An Ice Fishing Tale: Trials and Tribulations

Spontaneously, my daughter, Rosalind Cooke was asked by her boyfriend, Tyson Callihoo, to go for a drive to a friend's place in High Prairie, Alberta to do some fishing. After a 1 ½ hour drive they meet their friend Marvin and take Skidoos to his secret spot on Slave Lake. The day before, Marvin had gone fishing and predrilled some holes because the ice was so thick. He figured it would save time for when he took Tyson and Rosalind fishing, but he only caught a few fish, which worried him.

Tyson with a nice walleye. (Photo courtesy of Donnie Cooke)

Luckily, with Tyson, that was not the case. The boys started landing walleye right away. Rosalind was having trouble and was getting frustrated because she didn't land a fish on her own yet. After landing a few keepers, Marvin asked Rosalind if she had her licenses. She did not. Nobody even thought about it. Marvin said they would have to stop fishing in order to not exceed their limit.

Rosalind, still trying to land a fish of her own, said “no way, I'll get my licenses!” Marvin told her there is no time to go back and do all that now, but she could get them online and she agreed. She had no wallet with her information, but remembered she had a photo of her Alberta Win card on her cell phone and got a number to call for fishing licenses. She only had 7% battery left on the phone but someone answered right away. The woman on the phone started giving her information but Rosalind didn't have a pen or paper, so she wrote in the dust on one of the skidoos.

Next, they needed her driver's license number. Luckily she also had a photo of her license on her phone, because she recently got a new driver’s license photo and wanted to show a friend. With about 2% battery left on the phone she finally had everything done and paid. “Let's fish," she said.

Marvin and Rosalind checking out their fish. (Photo courtesy of Donnie Cooke)

Rosalind put a swimming minnow on the end of her line, and within five minutes, boom! goes the reel and the line starts unspooling. They reeled some fish in, then for a while … nothing, then some more again! After some time and a great fight, Rosalind managed to pull out a 12-pound jack fish, or pike. Everyone was surprised considering she was only using 14-pound test line. You could not wipe off that smile she had on her face.

It just goes to show you that you never know when you’re close to hooking a big boy, so be persistent and fish on!

Rosalind with a smile on, and big catch in hand! (Photo courtesy of Donnie Cooke)

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