Jadyn's Big Day

I got a chance to spend a great afternoon with my daughter Jadyn on the ice before the Vikings game.  After looking back now the fishing turned out far better then the football game, although both were good times.  There is no way a Vikings loss could ruin the great day I had fishing with my daughter.

Jadyn loves to go fishing.  She is a very energetic 6 year old and although most of her time on the ice involves playing with the livebait and scooping out ice holes she has learned the  patience needed to catch fish. I knew going out this trip would be a test for her as we were going tip-up fishing for 4 hours.

After getting set-up at 1:00 it was time to sit back and wait for flags.  After waiting 20 minutes with no action I told Jadyn to go walk around and check each tip-up to make sure they look good.  As she walked by the first one, the flag went up (I love it when that happens).  As the line was slowly spinning off the reel, I had a sneaking suspicion that this was going to be a bass, but after Jadyn set the hook there was nothing there.  Jadyn looked at me and realized whatever hit, stole our bait.  As Jadyn headed back to get more bait the next flag went up.

With a second flag in the air and line once again being pulled off the tip-up, we decided to let this one really eat.  We patiently waited as 30 yards of line got pulled off before I told Jadyn to go ahead and set the hook.  With a big sweeping hook set Jadyn said "I got it" and she was right.  Slowly hand over had she pulled the line back and after a little fight out of the hole came a nice 3 lb largemouth bass.  Jadyn has caught a couple fish on tip-ups before but this was her first solo job and she was excited.  We snapped a few pictures and put her back.

Before the excitement of the Bass faded we were back at it with the line screaming off the Frabill tip-up.  This was a new tip-up in my set-up so I knew it had a lot of line on the reel so we let it go.  There is no doubt this was a pike, and by the runs it made taking line off, I was guessing big.  After a couple long runs I told Jadyn to set the hook and she did.  It became evident after the hook set this was going to be a team effort to land the fish.  So, dad and daughter worked together on this project and after a  tough fight a 36 inch Northern Pike was on the ice.  Jadyn was first shocked and then excited.  The size of the fish took her by surprise at first and the look on her face was priceless.  Dads, this is what it is all about!  We snapped a few photos and then I made the decision to keep the fish.  First it was bleeding bad from a deep hook set and second, because Jadyn wanted to.  It is now over and Grandpa's house to be pickeled.

We ended our day with a little 3lb pike and then decided to head in for the Vikings game.  For Jadyn this was a great experience and she learned a lot about tip-up fishing.  For me, well it was another great day on the ice and even more special is the fact that I got to spend it with my daughter.  My kids know their dad has to travel a lot for fishing, so these days are always special to all of us.  Again, dads, this is what it is all about!