We\u2019ve all heard our share of crazy fish stories. But some\nmust be seen to be believed\u2014like the adventure I nicknamed the Miracle on Ice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I teach an annual ice fishing class through Tight Lines\n208. As part of the class, students spend a day putting their lessons to use on\nthe ice. The first time I taught the class, our group enjoyed a beautiful day with\nsunny skies and a steady bite. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Around lunchtime, I noticed a bite on one of our angler\u2019s\nrods and tried to alert him. He turned around, but it was too late\u2014the fish had\ndragged the rod out of its holder and down through the ice. It was the first\ntime I\u2019d ever seen a rod disappear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it would not be the last. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A while later, another pole got a bump. Before I could\neven put my jigging rod down, the rod and its holder lurched toward the hole. I\nSuperman-dived in an attempt to save my gear, bashing my knees and elbows against\nthe ice. The entire setup was under water, so I plunged my left arm down the\nhole, somehow managing to grab the rod holder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sadly, the holder came up empty. My favorite ice rod\u2014nicknamed\nR2 for its blue-and-white resemblance to the Star Wars droid\u2014had been dragged\nto a watery grave. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I couldn\u2019t believe our luck. I started the day having\nnever lost a rod, and now we\u2019d lost two in less than an hour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh well,\u201d I told the group. \u201cThat\u2019s fishing. We\u2019ll get\nthe next one.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I didn\u2019t have to wait long. After about 5 minutes,\nanother of my rods started bouncing. I hustled over and set the hook. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ll never forget what happened next. As I reeled in, my tiny\nwhite jig came into view beneath the ice. There was nothing on it, but I still\nfelt the thrash of a fish. Then it hit me\u2014the jig had hooked R2! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I grabbed the lure and, sure enough, there was a strand\nof fishing line draped over the hook. I pulled up on the line and retrieved R2,\ncovered in weeds but otherwise no worse for wear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Incredibly, the would-be rod thief was still attached. I\nreeled up a feisty 14-inch rainbow trout as the rest of the group watched in\nawe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat a story!\u201d student Shane Maxwell exclaimed. \u201cAlthough\nif I wasn\u2019t here to see it myself, I don\u2019t know that I would believe it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Miracle on Ice taught me a valuable lesson: I now\nflip the anti-reverse switch on my reels so that if a fish grabs the bait and runs,\nthe handle will spin backwards rather than allowing the fish to pull against a\ntight line. In theory, this should keep R2 and the rest of my rods from going\nswimming again. I just have to remember to flip the switch back before setting\nthe hook. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While ice fishing is a blast, it\u2019s not uncommon for the\naction to come in wild spurts after long droughts. So, as long as there are\nlines in the water, stay focused and keep a sharp eye on those rods! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tight lines! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We\u2019ve all heard our share of crazy fish stories. But some must be seen to be believed\u2014like the adventure I nicknamed the Miracle on Ice. I teach an annual ice fishing class through Tight Lines 208. As part of the class, students spend a day putting their lessons to use on the ice. The first…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":774,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772\/revisions\/774"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}