The One That Got Away

The One That Got Away

By

Jamey O’Donnell

Lyman Ayres wasn’t much different than any other 9-year-old boy growing up in Mankato, Minnesota, and like all of his friends and family, he loved to fish, and was looking forward to the day when he’d be able to go with his dad ice fishing.

Nothing excited him more than to listen to his dad recount his ice fishing escapades, talking about how he just missed catching the big one, but couldn’t get it up through the hole in the ice because it was too big, so he had to cut the line and lose his lure.

To most people, sitting in a shack on the ice all day wouldn’t seem like something fun to do, but the way his dad told his stories, he couldn’t wait to be out there with him.

It hadn’t gotten above zero degrees for the last two weeks, so the ice was plenty thick no matter where you went in the area, so Lyman was sure his dad would ok Lyman’s ice fishing at the frozen pond next to Delaney Farm, next to the Best Buy on Highway 22.

The pond was only 6 feet at its deepest point, and the ice had to be at least 6 to 8 inches thick throughout, so the chances of ice breaking were nil to none. The rules for Lyman to do this was not to cut a hole bigger than 6 inches in diameter, and he wasn’t allowed to use a hammer or hatchet. He would have to use an ice bore that would have to be used manually, since he wasn’t old enough yet to operate a gas powered one.

The 6-inch ice bore they had out in the garage was more than big enough, as no fish had ever been caught in that pond that wouldn’t fit through a 2 inch hole, so he was good to go that Saturday morning after his chores were all done.

The other rule was that he couldn’t cut his hole farther than 10 feet out from shore, and seeing that the pond was only about 40 feet wide, that would put him half way to the middle.

Lyman loaded his sled with all of his fishing gear and pulled it through the snowy fields and Delaney Farm, to the frozen pond next to the Best Buy parking lot, and was hoping the spot he wanted to drill would be open, and to his delight, it was.

In fact, there was only one other boy out there, Timmy Masak, who lived down the street from him. Timmy was a couple years older and didn’t have to follow the same rules as Lyman did, and he was out in the very center of the pond, cutting a hole in the ice with an ice pick.

Both boys waved at each other, then Timmy walked over to where Lyman began drilling his hole.

“Hey Lyman. Wanna make a bet to see who catches the most fish? I can bet a dollar.” said Timmy.

“You’re on!” Lyman replied, and with a handshake, Timmy walked back to his spot, and the race was on.

Timmy had cut a considerably larger hole than Lyman had drilled, about 2 feet in diameter next to Lyman’s 6 foot hole.

Both boys had similar ice fishing poles, but Timmy was using cheese for bait, while Lyman preferred using a lure.

Lyman had his pole in the water first, with Timmy dropping in his cheese bait a minute after, and it didn’t take long before Timmy caught the first fish, a 4 inch bluegill, which he promptly threw back in the water.

“There’s number one!” shouted Timmy to Lyman.

About 5 minutes later, Lyman got his first bite, but when he yanked back to hook it, he must have yanked a little too hard, because he lost his fish, but he did manage not to lose his lure.

One thing was for sure, the fish were biting today.

Almost immediately upon putting his line back in the water, he got another bite, and this time he didn’t lose it, and brought up a nice 10-inch yellow perch, which he also threw back in the water.

“Ok…we’re tied.” yelled Lyman at Timmy.

Then after Lyman threw his line back in the water, he got another bite almost immediately, but this fish was bigger and almost brought his ice pole down into the water. It took a minute to get the fish out, but it was well worth it, because he pulled up a 14 inch smallmouth bass, and this one he would bring home. After removing the hook from its mouth, he threw it into the Styrofoam ice chest he had brought with him.

Timmy saw his catch, so Lyman didn’t need to rub it in by announcing it.

“What fish are you most hoping to get today?” asked Timmy.

“Catfish. If I can catch 6 or 7 good size ones today, it’ll be enough for mom to make dinner tonight” answered Lyman.

No sooner did he say that, his line almost jumped off his pole, and he brought in a nice big fat catfish, which went into the ice chest.

Lyman was now up on Timmy 3-1, so he was pretty satisfied with how the morning was going so far.

