It was one of many trips, past and yet to be. They kind of start running together in my mind the more I think about them. North Manitou Island had become a tradition for me and a few friends (Petosky Todd) because of the quality time, rustic camping, scenery, isolation out on Lake Michigan, and...of course...the epic fishing. This particular trip stands out though, not because of a fish...or the bugs...or the weather. But...because of an incident. One that we had joked about happening for months...heck...years...and never really thought it would happen.
Petosky Todd and I had dubbed the term, the "Manitou Flip Off" due to the hefty small mouth bass that we caught on the island. You basically back packed into the island's lake, set up camp, inflate your float tube (if you had one) and fished....for hours....each day. It never gets old! Not when you catch 50 per day! And usually, when you hook into one of these beasts, they literally will tug your raft around until you haul him in.
But BE CAREFUL...of the Manitou Flip Off - Basically when the Smallie has had enough nonsense after you unhook him, and you set him back into the water, and with one power sWWOOOSH of his tail, you're SOAKED. The tail flip....hence the name.
I had recently caught a couple this particular trip, that were of decent size, and my father-n-law was across the lake doing quite well I assumed. My other two buddies were somewhat spread apart in the lake doing there own thing. I hadn't even been fishing for a half hour, when...somehow...I went to cast my bait into the reeds on the shoreline, and all-of-a-sudden: SNAP! My rod broke in two....and to this day I don't know why. I didn't pack an extra rod, and I was really not too happy.
I decided to make the best of the situation...and fish with half a rod anyways. Not only was I hootin and hollering five minutes later because I caught a 22 inch small mouth, but I did it with only the bottom half of the rod! Try doing that without a sensitive rod tip to sense the bite! Not the easiest thing to do.
I was quite entertained (and kind of proud of myself) for making the "best" of it, and I shouted to the other guys across the lake about my somewhat goofy, but, ...not-so-funny...incident. Then I heard another shout back. And another. And the other guys were yelling a conversation...but I couldn't really tell what was going on...or why? Then I heard...."hhhheeeEEELLLP! HELP!" And the other fella yelled "what's WRONG!?" I still wasn't sure if something was wrong, but they obviously weren't celebrating my fishing skills. Then I hear: "I think my raft is DEFLATING!"
WHat?!?!
"Yeah....I hear a hissing sound!"
"Dude....For real?! "..."How the heck?"
"That last fish I caught!....He popped my RAFT!"
'DUDE! You're like a hundred yards from shore! You'd better start rowing!"
"I'm trying....I think I can make it....ohh...geesh...it's getting louder! I don't know if I can make it to shore! HEEEEELLLP!""
"What do you want us to do!?"
"Take my stuff!!!! I"M GOING DOWN!!!!"
And as this all transpired....half way across this huge lake...I realized I could do absolutely nothing....BUT LAUGH REALLY HARD. I was cracking up. The water was warm. The weather was beautiful. He didn't have THAT far to row his raft. And he was fine. BUT HOLY COW was it hilarious that some lunker smallmouth gave my buddy the "Manitou Flip Off" and sunk the hook of his lure right into his inflatable raft. It showed my buddy who was boss out on the water! We always joked about it happening while we were floating on inflatable rafts....and it did.
Illustrations by - Rebecca Sinclair