Last week, Evelyn, my 25 year old daughter and I fished for lake trout in Bete Grise for a few hours and came back with a nice 9 pounder (which I did not get a picture of) and the 3 pound laker that she is holding.
There’s a story behind the larger fish… I set out 2 dypsy divers at 25 feet below the surface and was getting ready to lower a downrigger, when I noticed that the first dypsy, was tripped, meaning that the release was sprung and was not longer “diving.” (The line was not as steep as it is when it’s in the diving position) I picked up the rod to reel it in in order to re-set it, when I noticed that there was a fish tugging on the other end, just 50 feet behind the boat. I tried to grab the crank to reel in, but nothing was there… no handle on the reel! Not wanting to pull line by hand and risk loosing the fish, I searched for the crank on the floor. Not seeing it there, I went below to look and found it on the bed where I had stored the rod.
The next few minutes were spent trying to get the pin for the crank lined up with the hole on the shaft of the reel. All this while the fish, which I was sure was a laker by now, just hung on and waited. Finally, I got it put back together and reeled the fish part way in. At this point, he decided not to come and fought a good fight for a while, diving deep and refusing to come up. A few more tugs and protests, then he was coming up. I coached Evelyn on netting as I pulled him nearer the boat, but the fish managed to get under the swim platform, so I grabbed the line, pulled him out and Eve netted him. When he was safely in the boat, my dypsy came loose from the line. I’m knot sure how that happened, but maybe it was just a bad not!
Later, we landed the smaller fish without anymore adventure.
Last Sunday, our family once again found ourselves in the Ottawa National Forest, visiting the Agate Falls and O Kun De Kun Falls. Calving caught a nice brookie, and I got skunked.
Brian Helminen
