"swampthing" asked for an Alaska story - - -

- - - well this ain't Alaska, but it is far north and has ice and stuff ! ! !

"The Devil His-self"

The scene of this story is set up in New England, where the lakes freeze over deep and solid and where spear fishing is both traditional and legal. The location is protected to shield the pride of my friends who were involved.

The preferred method of spearing fish is from a windowless "fish-house". The darkened interior allows the fishermen (?) to see well down into the water against the background illumination of the daylight through the snow covered ice. These houses are typically 8ft square, and made of Celotex, which is a flimsy fiber insulation board coated with a semi-waterproof black coating on the outside. It is used because it is light to handle, provides insulation, and most importantly blocks the light well. It is normally attached to a light wooden frame, and four such frames, one with a crude door, are assembled to make the walls of the house. Sometimes there is a Celotex or light plywood roof, or sometimes a couple of dark tarps. Inside the house a large hole is cut with a chainsaw after drilling a pilot hole with an ice auger. This hole is typically a couple of feet square to allow plenty of room for spearing.

One bright Saturday morning four of my New England buddies found themselves, a couple of cases of beer, a large supply of bratwurst, spearing equipment to include a fish decoy, ensconced in one of their fish houses. This all took place in the middle of the circus that is commonly present on a pleasant day on the ice. It includes tip-up fishermen, jig fishermen, bait fishermen, kids, dogs wives, tailgate cooking and general good spirits.

My buds were huddled in the darkness peering into their large hole in the ice, with the fish decoy in the middle suspended from the roof. The decoy is intended to attract fish to the hole so that they may be speared. Having consumed quite a few brats, and a large quantity of beer they were in great spirits enjoying the fellowship while attempting to spear the occasional fish that wandered into their trap.

Just the day before the fellow that had a neighboring fish-house had moved it to a more promising location, leaving a rather large spearing hole. He had dutifully marked it with a couple of large traffic cones to prevent anyone from wandering into it. The cones and hole had attracted a couple of minnow fishermen and they along with wives, kids, and dog set up to fish the "no drill" bonanza.

During the course of the morning, a yellow perch attracted to the brightly sunlit hole jumped with a resounding splash. The dog, a one hundred pound Black Labrador, followed his nature and attempted to retrieve what he may have mistook for a diving crippled duck. The dog disappeared into the large hole much to the shock of the minnow fishermen. And he did not come up.

 The children cried, the wives screamed, and there was general consternation and dismay among the crowd that had gathered.

Things were just calming down and the fate of dog was being lamented.

 The morning peace was again shattered by a huge disruption at the fish house as several new "doors" were created in its sides.

Out of these doors came terrified men, one followed by a happily shaking Black Lab, with a fish decoy in his mouth!

During the "after action interview" one of the spearers stated "a couple of us had just drifted off to sleep when I saw this huge black beast with large teeth bared (around the decoy apparently) heading up toward us. I thought it might be the devil his-self". " I screamed, everyone woke up just as that thing broke water, and we all just run like hell".

Nothing was hurt except the fish house and some pride! I as a witness and friend was sworn to secrecy, and good friend that I am I will take the names and the location to my grave. :)