Speaking of Sports

By John Fragodt, Sports Reporter

I did a little fishing when I was younger, fishing with my family when we were at our cabin on Camp Lake and also doing a little fishing on some bridges along the Chippewa River near Benson.  However, I was never a big fisherman and putting worms on or taking a big Northern or bullhead off my hook was never something I looked forward to.

That all changed in 2012 when I bought my first boat and went out fishing quite a bit during the summer of 2012 with my two sons and brother.

We would take my boat to all the area lakes and I took pride in getting to as many area lakes as I could.  One weekend we’d head to Lake Emily, Artichoke, Page or Camp, and the next weekend we might hit Lake Oliver, Johanna or Pelican.

It really didn’t matter where we fished, it was always fun and we always had a great time giving each other some good-natured ribbing.  Over the next few years, we developed some nicknames for everyone and my son-in-law even made up some fishing shirts (kind of like sporting shirts with numbers) that included each person’s nickname.

I was very happy with “The Captain” as my nickname.  Yes, when they were on my boat, they fished by my rules, including my tendency to not want to go out fishing if wind speeds reached 15 mph.  I was always happy to come home after slaying some fish, but the main things for me were to always get everyone back safely, that my boat had no problems, that we caught at least a few fish and that everyone listened to “The Captain.”

My brother had a habit of saying he had a fish on the line quite often, even though it ended up being a snag or some weeds a lot of times.  Eventually, he garnered the nickname, “The Magician” for his uncanny ability to have a supposed-fish disappear as he reeled in his line.  Yes, he’d have a fish on his line one second, but suddenly it would disappear a few moments later.  We knew that most times he really didn’t have a fish (it was usually a weed) but it still was fun to hear him say “got one” and then realize the fish wasn’t there when he reeled in his line.

We asked him why he didn’t use his talents to have a fish suddenly “appear” on his line, but he said, ‘that would be too easy; that’s just fishing.’  That’s when we started calling him “The Magician.”

One of my sons had a particularly-good day fishing one day on Artichoke where we were catching a lot of sheepshead.  While some of us had an occasional sheepshead, my son was producing fish after fish of a nice size.  Eventually, someone said he was “The Shepherd” and just like that, the name stuck.  He did have another day where he was catching nothing but weeds and vegetation and we almost started calling him “The Gardener,” but “The Shepherd” came first and that is what he was known from that day on.

My other son liked to give us fishing pointers, tell us where the great hot spots were and what kind of bait to use.  He knew how to tie the best knots, all the species of fish and everything in between.  Yes, he knew a lot about fishing, but we still gave him a hard time because we thought he maybe thought he knew a little too much.  “Al Linder” became his nickname after a few weeks.  Al Linder was a fishing show host and innovator in the 1970s; a man who was the founder of the In-Fisherman magazine and invented the Lindy Rig.  Yes, if you had a fishing question, “Al Linder” would answer it for you; whether you asked him or not.

My son-in-law eventually started joining us for fishing outings and after a few times, we thought we needed to come up with a nickname for him.  Well, it didn’t take long until he started pulling in fish that hadn’t swallowed the bait, but instead, had been wrapped around his fishing line and got stuck or had been snagged with the hook on the outside of the fish.  We always joked about how these fish shouldn’t count on the official tally.  He eventually became “The Cowboy,” because of his uncanny ability to lasso anything in his path, including an occasional fish.

And yes, counting fish was mandatory during our fishing outings and “The Captain” was usually the one doing the counting.  We always kept track of how many fish we had caught, although almost all the fish would go back into the same lake and we took great pride in making sure all the fish survived.

Thinking back, we always had a lot of fun fishing together.  Since we bought our home on Lake Pelican, we don’t get out together like we used to, but just talking about the nicknames brings a smile to my face.  And yes, we still have our fishing shirts with the nicknames on back.  A few times a year we try to all wear them at the same time.

Yes, those were the days.  It was always fun when the “The Captain,” “The Magician,” “The Shepherd,” “Al Linder” and “The Cowboy” got together.  

And boy, did we catch a lot of fish!