As I mentioned in previous stories, we live on a lake in the Hiawatha National Forest in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. On a spring day, my wife Linda, had taken the paddle boat and was fishing along shore. She was fishing with worms for panfish and bass. She had hooked a bass about a foot long and was reeling it in when a northern pike grabbed it. The pike was about three feet long.

I was working in the garage when I heard her yelling for me to bring a dip net. She was paddling for the dock with the pike in tow. The pike amazingly still had the bass clamped in it’s jaws. She maneuvered the boat and pike close to the dock. As the pike swam near the dock, I swooped it up along with the bass into the dip net .

As I lifted it free…