Kid Couldn't Miss...
Reva Schneider
Dateline: 5/31/99
This actually happened today (May 11th), as DH and I finished up a 4 day weekend with a little shore fishing up on the Chain of Lakes in Northern IL. We had hoped to pick up a walleye dinner for the cost of a few minnows, and succeeded...barely...let's just say that with slot limits and creel limits...it's a good thing I made extra french fries and cole slaw. (no...no carp today...)
DH got the proverbial keychain "hat trick" in 4 casts: one 5" long walleye, one 4" long sauger, and one 3" long hybrid. I wanted him to try one more cast, as with one more little fish, I could have made a necklace or something out of them...(DH is an expert on juvenile markings on most North American gamefish--he's the guy that knows that the tiny black minnow on his line is actually a baby smallmouth...)
Anyway...there was this young boy, maybe about 8 years old, out fishing with grandma. He was chucking red worms and minnows from this ancient zebco set, and hauling in slab crappie like crazy--these fish were from 11-13 inches long. NICE crappie! He then decides that he wants to try a nightcrawler, and rigs up on this huge hook on this line like phone cable with a huge weight and chucks it out with such force that I got splashed from 10 feet away...he hauls in...bump, bump, yank, bump...and hangs a 2lb bass.
An older gentleman comes over and says, "Hey sonny, ya ever caught a big ol' catfish?" and rigs the kid up with a huge hunk of chicken liver. I figure that still fishing for cat will at least keep the kid quiet and still for a while. It did. For about a half hour, when suddenly there were people running up and down the shoreline screaming. Grandma was hanging onto the kid by his belt, some guy ran to his car for a net, and we just had to reel in and go see what all the fuss was about...
Did anyone out there know that northern pike eat chicken livers?? I mean...30" northern pike?!! Like...put 'em on the wall and brag northerns?! I still don't believe it, and after DH induced submissive behaviour (I think the pike was mortified at being caught in the foie gras) in the beast, I actually pried it's mouth back open to see if perhaps there was actually a bullhead or madtom attached to the chicken liver. Nope. The darned pike was cleanly hooked in the middle of the upper jaw. It had actually cruised out of one of the channels and happily eaten a chicken liver...
Irritates the heck out of me...either pike fishing is a huge production for very little return, or I get inundated in foot long northern that do nothing for me other than eat fishline and chew on my knuckles. (Why do baby northern NEVER break off or slip the hook?)
Ah well...the walley were tasty, albeit a little sparse...we had a good time and didn't get too sunburned...but a tiny part of me hopes the kid is skunked for the rest of the summer...
Fishtales One Year Ago: 06/01/98 - Summer Walleye at Lake of the Woods - How to catch summer walleye at Lake of the Woods.