It was getting close to noon, and for the first time in days, the temperature had gotten up above zero, well above zero in fact, and the sun was beating down on the pond, making the holes the boys had made in the ice begin to expand in size.

At 1:00, Lyman had caught a total of 6 fish, with 3 of them being nice sized catfish.

Timmy had caught up and surpassed Lyman, as he had a string of good luck, catching 3 smallmouth bass in a row, all over 15 inches.

The boys decided to take a break and eat the lunches they had brought with them, sitting together off the pond at a picnic table nearby.

It had to be at least 20 degrees now, almost warm enough to take off their heavy winter coats, which they did once they finished and got back on the ice for more fishing.

Timmy was the first to bait his hook and throw it into the water, and while Lyman was dropping his hook into his hole, Timmy yelled out that he had something big, really big.

He was struggling for a couple minutes, when suddenly his line snapped and he fell back onto the ice with his pole missing its line, hook, and bait.

“What in the heck could have done that? This is 20 pound test line! There’s nothing in this pond even close to being that big!” said Timmy.

“Maybe you were just hooked on a log? Must have been” answered Lyman.

Timmy was out of line and didn’t bring any extra with him, but fortunately, Lyman had brought a brand new spool with him and gave it to Timmy so he could restring his pole.

“You know, the ice is starting to get really wet, which means its starting to melt” said Lyman. “Aren’t you a little worried about being out in the middle?”

“Naw. It’s still plenty thick enough. I’ll be fine.” answered Timmy.

“I’d keep an eye on it just the same. You don’t want to be falling in,” said Lyman.

After Timmy restrung his pole and put another hook on his line, he rebaited and dropped his line into the water. He then turned around to position himself, then slipped on the wet ice and fell to his knees next to his ice hole, breaking the ice underneath him, splashing into the ice-cold water, then screaming out for help.

Lyman was quick to react and began crawling out to Timmy’s fishing spot, then grabbed Timmy’s arms and began pulling him toward the edge of the hole, then with Lyman’s help, he was able to crawl out of the water and on to the edge of the ice, but now completely soaked and beginning to freeze.

Timmy was on his knees trying to catch his breath, when suddenly up out of the water leaped a gigantic catfish, about the size of a small whale, and he swallowed the top half of Timmy, leaving only his legs protruding from the Catfish’s mouth, and then the catfish submerged with Timmy, leaving Lyman just a few feet away, screaming like a little girl that had just had a spider thrown on her.

Lyman didn’t know what to do, and even if he did, he was frozen in fear and incapable of movement.

Then, just as quickly as Timmy was swallowed by the giant catfish, the catfish re-emerged and crawled out of the ice hole, then stood on the ice and spit Timmy out of its mouth, sliding him almost all the way to the edge of the pond.

If Lyman was afraid before, he was stone cold petrified in fear now, because the catfish stood about 7 feet tall on legs almost human like, with arms and claw hands, and was looking at Lyman like he would be next, and then it spoke to him.

“What are you looking at boy?” said the fish.

All Lyman could do was chatter his teeth, and when Timmy got up off the ice and saw the fish standing over Lyman, he too screamed like a little girl.

The fish then looked over at Timmy and yelled at him.

“How does it feel, huh? How does it feel to be swallowed up and taken away from your family? Want me to do it again?”

Timmy didn’t say a word.

“I asked you a question boy. You want me to come over there and swallow you again, only this time really eat you?”

Lyman began to crawl back over to his part of the pond.

“Where do you think you’re going, you little prick?” asked the fish.

Lyman stopped crawling and closed his eyes, thinking he would be swallowed next.

“Go back over to your ice chest and put those fish you’ve got in there back in the ice hole. You’ve got a couple of my boys in there. I want them back, and they better still be alive.!” said the catfish.

Lyman shimmied back on his belly to the ice chest, grabbed all the fish inside of it, and stuffed them down the hole back into the pond one at a time.

“You both better listen to me and listen good. Either of you ever come back here, I’ll let my boys swim up in your buttholes, and I’ve got a lot of boys.” followed the catfish.

Timmy started crying, promising never to come back there ever again.

“I mean it. I don’t ever want to see you little dickheads again. Now get the fuck out of here”, and the boys both got up, crying their eyes out, running through the snowy fields back toward home as fast as their snow boots would allow them.