I recently read and article by 
Although, I have never been ice fishing before, I have fished for trout in the beautiful rivers and streams of Virginia and North Carolina, I have fished for large and small mouth bass in many of ponds throughout my area, I have also been fishing in the ocean a couple of times; off piers and also from a charter boat once. Here is a picture of 
When I took that picture, I first looked at the Captain and gave him a look like he had better not let that thing hurt my wife. I then verbally expressed my concern and warned
I was bumbed that I didn't get to catch a shark. I did catch something called the "Bastard of the Sea". I can't remember what the actual name for it was but that's what the captain said everyone called them. I wish I had the picture of it because you would see why it was named that. It was the ugliest damned fish I had ever saw. I was thinking..."I paid all this money to come out here to catch this ugly sumbitch?" Well, after everyone had caught a shark (except me), I hooked what I thought was Moby Effin Dick! I had never battled anything like this in my life! I honestly thought that my rod was going to break. My adrenaline dumped (which is hard to do btw) and the captain was trying to verbally coach me in how to get her in. All of the sudden the fight stopped but I still couldn't reel the beast in, not even an inch! I was totally confused. The experienced captain knew what the deal was though. He said that I had caught a stingray and it has buried itself on the bottom.
photo courtesy of public domain
The captain said that I would have to cut the line and that it would be highly unlikely that I could bring it up. I was sooo disappointed! He was right though, the power that the stingray exhibited that day was unbelievable and now he's anchored in the sand. I really wanted to get this fish up to the boat so that we could at least remove the hook from it's mouth. Call me a softie at your own risk but I think about things like that and feel sorry for the creature. So that was my charter boat fishing experience. Now let me tell you about catching this beast!
It was an extremely cold February morning, can't remember the exact temperature but take my word for it, it was cold! My buddy wanted to get on the water really early...like be on the water by 0600 in the morning. It was going to take us about an hour and a half to two hours to get there (Claytor Lake) so the plan was to be at his house at 0330. I didn't even bother going to sleep lol. I was really excited, this trip actually took place before the ocean trip, so I had only been used to fishing for small stuff.
I consider myself to be a tough ol' bird and before I got sick, I could take freezing temperatures without complaint's, what Chicago Bear's fan can't? So this is what my total clothing consisted of: Just a pair of canvas BDU tactical pant's, NO thermals or long-johns, a short sleeved t-shirt, a sweat shirt, a pair of neoprene gloves, a canvas military coat (unlined), Chicago Bear toe boggin and a normal pair of socks with my patrol boots. I thought that I had more than enough clothing for the trip, although my buddy didn't share the same confidence. He was genuinely worried on my behalf and I just shrugged it off saying "I'll be alright."
Well, I was not alright! I have never been so cold in my entire life! This picture was taken after we had already been on the water for what seemed like an eternity and you can tell by the looks of it that I was froze. I was shocked! I didn't realize that the temperature changed that dramatically on the water (lesson learned), plus we were a few hours North, so all together it was a bad recipe for the Bandito. The worse part was my legs and feet. My core and upper body was really cold too but my legs and feet were getting dangerously cold. Little Bandito was in jeopardy also!
No one was getting any bites or anything and we were talking about calling it quits when this monster hit my line! My buddy said that my eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and I had the biggest smile on my face while fighting this fish! I had never experienced anything like this and it was an amazing feeling that I will never forget, especially when I saw it jump out of the water the first time and I saw how big it actually was! I don't know how long I had to fight the fish but it seemed like a very long time. My buddy was certain that I was going to get a citation for it. I was thinking "citation?" In my world, a citation is a bad thing lol. He said it's like an award acknowledging that you caught a certain size fish. I was even more excited now!
Now I'm thinking in the back of my head "What I'm I going to do with this thing?" I've always been a catch and release person for the most part but my buddy wouldn't stand for that lol. My friend suggested mounting it for display. Meh... I wasn't that keen on the idea so I suggested just eating it. My friend shook his head and said "It's your catch" and laughed.
I can't remember the specs of this fish as far as the weight and length go. But I'm a pretty big guy and in this photo I was standing over 6' tall, weighed around 250 pounds. I have really broad shoulders and I think my coat size was either 52 or 54 inches, so that should give you an idea of how big this thing was. I was just shy of getting awarded a citation, it was like a half and inch I believe. story of my life, HA!
After getting the fish cleaned, we soaked the meat in salt water for a while. My wife prepared the catch that evening and it was the absolute best fish that I have ever eaten in my life and still to this date! This was a very painful, yet rewarding fishing experience.
Thanks for taking the time to read my post! Feel free to follow me along as I have many more stories I would love to share with you! 
