By Spider Rybaak
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| Angry, the large northern swims just below the surface as if trying to figure out how to handle its tormentor.
Sandy Pond has always had a
reputation for dishing out monster northern pike. Still does.
The difference between then and
now is that once upon a time pike were recognized as fresh water tigers, second
only to muskies, their larger cousins, in terms of ferocity. Toothy critters
with a propensity for violently attacking lures--and hands that got too close
to their mouths--anglers treated them with respect and admiration up until the
end of the 20th century. Indeed, it was customary to cut off the
heads of large ones anddisplay them by nailing them over garage doors and
trees—and porch posts on Halloween.
Nowadays, the majority of anglers
don’t have time to consider the fish’s noble characteristics. Oh sure, people
still travel from all over the world to pike hot spots like the pond in hopes
of tackling with a trophy; but to most, they’re a pain in the... because
they’re too hard to handle.
Still, many are taken
incidentally by anglers participating in the pond’s numerous bass tournaments.
You see, this is the best largemouth spot on Oswego County’s stretch of the
Eastern Lake Ontario Dune and Wetland Area, a fantastic, 17-mile-long
collection of sand dunes, bays and ponds. And even though there’s usually money
at stake and every second lost to unhooking a pike means less time to fish for
the tournament winning hawg, sportsmen who appreciate the mystery of nature’s
wisdom see northerns as an important component of the aquatic world and treat
pike with patience and reverence.
So when my good buddy Pat Miura
uttered “Oh-oh…I think I just nailed something big…maybe a musky” during a
recent walleye/bass trip on the pond, I had a feeling it was a large northern.
We were jerking Smithwick Rogues
over breaks and the edges of weed beds for walleyes. When the northernfelt the
sting of the hooks, it took off like a jet ski in the direction of the outlet.
“The only way to handle a fish
this size, especially with treble hooks hanging from its mouth, is to let it
tire itself out completely,” Pat reasoned.
A professional guide for almost
25 years, he’s an old hand at controlling large, uncooperative leviathans like
trophy steelhead, monster landlocked Atlantic salmon, and boss hawgs. Within a few minutes, the pike was circling
the boat in an exhausted, last ditch attempt to avoid meeting the man up close
and personal.
When it was at the side of the
boat, Pat jerked the rod tip gently to see if the beast had another round of
battle in it. Nope…It just lay on its side, gasping.
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| Close up: Note the 6-inch Smithwick Rogue in its teeth. |
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| Oh yeah...We got largemouths, too. |
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| And some more largemouths. |
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| After a while, even the biggest grows tired. |
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