recently heard a story from fishing rod maker Mike Woodward, that a duck hunter at a nearby lake went to retrieve his downed bird with his boat, only to watch it disappear to a large pike or muskie. This lake has now moved near the top of my “to do” list!

Do you have a fish story? If so, I’d love to read it on my smart phone while I’m sitting on this bucket, staring down a hole in the ice.

 
Andy Whitcomb
Andy Whitcomb
Andy is an outdoor writer (http://www.justkeepreeling.com/) and stressed-out Dad has contributed over 380 blogs to takemefishing.org since 2011. Born in Florida, but raised on banks of Oklahoma farm ponds, he now chases pike, smallmouth bass, and steelhead in Pennsylvania. After earning a B.S. in Zoology from OSU, he worked in fish hatcheries and as a fisheries research technician at OSU, Iowa State, and Michigan State.