Details: Northern Pike with a Jointed Rapala

I was 12 on a fishing trip to Lake of the Woods with my dad and 6 others. We took a houseboat for a week. One day 3 of us went to a portage lake and hammered pike ...more all day. The lake had a beaver lodge in every bay and steep cliffs on one end of the lake. In the early afternoon my dad hooked at 40"+ fish that wrapped itself around some structure, we sat over the fish for over an hour with no result - dejected we went back to the houseboat for a little rest. The sunburned old guys slept off their defeat while I paced and waited for them to wake up and take me back out. I eventually coaxed my dad to go back to the portage lake with a few hours left of light. In the morning we were hooking fish every few casts but we were skunked in our second attempted. There was an upside down sunken row boat resting on a beaver lodge -on the last cast of the night, luck turned. My line tore across the water and beneath the boat. A few minutes later it took another pass under the boat and we were taking no risks after losing a big fish earlier in the day, my dad fully extended the net deep into the water making an ill-advised net attempt. The 40" inch Pike on my wall with the Rapala and Ontario fishing license in it's mouth.

• Details