I was at the edge of the pit now. It had to be about noon. The sun was very high in the sky. I looked down at the spear gun lying next to my scuba tank. Ya- I thought by the end of the day one of those huge small mouth bass will be mine!

Instead of entering the water right away I decided to wait till I saw the two fish. At least that way I would have a general idea of where they were at.

The water was so clear it was like looking though a window into another dimension. And just like it was meant to be -their they were. Two very large bass slowly swimming their way along the bottom like they were patrolling their territory. Unaware of the dangerous event I was about to impose on them.

I finished securing my equipment, placed the mouth piece from the regulator in my mouth and slid as quietly as I could under the water.

The water was very warm on the surface. As I approached the thermo cline at about 20 ft I knew from experience in these mine pit’s the change would be extreme. Even with a wet suite I had to make the change gradually to allow my body to adjust to the change in temperature from a very warm 70 degrees to about 40.

As I approached an underwater plateau I glanced at my depth gauge, I was already 60 ft. down. The water was so clear when I looked back up at the surface I could see the sun appearing like a star in a hazy sky. The hunt was on.

The bottom was shale rock. With large boulders scattered throughout the top of the plateau. Their were no weed beds for the fish to hide in. As I neared the end of the area the water started to darken. I knew their had to be a very sharp drop off. The mine pit is small but is over 200 feet deep before it turns into a shaft continuing down to who knows how far.

Their they were right on the edge of the drop! I cocked the spear gun and moved slowly toward the two fish to get into range. My presence did not seem to bother them. I chose the largest of the two bass. I would make this a head shot. As the sight of my spear gun came to rest on the fish I slowly squeezed the trigger.

What happened next-I could not believe my eyes. The spear launched right on target- I felt the pull of the spear as it reached the end of its rope. In the super clear water I had failed to estimate the distance of the fish accurately. The spear came to an abrupt halt ½ inch short of the fish. This was over -I would not get another chance.

This happened years ago. I don’t know how long small mouth bass live. But these two deserved to live forever. I often wonder if I went back their if I would still see these two fish swimming peacefully along the shore line.

I had been looking forward to going ice fishing, the ice had just come on poor farm lake. The early ice fishing their was usually great. I think I had my equipment prepared a month ahead of time waiting for this ice to form.

Dave my best friend didn’t do much ice fishing. The fact is I don’t think he had ever been ice fishing in his life. Being at the house the night before he saw me getting ready for the next day. “Can I come?” he asked. I said “sure, that would be great”.

The next morning Dave showed up nice and early and we were ready to go. I had purchased the bait ahead of time, before I knew he was coming along, but I thought it should be plenty. I bought more than I really needed.

Out on the ice I set out 2 tip ups and got a line down and noticed Dave was having some problems getting set up. The line he was using looked heavy enough to be a clothes line rope. His hooks were so rusty you could hardly see the barbs on them anymore. I said, “that’s no good!, why don’t you use some of my equipment?” He declined and said it was fine he would get by.

I had a couple flags and no fish, they didn’t take it, but did a great job of stealing the bait. Dave had moved into deeper water ( a lot deeper ) Too deep out their I told Him. It didn’t make any difference Dave is hard of hearing so I don’t know if he heard me or not or if it would have mattered.

Well what do I know, not much I guess.

The next thing I see is Dave giving a hard jerk on his pole. It bent momentarily then went straight. Seeing as this is a family site I will not quote the words that followed. This repeated it self several times as this fish kept stealing his bait which now we are very low on. Dave walked back over to me holding in his hands a broken rusty hook. “Broke my damn hook” he said. I dug in my box and got Dave a good hook. I told him we had 2 minnows left-they were dead but he was welcome to them. The next thing I know Dave is standing over his hole yelling for help, his pole lying on the ice and his line gripped tightly in his hands. I grabbed the gaff hook and headed for the deeper water to help him.

The rest is history-He caught the biggest walleye I have ever seen come out of that lake -13Lbs 8 oz.

I don’t remember how many fish I caught that day, if any. But I will remember that one fish Dave caught forever.

Email the stories to me for review, and I will post them for all to read. Please, this is a Family site so keep it clean.

For the past month I had been working really hard at my job. It was January here in Lanse MI, and I was new to the area and looking forward to doing some lake trout fishing on the bay. I had some personal days coming and scheduled this in advance knowing their would be enough ice out in the deeper water by this time.

I was so excited the night before I could hardly sleep, I just knew it would be a good day and the fish would be biting.

It was about 7 am when I stepped outside headed for my old ford pick-up. In anticipation for the days trip I had it loaded already and was ready to head for the bay. The air was cold with some light snow and kind of a strong wind out of the north west. But I wasn’t concerned, my tent would provide the protection and keep me warm.

First stop being the sport shop for some bait.

“Hi Steve, have you got any smelt? I asked.” Steve smiled and said “sure-going lake trout fishing are you?” I returned the smile, “ya I said, have they been catching anything?”

Steve went on to say “They have been getting some really nice native lake trout out in the deeper water off the whirl e gig” (a business located on the lake shore). Now I was really excited, these are some good eating fish. A great prize for any fisherman!

Just before I left the sport shop Steve said, “be careful out their that lake has been known to get rockin’ and rollin’ at times “. I didn’t pay much attention to what he said at the time, but would really wish later that I had!

The wind was getting stronger now and the snow a little heavier. I continued my walk out onto the bay. About a quarter mile out I turned to look at my truck parked on the shore line, now hard to see because of the blowing snow. After fighting the wind and snow for another fifty yards I was ready to set my tee pee tent up and do some serious fishing. I turned and looked back in the direction of the shoreline, it was not visible anymore.

I pulled my tent off the sled and realized I was going to have a problem. The wind was very strong now. I used my ice bar to cut a hole to anchor one leg of the tent so I could set it up against the wind . Having one leg in place I pulled on the second one to anchor it. I heard a loud crack as the support broke from the pressure of the wind.

This was really the time I should of quit and headed back to shore, but I did not do that. Being determined I was going to spend the day fishing I found a way to make the tent work and set it up.

It felt great to be out of the wind. If I had to make a guess I would say it was in the thirty to forty mph range.

I cut my holes(about 4 inches of ice)and put my lines down while the coffee was cooking on the heater . I no sooner poured my first cup of coffee when I felt a sharp pull on my line, darn to slow, I missed it! After several bites and no fish I noticed the water bouncing in my hole. I have had this happen before but this was different. It was very rapid and almost like their was a current flowing inside of it. Then I heard what sounded like glass shattering outside the tent. I could now sense the very dangerous situation I was in! I flung open the flaps of the tent and to my hoar saw a giant wave of ice coming at me-the lake was alive!! I could hear the shattering of the ice as the wave flattened out just before reaching my tent. I new I had to leave, and leave now, my life depended on it! I quickly threw all the equipment on the sled, the snow had lightened up enough so I could see the shoreline where my truck was parked. Oh my God the ice was gone!

Looking toward the opposite shoreline the ice was broken into large pieces now rising and falling from the turbulent incoming water of lake superior. This was my only way OFF! I jumped from one ice flow to the next. I jumped distances between ice flows I never thought possible. I was wet, cold and very tired when I reached the shore line. But I was alive.