Hook and bullet club - anchoring the catch

Whenever a guy wants to tell you a fish story, you know you’re in for it. When the guy brings props (not the kind on boat motors), you’re in for trouble.Frank Fifo brought a bucket of props in the other day for one of those kind of fish stories. You see other than planting trees, Frank can usually be found out fishing somewhere along the White Iron chain of lakes.So it was that he was fishing last summer at Silver Rapids, using six pound test, plying for the elusive critters he loves to chase - walleyes. Not too surprisingly, Frank caught a snag in the rocky bottom. Except this was one of those springy snags that seems like it wants to come up out of the water. So Frank set his fishing pole down and pulled up the monofilament to see what was on the other end. Hand over hand he came upon a thick, black rope. The rope appeared to be attached to an anchor that had found a home among the rocks and didn’t want to be disturbed. Sitting in the current in eight feet of water, Frank did the best he could and ended up cutting the rope, putting 15 feet in his boat as his catch of the day.But the story doesn’t end there. Being a stubborn fisherman, Frank went back to the same spot the next day. Another springy snag and he thought he hooked the black rope again.But this rope was red and white. So it was back to the hand-over-hand to get as much rope out of the water. When he pulled his boat over the rope, he felt a little give when he tugged.So Frank pulled on the rope again. And again. And then the other end broke loose and started to come up. Pulling hard, Frank reached over the side of the boat and landed not one, but two anchors. Intertwined with the anchor attached to the red and white rope was another anchor - and eight feet of black rope. “I told my wife when I got home that I got a 15-pounder,” said Fifo. “Then I said I also caught a 28-pounder.”That’s right, 43 pounds of anchors came up from the bottom. Just how they managed to end up hooked together is one of those questions that will go answered, especially when the end of the black rope had not been cut to start with.“I think it fell off a pontoon boat. But how it hooked onto the other anchor, I have no idea,” said Fifo. And the luck of catching both ropes would have to rank right up there as well in the land of “How Could That Happen?” Frank ended up with two anchors, a mess of rope and a fish story - complete with props. Deer Hunters provide wildlife seedThe Ely-Vermilion Chapter of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association is again providing members with a free bag of wildlife seed. The catch is that you had to participate in the Hides for Habitat project. Big, orange hide boxes are placed in Ely, Babbitt and Tower during deer season and hunters are encouraged to place their clean hides inside.The hides are then picked up by club members, spread out, dried and cleaned before being sold to a fur buyer. Part of the monies from the sale of the hides is used for the wildlife seed mix that is then made available in the spring.I can tell you from experience that this seed works. MDHA members have been spreading this stuff along new trails and it catches like crazy. What once was dirt becomes a green carpet. Good food for the deer, grouse and rabbits.The seed is available at Brandau Plumbing in Winton, Vermilion Fuel and Food in Tower and Blomberg’s in Babbitt.