Rhermanson

First day of the 2019-2020 ice season and I finally hook into a monster after many years of trying at Lake Newell. Unfortunately, due to early thin-ish ice, we only had an 8 inch hand auger to minimize weight on the sled since we had to walk out. I had hooked the fish in the mouth, but also in the back. Unable to turn the head up the hole, we went into panic mode and started drilling a hole right next to it. Right when we were able to chip the ice between the holes away, the fish let go and the back hook came out. Since then, we've been out to Newell and a few more lakes in the area many times and like previous years, I have been unable to land a snake over 40 inches. I've seen my buddies over the last few years including this year land multiple 40 inch + monsters and I just couldn't break that 40 inch curse...until Feb 29 2020. The day starts off and it's incredibly windy. It took 3 of us to set up the tent so it wouldn't blow away. We also strategically parked the trucks to try block the wind and to tie the tent to them. Overall it's a slow day. Tip ups are going off, but it's the wind setting them off every time. Not a single bite all day. Around 2pm we decide to pack it in. We all left a tip up in the water and packed up. Once we were done putting the tent away we were standing around talking and my tip up went off. Thinking it was the wind again, I slowly walked over, but this time was different and the spool was spinning slowly. My buddies always joke that a slow spin means big fish, so naturally I got excited and got to work. I set the hook and I could feel it was big right off the bat. I fought it for about two minutes before we could see the fish down the hole. It took off a few times when we got it close, but I made sure there was tension on the line the whole time so it couldn't spit the hook. Finally we were able to get the head up the hole and that was it. I finally got my 40+ incher (45 inches to be exact). After a quick measure and a couple pictures, down the hole it went. Absolutely unreal experience. It wasn't my first time seeing a fish that big come out of the ice, but this one was mine. As you can see from the picture, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. This will be a fish I remember for the rest of my life.