Surprise Day on the Ice Part 1

In South Dakota, we are allowed 4 lines in the winter time. I try to take advantage of that whenever feasible, especially when I’m fishing for predator fish like Lake Trout. Setting the Clam Outdoors Arctic Warriors up in straight lines across varying depths, shows us what depths are the most active, and tells us where we need to focus our time jigging.

Recently, I was Lake Trout fishing up on Deerfield Lake in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and the Arctic Warriors were producing well that day. My neighbor showed up shortly before I was due to leave, and he forgot his “Warriors” at home, so I left mine with him.

Since he is relatively new to the Lake Trout scene, I was excited to see his headlights pull into our cul-de-sac so I could hear how he did. Although he was anxious to tell me that he had caught 7 Lakers, he was hesitant to tell me the bad news.

He apparently didn’t have the rod set up on one of the brackets quite right, and when a Lake Trout hit it, the rod fell off and went right down the hole. He felt horrible and was prepared to replace the lost gear. I assured him that it wasn’t that big of a deal, and I had more stuff in the basement, so he shouldn’t be worried.

After looking at the remaining two rods, I knew exactly what rod/reel combo was missing. Although I didn’t have any sentimental attachment to them, I knew they weren’t going to be easy to replace. The rod was an older Dave Genz rod, not available any more, and the reel was a Yoshikawa that I got to prototype several years ago.

I didn’t give that rod and reel much thought after that, I just chalked it up to a learning experience for my neighbor, and a funny story for me to tell people.