The results of yesterdays fishing tournament at Sulpher Creek was not quite what we had hoped.  We needed a fish that was 16 inches or longer in order for it to qualify for the contest.  Our hopes were very high as we arrived at the lake about 6 a.m.  We were the fourth ones to arrive at the parking lot and even the tourney hosts were not there yet.

It was cold, but not as bitterly cold as it has been at that lake in the past.  I’d guess it was somewhere around zero degrees.  Certainly cold enough to require hot hands warmers and an extra layer of clothing.

We were ready to go by the time the hosts got set up and we went in and made sure we were registered.  Then it was off to the secret spot that my friend Tim “WyoGoob” Gorman had told me about.  He had even drawn a map, but I was not able to find it…still can’t.  But my memory for things like “the hot spot for fishing” was pretty well on and we wandered in that direction.

The drifted snow on the lake made it look like a white sand desert as the moons glow sparkled off of it.  I was too cold to get the camera out from its warm environment as we proceeded and so you will just have to vision what we saw in your own mind.  It was pretty cool to look at.  We were trying to make out some features Goob had told me about that were on the shore, but we just were not so sure.  I decided we had to be pretty close to the secret spot and so we set up the tent and fired up the heater to wait out the tourney start time (7:30).

The power auger fired up on the first pull, which is always a relief, and we really needed it to drill holes as the ice was a full 20 inches thick!  Hand augering that thick of ice would have been a torturous task and would have taxed out rotator cuffs big time.

As light began to brighten up the surroundings I noticed a lone figure walking from the parking lot in our direction, but much closer to the shoreline than we were.  Our position was about 300 yards off shore and near an island that was protruding out of the ice.  In the darkened light, distance perspective is a hard one to judge.  The man walking did not look familiar from that distance, but he was wearing a back pack and carrying his hand auger, a picture I recall from the Strawberry on Ice party the weekend before…It had to be WyoGoob.  And so I walked in his direction to intercept him and let him know where we were located.

Sure enough it was Goob and he had his mind set to be right where he was, about 30 yards out from the shoreline.  Shipley and I would have to move to fish by him.  He left his things and walked with us out to our “camp”.  We had already drilled a bunch of holes and tested the depth with the fish finder.  There were fish under us and we wanted to catch them.  But Goob convinced us quickly that where he had left his things was “THE” place to catch a prize winning trout.  We moved!

By the time I got the last of the ice spikes removed from the ice, Goob had already drilled about 20 holes and had run the auger out of fuel.  He wanted to drill about 20 more but had to wait until I filled the auger up as he didn’t know where it was located in the sled.  All was good however and he was able to drill to his hearts content later.

The contest had begun by the time I got over to where Goob and Shipley were and we began baiting up and dropping lines.  This contest had a rule that allowed you to use two poles if you wanted and up to three hooks on each of the lines.  I had rigged one of my poles up with three hooks and another with two hooks.  Two other poles were in standby mode with one hook on each of them.  For some reason whenever I use more than one hook, I get tangled up quite often.  And with three hooks I was expecting worse.  But my thoughts were that I could cover a larger column of water, at different depths and with different baits by using the three hook idea.  I put a bell shaped sinker on the bottom and the three hooks were suspended above that.  I lowered the line down until the sinker was just resting on the bottom.  That should produce a good trout quickly.  Or so I thought.

Shipley had his game face on and started having bites right away.  It took a bit to figure out how to hook the little buggers but soon my pocket was free of three of my quarters…we always bet quarters when we fish.  The three he caught were not big enough for the contest and so went back into the lake.

Goob and I were also having some biting action but just couldn’t seem to hook those little finned creatures.  It took us awhile but soon we had both caught one each and one of my quarters came back.  Then Shipley caught another and that quarter drifted back to him.  Then it was my turn again and the quarter came back to me.  This went on for a couple of hours.  Trading that one quarter back and forth.

Shipley has a tool called a “Jaw Jacker”, that automatically sets the hook when a fish bites and we were all excited to see if it actually worked.  It did!

He wanted to make sure I made that fish look like a big one and I have to say I did make it look a whole lot bigger…see….

That’s as big as I can make it Shipley!

We had a great time.  Tim “Goob” was a great host and even shared some of his Swan salami with us.  That was some yummy stuff.  I didn’t take any pictures of it, but trust me it was very good.  He had promised us some squirrel salami, but I guess he decided since we didn’t eat all the swan, he would save the squirrel for himself…just kiddin Goober.

I learned quickly on my “tri-fecta” line that a fish can make a real mess out of it in a hurry.  I did catch three fish using that method, but each time I had to fix the tangle before I could use it again.  Finally on the third fish, I decided enough was enough.  Shipley took this picture and sent it to me.  I’ll be cutting this line to get the hooks back into the tackle box.

The day was a beautiful one with bright sunshine and little or no breeze.  We started to take some of the clothing off around 10 a.m. and by noon it was really just a jacket kind of day.  Sunburns galore by those who were not prepared for it…me included.  And with fishing action coming and going as schools swam through, Shipley decided laying down on the ice was a good way to keep track of his two poles.

As is usual, when you are having a good time the end of the contest was fast approaching.  We had eaten our lunches and caught several small fish and were always hoping that the next bite would yield a large fish.  It didn’t happen to us however, BUT the rewards of quarters was outweighing the several hundred dollars we could have won in the contest.

My two poles suddenly became the focus of several fish bites in a row.  I would have to run to get to the pole at the far end, but I did it when it was getting bit.

With a fish tugging on the other end, you have to be ready when you see the tip of the pole going down.  And the reward, if you do it all correctly is this:

And the quarters kept rolling back to me.  When the contest was called over, I had regained the three quarters that I had originally given to Shipley and he had given me three of his own!  How about that for a fishing story?

Back at the parking lot everyone was gathering for the big fish measuring and awarding of the money promised for first/second and third places.  The biggest fish of the day was just over 22 inches,  second place was 21 and some change and the third place was right at 16 inches.  First place winner walked away with just over $800, second was around $525 and third netted $280 or so.  Remember fellas to claim those winning in your income tax reports!  HAHAHA!

As for me and my three quarters the IRS will never know.

I did get to see a good buddy from my old work place, Rick Strebel was on hand for the contest and somehow found me among the many contestants standing around.  Could it have been my fuzzy face or was it my outstanding height that he recognized?  Anyway it was good to see him again.

He is showing us the size of the largest fish he caught today, or was it the size of the bait he was using?  Boy my memory is going fast.  😉

I can’t post this story up without a hearty THANK YOU to the folks that pulled this event off.  The ring leader wasn’t available when the contest ended, but the second string was there and handed out some really nice raffle prizes.  Her name is Kim Barker!

Thanks Kim for allowing us to come up and play!  We had a great time and look forward to next year!

Bears Butt

Feb. 3, 2013