01-31-2015, 03:34 AM
There are fish stories...and then there are FISH stories. This is a story that is nearly three years in the making. It involves my daughter and a lucky pole that I have now nicknamed the Boomerang Barbie Pole.
Flashback to February 2012: So I took my two older girls, Miss L (6) and Miss K (3), and my brother-in-law, Big D, ice fishing at Hyrum Dam this past Saturday (2/18/2012). We had been fishing for a half hour or so and Miss L kept getting a few bites but could not get the hook set. No one else even had a nibble on their lines and they girls were starting to get bored. When their complaining got loud enough I broke out the mini hostess "donettes" for them to eat to keep them occupied a little longer. Donuts in hand, the girls went back to running around and kicking slush piles.
Miss L really wanted a fish and stayed close by to her pole, watching the spring-bobber fixed to the end of it. Miss K was happy wandering around getting powdered sugar all over her face while nibbling on her donut. Miss L's rod tip started bouncing and so I decided to help her finally get a good hook set on the fish. As I go over to help her, she looks over at Miss K's pole (situated precariously on a camping chair) and start starts yelling that K has a bite too. I am holding L's pole, and so I yell for K to grab her pole. Miss K, of course, does not want to put her donut down. After I missed setting L's hook, I look over toward K's pole just in time to see the handle of the rod disappearing into the ice hole. With the cat-like reflexes that I have I dive over and plunge my arm shoulder-deep into the hole to grab the end of the rod handle with my fingertips. I thought we were safe then, but then as I tried to pull it out of the hole the fish tugged again and took the pole right out of my wet frozen fingers. When Miss K saw my drenched arm come out of the ice-hole minus a pink princess fishing pole, she broke down in tears. I gave her a hug and was trying to console her as she sobbed and blubbered that she wanted to go home to her momma.
As I am watching K wipe the snot from her nose on my fishing coveralls, I notice out of the corner of my eye that my fishing pole is bouncing over at my hole about 15ft to the Southeast. All be [url "mailto:d@#*ned"]d#%*ed[/url] if I'm going to lose two poles in one day and so I put her down and ran over and grabbed my pole. I set the hook and started to reel in what felt like a pretty hefty fish on the end of my line. I about wet my pants from laughter when the first thing I saw come through the ice-hole was the tip of a pink princess fishing pole!!! My hook was snagged on her line. I grabbed her pole and got it out of the water and could tell that the fish was still attached. Miss K, with a half-eaten donut still in hand, comes running over to watch me reel in the "monster" fish that took her princess pole. Moments later we snapped a picture of K with donut in one hand, princess pole in the other, and the fishy culprit in all of his 12-inch rainbow trout glory. (attached pics)
You can believe it or not. For witnesses I have Big D, who now has one of the best first-time ice-fishing stories out there, and two strangers who were fishing 15 yards away from us. They witnessed me dive into the hole, K bawling and me reel the pole in from my hole 15 ft away from Miss K's.
Every fishing trip I have with my two girly fishing buddies is full of fun memories, but so far I think this one tops them all!!!
[size 3]Fast forward to January 24, 2015...and lightning strikes twice. I took my three girls (ages 9, 6 and 4) down to Hyrum Dam again and this time we met up with my cousin, his boy and three of his girls to fish. My friend and two of his kids were also fishing in an ice shelter next to us. This time we set up on the east end of the reservoir. I had just caught a fish and as my kids are prone to do, they all got preoccupied with the fish, examining it, poking at it, making up names for it, etc. I had reminded them several times that they needed to get back to their poles in case the fish started to bite again. But as kids listen so well, they kept playing with their cousins and looking at the fish laying on the ice.
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[size 3]The kids played on, oblivious to their poles. A few minutes later, without even a hint of a nibble, Miss K's pole got yanked from the holder and plunged through the hole into the darkness below. I wish I would have had the camera ready for the blank stare of unbelief that was frozen on her face. I gave her a quick chastisement for not listening to me, because if she had she might still have her pole. The tears and the snot soon ensued. She sat on her chair and pulled her hat down over her face so no one could see her cry. I told her we would get her a new pole, but she wanted that one because it was her "lucky pole." (I personally didn't think it seemed all that lucky now.) After consoling her for a few minutes, I convinced her to use my pole and she seemed to be a little happier. We baited the hook and dropped it down the same hole that claimed her pole.[/size]
[size 3]Fishing was really slow Saturday and the line was in the water for quite some time without a bite. Finally, the tip of the rod started to bend so I set the hook and handed her the pole to reel it. As she did, the pole bent further and further and I could no longer see the fish fighting on the rod. My cousin came over to lend a hand. From where he was standing he could see that the lure was hung up on the bottom of the ice. Miss K was a little upset that the fish had let go of the hook. As I reached my hand in to unhook the lure from the ice I was surprised to find another line wrapped around it. Even more surprising...there was a fish attached to that line! NO WAY!?! Could it really be? I pulled the fish up onto the ice and realized the line was still attached to a pole. I handed the line to my cousin so I could turn on my camera and film the pole re-emerging from the depths. ([/size][size 3][url "http://youtu.be/p64ouk_ExzI"]http://youtu.be/p64ouk_ExzI[/url])[/size]
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[size 3]Same girl...same pole...same body of water....three years apart!!! This time the culprit was a 13" rainbow. I have witnesses. I have it on video. I've been raised to believe that gambling is wrong...but when Miss K is a legal adult...there will be a PowerBall ticket purchased in her name!![/size]
Flashback to February 2012: So I took my two older girls, Miss L (6) and Miss K (3), and my brother-in-law, Big D, ice fishing at Hyrum Dam this past Saturday (2/18/2012). We had been fishing for a half hour or so and Miss L kept getting a few bites but could not get the hook set. No one else even had a nibble on their lines and they girls were starting to get bored. When their complaining got loud enough I broke out the mini hostess "donettes" for them to eat to keep them occupied a little longer. Donuts in hand, the girls went back to running around and kicking slush piles.
