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Fish on! Fish on!” I exclaimed, as a huge pike grabbed hold of my lure. My dad, brother, friend Cory and I were on a men’s fishing trip that my church had planned. We arrived at Water Hen Lake, Saskatchewan two nights before on the Thursday. Doug and Randy, two other friends, arrived earlier that day. Since we didn’t have supper yet, my dad fried up some burgers and then everyone was off to bed.
When we woke up, my dad, who is a grill master, made a delicious breakfast and we were on the water by 6:30 am, but the boat didn’t want to start! After a while, Dad and Cory got the stubborn engine to start and we were off. We found a hotspot and started casting our hooks and then the boat quit again, right in the hotspot of the day!
Cory was the first one to catch a razor-toothed pike, and then my dad and my brother caught a pike. Since the boat was sluggish, we stayed in the same area for a few hours. Suddenly I had a pike grab hold and the fight was on. The fight lasted only a few minutes and then the fish was out of the water but sadly, not in the boat. Just as Cory was getting the fish in the boat, it jerked and was back in the water!
When we were about to go back for lunch, the boat broke down again and would not start! So, as Dad and Cory fixed it up, my brother and I decided to do some casting. After about 20 minutes, a fish grabbed hold but he won that short battle. Dad finally got the boat to run so we slowly went back to port—the waters were as flat and as clear as glass.
Back at camp, we feasted like kings on a savoury meal of fresh pike. After lunch, a few of us went to the filleting house to fillet some of our fish. This was the first time I’ve done this. I was very excited to get some firsthand experience. I watched for a bit and then Cory instructed me on how to fillet my first fish. Cory told me to grab the fish by the head and with my other hand, use the knife to cut it by the gill. Cory talked me through the process of slicing off the meaty part and I did the same for the other side. Since I had brought my own filleting knife, I tried to use that but as I started slicing and dicing, Randy noticed that my knife was dull so he let me use his. I really enjoyed filleting for the first time.
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| Randy with a pike and a walleye. |
Soon all the fish were filleted and we went back to camp to get ready to get back on the water by 3:00 pm. The wind had picked up a little, along with a light rain, so I decided to change my spoon to gleaming silver and started casting. As soon as the spoon hit the water, a pike hit it hard! The challenge lasted a few minutes and then the fish was in the boat! My first fish of the day!
Once I had him in the icebox, I cast again and fish number two was on the line. He too landed in the icebox. We called it a day and when we got back, my dad started making a superb supper of steak with barbeque sauce, corn, peppers and beans.
The next day, everybody had my dad’s fabulous bacon, eggs, hash browns and toast. After breakfast, we decided to go to Water Hen River. The road was muddy and rough and it was a good thing everyone had 4x4 trucks. Finally, we got to the rushing river and everyone started casting.
Cory was the first one to get a walleye, but he gave the rod to Jack to let him reel it in, as he had not caught many fish yet. That was one of the best fish fights I ever saw. Once Jack got it on land, he threw it into the back of the truck. My brother, who didn’t see Jack throw it in there, thought the fish had jumped on its own from the river!
Dad soon caught a pike and after a few hours, we drove back to camp for some fresh fried pike.
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| Jack with a nice walleye. |
After lunch, we were back on the lake. Cory went in a different boat while Jack and Randy came in ours. When we started off, Jack was in the front and when we hit a big wave, Jack got soaked. Dad stopped and Jack went to the back of the boat.
Randy made a challenge: whoever catches the first fish gets a “Lucky Strike Live Series Lure”. I accepted the challenge and after a few casts, I had the first pike on the line. Once I got the fish in the boat, Randy gave me the lure. Excited to use my new lure, I let Jack use the spoon I was using and he caught a pike with it soon after.
“Fish on! Fish on!” I exclaimed, as a huge pike grabbed hold of my lure. He swallowed the four-inch lure and the fight as on! When he spat the lure out, thinking I missed my chance at the brute, I cast back out and the monster grabbed hold again!
I fought him for a few minutes before Dad got the net in the water. Then the giant fish jerked hard and was gone. It was so exciting almost catching him that I wasn’t disappointed.
Dad started the engine and we started trolling. About thirty minutes later, we went back to camp where we arrived to the delicious smell of smoked pike for supper.
We visited the rest of the evening and told our “big fish” stories. In the morning, some of the guys went fishing but we stayed to pack up camp. Just before leaving, I put the leftover coffee in Cory’s TO-GO cup that had apple juice in it as a joke. On our way home, we stopped at Tim Hortons for some hot chocolate. I asked Cory if his apple juice tasted funny and he said someone put coffee in it, we both laughed.
After a fantastic weekend of fishing, we were on our way back home. ■
For previous Reader Stories click here.
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