The Legend of the Beast by Melissa Schraiber

So there we were, up Nort' in Grand Marais, MN. It was Tommy, Two-Six, Jr. and me. Four guys, on their first Northern expedition, and never having experienced Pike fishing before. Given none of us had a boat; we opted to fish off a dock. We were told the fishing was good, but all the first day we were only pulling in 18-20" Northern, and nothing we felt good enough about to even photograph for reference. Now we caught a lot of them, but they were all smaller in size.

So day two roles around, and spirits dampened we trudged back out to the dock. Not having much luck off the end of the dock, I turned around and threw towards the shore. No sooner did my minnow get settled in along the bottom, WHAM!! What I thought was a small cow had chomped down on my line with everything it had, and once it realized what it had was a big old metal hook imbedded in the roof of its mouth, it got ticked! I fought this thing for a bit, and brought him topside a couple times for the boys to see, but never close enough for the net's reach.

I tried to horse this monster in closer, but the one thing I have learned in all my years, is the big fish are big for a reason. They're smart. This Northern was no different, so after given this kid from Iowa a story to tell that nobody back home would believe and one heck of a fight he went deep and right for the dock. Again to low for the grasp of the net, a quick once around one of the footings, and up came the line. No steel leader. No hook. No fish.

In what can only be described as the fish's middle finger, we saw my bobber surface about 50 feet out from the dock and slowly swim out to the lake. Now I knew how Roy Schneider felt in the first Jaws, when he watched the shark take down those three barrels. Regardless of the heartbreak though, we found out that day what fun fishing for big Northern can be, and to this day make it a point to head back to Grand Marias each year in search of that monster Northern. That and if I could get my bobber back, that would be pretty sweet too.

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