Caught Unprepared 



me in Oneida County, there is little danger that I shall 

 be tempted to roam. 



In attempting to describe my most tragic moment 

 as a fisherman I want to say that " the biggest one that 

 got away " doesn't always cause the most regrets. At 

 least that has been my experience. While every vaca- 

 tion has its episodes of hard luck, there are some that 

 leave a more permanent impression than others. For 

 instance, I can recall the morning when my partner 

 and I hooked the biggest musky in our careers. This 

 happened about five years ago up at Pelican Lake on 

 a morning just before a rain. Oscar was handling the 

 rod, while I was furnishing the motive power. We 

 had been fishing for about two hours, when suddenly 

 Oscar was nearly jerked out of the boat. I glanced 

 back just in time to see an enormous musky jumping 

 over the tops of the bulrushes, Oscar's spoon prom- 

 inently visible in his jaws. Unfortunately my partner 

 was not in a position to " play him " properly, and 

 soon was minus the major portion of his line, to say 

 nothing of his catch and bait. We have no means of 

 telling how big the fish was, but you can imagine our 

 feelings when we observed another boat a short dis- 

 tance behind landing a forty pounder when they 

 reached the same spot. 



Still I do not consider this the most tragic moment 

 I experienced while fishing. A fight with a black bass 

 occupies that position. This also occurred at Pelican 



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