04 February 2011

It happened in a fish house on Lake Waconia

"We got on the lake about 9 in the morning,'' said Jeff Klein, 26. "We weren't in our fish house long before a guy from another house not far away said he saw the biggest muskie of his life pass below his fishing holes, headed for us. He told us to get ready.''

Klein, of Waconia, and pals Jason Mechtel of New Germany, Minn., and Ryan Schmakel of Waconia quickly lowered their baits into the lake.

"All of the sudden, one line took off,'' Klein said. "The line was running and running. Finally, I said, 'I have to set the hook.' And I did. Real hard. The hook busted.''

Then Schmakel's and Mechtel's lines began to unfurl. And unfurl. When they stopped, the pair began to reel, figuring they had hooked a muskie akin to Moby Dick, or Disney's Nemo.

Klein knelt on the floor, an elongated gaff in one hand, peering into the dark fathoms, ready to do battle.

But instead of a finned creature, he was greeted by a mysterious air bubble that gurgled up from the water below.

Followed by a ... hand and arm. Holding a rope.

"I jumped back to the other side of the house,'' Klein said...
The rest of the story is at Dennis Anderson's column in the StarTribune.

Photo credit: David Brewster, Star Tribune

1 comment:

  1. The Star-Tribune story stated that the diver showed up at the door in his wet suit. I expect that that is an error because they probably didn't recognize the difference between a wet suit and a dry suit. Swimming in cold water(below about 60F) requires a dry suit to survive the temperatures.

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