Breaks Line, Catches Fish Anyway??
Originally Published on Mar 15, 2012 “From the Dock” NBC Sports
Everyone who fishes has the tale about the big one that got away. For Pete Diwi, this is the same story with a bizarre twist and catches fish anyway.
Late last week, he headed to to the Minnesota side of Lake of the Woods, a massive water that straddles the the US/Canadian border about a six-hour drive north of Minneapolis. There has been a torrid walleye/sauger bite on the big lake all winter and Diwi was there with his son, Matt, who requested the trip as a Christmas present.
Most anglers who fish walleyes in winter use two lines, one a jig/spoon rod, the other a bobber rod. Jigging is a more active presentation and in most cases produces more fish than the plain live minnow usually suspended below the bobber. But there are days when live bait out-fishes a jig or spoon.
Diwi was jigging when something big took his spoon. He set the hook hard more as a reflex than a conscious decision. The light mono he was using held just long enough for him to tell he had hooked a good fish, before it parted.
The problem I have with a broken line, other than the fact that I lose the fish or lose a favorite bait, is that it always leaves me wondering what I had had on and how big it truly was. In a lifetime of angling, I’ve never had happen what happened to Diwi six long hours later.
The day was slow, so Diwi wasn’t watching his bobber as closely as normal, but he did notice it was gone before the fish had taken all the slack he had laid in the ice hole to give a biting fish time to run with the bait. When he set the hook, he knew immediately he had a good fish and a couple minutes later he guided a nice five-pound walleye onto the floor of his fish house.
He first noticed the spoon, the same chartreuse Northland Buckshot Rattler he was using that morning, locked firmly in the fish’s lip, when he reached to unhook it.
I’d hate to estimate the odds of this happening on any body of water, but especially a lake the size of Lake of the Woods. It is one of those things about fishing, however, that I love. Just when you thinks you’ve seen it all…
If you have a similar fish story from your home waters, please share it in the comments section here. I always enjoy a good fish tale!—Steve
