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24.0"
Northern Pike caught
by Joe Pych
at the LCI Father’s Day Fishing Derby
on Saturday June 14, 2008 at 20:30
in Lake Champlain
6.19 km from
Ferrisburg
in
Addison County,
Vermont (VT),
United States
North America
using
a Worm
Here is a funny fishing story that you will not believe. I swear to God I am not making this up. This is a true story and I have two witnesses.
I was out fishing with John Harrington and his son John "Junior" (he hates that) Harrington at the LCI derby on Champlain. It was late in the day and we were targeting Walleye as the sun was hitting the horizon.
John was hammering the Walleye. Junior and I were not having as much luck even though we were on the same boat. This is why we call John the "Walleye Whisperer." He has a knack for pulling them out of their holes on the bottom when nobody else can.
With all John's success, I was spending more time netting his fish than catching my own. One one such occasion, I reeled in but left my worm in the water along side the boat. Just after netting John's fish he said, "what was that splash?" My answer was "what splash?" and turned around to see my rod had gone missing. Actually, it was John's rod I was borrowing and I then learned it had a new $160 Shimano reel attached. This new $200+ Cabela's setup was now down in Davy Jones' locker.
I tried to explain to John that I had reeled it all the way in, etc. etc. He said it was okay, but I could see he was upset.
Fortunately, the fishing was really good and John, Junior and I continued. I set myself up with another walleye rig and went back to work. About 15 minutes later, we saw some thrashing on the surface. That's when we realized a pike had snatched my worm and the attached equipment. He was still hooked up and trying to break free. We motored over and tried to locate it, but were unsuccessful.
We kept fishing another thirty minutes. It was getting dark and on our "last pass" I got a strike. I was getting the fish to the surface and squinting to identify it when lo and behold, there's the rod and reel! Somehow, I hooked it through one of the line guides on the pole and was reeling it in. Can you believe that? I still can't believe it and I was there.
So, I got Junior's assistance to successfully land the pole (I did not want to lose it twice). Once we got the pole on board, I realized I still had the pike on the line. I landed that, too! It was not a huge pike, but big enough to pull that equipment overboard and drag it around the lake for a while.
Of course I told the Harrington's that this was my plan all along. This "two-stage fishing technique" is one of my many fishing secrets. This is the first time it was successfully deployed in competition. ;-)
You should have seen how happy John was when he got that expensive pole back! I was quite pleased to return it to him. This is just the latest extraordinary event to happen aboard the Rockhammer.
[I will add the photo when John gets it off his camera]
Posted by Joe Pych 6 months ago
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I believe you. I had the same thing happen off Sandy Hook (NY) with a brand new Penn Reel & Daiwa rod. Unfortunately, my stage two effort came up with a bunch of shells and seaweed.