Miss L really wanted a fish and stayed close by to her pole, watching the spring-bobber fixed to the end of it. Miss K was happy wandering around getting powdered sugar all over her face while nibbling on her donut. Miss L's rod tip started bouncing and so I decided to help her finally get a good hook set on the fish. As I go over to help her, she looks over at Miss K's pole (situated precariously on a camping chair) and start starts yelling that K has a bite too. I am holding L's pole, and so I yell for K to grab her pole. Miss K, of course, does not want to put her donut down. After I missed setting L's hook, I look over toward K's pole just in time to see the handle of the rod disappearing into the ice hole. With the cat-like reflexes that I have I dive over and plunge my arm shoulder-deep into the hole to grab the end of the rod handle with my fingertips. I thought we were safe then, but then as I tried to pull it out of the hole the fish tugged again and took the pole right out of my wet frozen fingers. When Miss K saw my drenched arm come out of the ice-hole minus a pink princess fishing pole, she broke down in tears. I gave her a hug and was trying to console her as she sobbed and blubbered that she wanted to go home to her momma.
As I am watching K wipe the snot from her nose on my fishing coveralls, I notice out of the corner of my eye that my fishing pole is bouncing over at my hole about 15ft to the Southeast. All be [url "mailto:d@#*ned"]d#%*ed[/url] if I'm going to lose two poles in one day and so I put her down and ran over and grabbed my pole. I set the hook and started to reel in what felt like a pretty hefty fish on the end of my line. I about wet my pants from laughter when the first thing I saw come through the ice-hole was the tip of a pink princess fishing pole!!! My hook was snagged on her line. I grabbed her pole and got it out of the water and could tell that the fish was still attached. Miss K, with a half-eaten donut still in hand, comes running over to watch me reel in the "monster" fish that took her princess pole. Moments later we snapped a picture of K with donut in one hand, princess pole in the other, and the fishy culprit in all of his 12-inch rainbow trout glory. (attached pics)
You can believe it or not. For witnesses I have Big D, who now has one of the best first-time ice-fishing stories out there, and two strangers who were fishing 15 yards away from us. They witnessed me dive into the hole, K bawling and me reel the pole in from my hole 15 ft away from Miss K's.
Every fishing trip I have with my two girly fishing buddies is full of fun memories, but so far I think this one tops them all!!!
[size 3]Fast forward to January 24, 2015...and lightning strikes twice. I took my three girls (ages 9, 6 and 4) down to Hyrum Dam again and this time we met up with my cousin, his boy and three of his girls to fish. My friend and two of his kids were also fishing in an ice shelter next to us. This time we set up on the east end of the reservoir. I had just caught a fish and as my kids are prone to do, they all got preoccupied with the fish, examining it, poking at it, making up names for it, etc. I had reminded them several times that they needed to get back to their poles in case the fish started to bite again. But as kids listen so well, they kept playing with their cousins and looking at the fish laying on the ice.
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[size 3]The kids played on, oblivious to their poles. A few minutes later, without even a hint of a nibble, Miss K's pole got yanked from the holder and plunged through the hole into the darkness below. I wish I would have had the camera ready for the blank stare of unbelief that was frozen on her face. I gave her a quick chastisement for not listening to me, because if she had she might still have her pole. The tears and the snot soon ensued. She sat on her chair and pulled her hat down over her face so no one could see her cry. I told her we would get her a new pole, but she wanted that one because it was her "lucky pole." (I personally didn't think it seemed all that lucky now.) After consoling her for a few minutes, I convinced her to use my pole and she seemed to be a little happier. We baited the hook and dropped it down the same hole that claimed her pole.[/size]
[size 3]Fishing was really slow Saturday and the line was in the water for quite some time without a bite. Finally, the tip of the rod started to bend so I set the hook and handed her the pole to reel it. As she did, the pole bent further and further and I could no longer see the fish fighting on the rod. My cousin came over to lend a hand. From where he was standing he could see that the lure was hung up on the bottom of the ice. Miss K was a little upset that the fish had let go of the hook. As I reached my hand in to unhook the lure from the ice I was surprised to find another line wrapped around it. Even more surprising...there was a fish attached to that line! NO WAY!?! Could it really be? I pulled the fish up onto the ice and realized the line was still attached to a pole. I handed the line to my cousin so I could turn on my camera and film the pole re-emerging from the depths. ([/size][size 3][url "http://youtu.be/p64ouk_ExzI"]http://youtu.be/p64ouk_ExzI[/url])[/size]
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[size 3]Same girl...same pole...same body of water....three years apart!!! This time the culprit was a 13" rainbow. I have witnesses. I have it on video. I've been raised to believe that gambling is wrong...but when Miss K is a legal adult...there will be a PowerBall ticket purchased in her name!![/size]
