For the second year in a row my uncle, Paul, and I hit Lake of the Woods just ahead of the fishing season for monster pike.
In just two days we caught 17 pike. My two biggest were 38 and 40 inches long, and we had 12 others 36 inches or bigger between the two of us.
Preparing for this event took a lot of thought, but we still forgot to bring hook removers long enough for the giant toothy maws we were hoping to see. However, while getting my gear together, I had an epiphany.
Travis Grimler / Echo Journal
My fishing rods are a surprising metric for how far I’ve come in life.
When we were children, I remember my first fishing rod was a Snoopy rod. My older brother, Brent, had a matching rod. My dad, Tom, had his trusty Zebco, and he likely grumbled about my oldest brother, Troy, with his fancy open face reel.
At that time we had a small amount of gear. We really only fished with worms. I remember a few rare occasions when we couldn’t dig more than a couple of worms in the barnyard and the fishing trip was canceled.
I’m not sure when, but it wasn’t long before both Snoopy rods were worn out and broken, and one of my brothers closed a truck door on the longer fishing rods. For many years none of us had a fishing rod with reel. We still did our best with cane poles and whatnot.
Travis Grimler / Echo Journal
After my parents divorced I didn’t realize how hard things were for my father, but looking back, I remember the many years when none of us owned fishing rods. We fished bare-bones. We borrowed boats or fished Mudd Lake or Variety where resort owners rented a boat for a couple bucks.
I didn’t realize it, but I don’t think we had the money for more fishing rods. Dad did not let us kids realize that.
Brent and I were proud of the sticks Dad helped us find in the woods. He bought a spool of line, a couple bobbers and some sinkers and we hit the lake. We stored the sticks and used them over and over. I remember one time running out of hand dug worms and out of curiosity using the chewing gum from my mouth to successfully land more sunfish than makes logical sense.
Eventually, Dad bought some rods secondhand. Some worked decently, but most of them needed to occasionally be dipped in the lake to cast well. By this time my sister, Whitney, was fishing with us, and of course we all had a favorite rod we fought for.
On Christmas, Mom (Debbie) gave us Shakespeare combos. I remember the reel was black plastic with a smooth, rounded, gold colored cover on it. It came with a small fishing kit with the world’s tiniest bobber, some hooks and an inline spinner.
Since then I’ve had various other fishing rods. In high school my first spinning reel came from a garage sale. Another I found in a stream while spearing suckers. In my first year of college I bought an inner cast fishing rod and a bait casting reel, not realizing what kind of learning curve the reel came with.
I thought about all this while planning our trip to Lake of the Woods. I had bought a new, robust “Whuppin Rod” for pike, but I needed to choose a reel from the ones I already have. I needed something tough enough to fight a big pike.
Taking account of my fishing rods, I had eight rod and reel combos at my house, not counting a telescoping cane pole, a found Snoopy rod, ice fishing rods and a fly fishing rod and reel.
Of those, I only bought three, possibly, and I caught two magnet fishing. The origin of at least two of them is a complete mystery. Where we once struggled just to get together enough fishing gear to get out on the lake, it seems like it’s raining fishing rods today.
Even my dad has stockpiled a whole stack of them from various garage sales. He still swears by Zebco closed face reels. I think model 202 is his go-to.
It’s a lesson in perspective. When we were kids we didn’t know there was anything to be upset about when we caught sunfish after sunfish on a poplar twig wrapped with line and baited with a piece of Trident gum. We didn’t care so long as we were catching fish.
We didn’t have a boat, we didn’t even have fishing rods. Today I have one usable boat, one that is under repair and more fishing rods than I will ever need. I even have portable ice fishing shelters.
Things aren’t always easy, but going by fishing rods alone, things could certainly be worse.
Travis Grimler is a staff writer for the Pineandlakes Echo Journal weekly newspaper in Pequot Lakes/Pine River. He may be reached at 218-855-5853 or travis.grimler@pineandlakes.com.
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