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The Fishing Cousins Series
Eagle Eyes
By David Weber
Chapter 1: Rules of the Competition
This weekend was the annual Chippewa Flowage fishing competition.
Dane and his cousin Luke entered the competition with the hopes of winning the brand new, two hundred and fifty horsepower fishing boat.
Since Luke and Dane were twelve and fourteen years old, they were by far the youngest people in the contest, but that didn't bother them.
The other and older contestants joked with Luke and Dane because they didn't think the two young boys stood a chance at winning the contest.
The Chippewa Flowage has some of the most challenging and best fishing in Wisconsin.
The adult contestants have a lot of experience and know where the best spots to fish are, and which baits and lures to use.
The contest was three days long.
Each day they would try to catch a different type of fish.
Every contestant boat would have a judge riding along to measure and weigh each fish caught.
Each judge will use the D&L fishing competition tracker APP.
The APP records the weight and length of each fish and a special featuring that records the spot pattern on each fish to ensure the same fish is not entered twice.
To win the contest, the judge will measure the length and weigh each fish and enter this data into the APP, where these two measurements are added together to determine points for each fish.
For example, if the fish is ten inches long and weighs three pounds, they would receive thirteen points for that fish.
The contestants can track their rank real time in the D&L fishing competition tracker APP.
Each morning, at the start of the days event, the catch of the day would be posted, which meant the contestants did not know in advance which type of fish to bring bait, lures and poles to catch.
Tiger Muskie Resort was hosting the start and stop location for the competition.
The contestants could fish anywhere on the Chippewa Flowage they wanted and they could also fish from the shore or in the water, not just from their boats.
Chapter 2: Lilly pads and pond grass
Day one of the competition was to catch panfish, such as Bluegill and Crappie.
The contestants would have three hours to catch twenty fish.
The first team to finish would receive an extra fifty points to combine with the points they earned from the length and weight measurements.
Each panfish must be a minimum of eight inches long to be eligible.
Dane and Luke knew about a Panfish hot spot just across the bay from the Tiger Muskie Resort.
"Hopefully, no one else knows about it" said Luke.
"Start your engines! Five, four, three, two, one, GO!" shouted the contest judge.
All but one boat raced out of the harbor at full speed.
Luke and Dane, just sat still in the warm morning air as the sun began to shine through the morning clouds.
They waited for everyone to leave, then they slowly drove around the corner to their hot spot.
As luck would have it, no one else was fishing that spot.
They lowered the trolling motor and slowly made their way to the edge of the lily pads and pond grass.
Dane set the automatic pilot anchor on the trolling motor and grabbed his pole.
"Wizzzz," "Wizzzz," Luke cast off the back and Dane cast off the front of their Grandpa's boat.
Without any delay, "I got one!" shouted Luke.
He reeled it in and sure enough, it was ten inches long and weighted two pounds.
The judge was about to enter their first catch when Dane said, "we need to throw the first fish back for good luck."
That's right," agreed Luke.
"Wizzzz." "Wizzzz." They cast out in between the lily pads and near the pond grass.
Almost like magic, "I got one!" shouted Dane.
"Me too!" shouted Luke.
They reeled in their fish and the judge measured them.
"Yep, these are keepers. Twenty-six points total for these fish," said the boat judge as he entered the data into the D&L fishing competition tracker APP.
Luke checked the APP and they were in third place.
In less than two hours, they caught their twenty fish and headed back to the Tiger Muskie Resort.
When they arrived back, they were told they were the first boat to catch twenty fish, so they automatically received an extra fifty points!
This meant they were in first place after day one!
They were super excited and grabbed an ice cream treat as they watched the other fishing boats return.
One of the other contestants, an older grumpy man, started complaining that Luke and Dane must have cheated.
The boat judge who rode along with Luke and Dane reassured him they did not cheat.
When they finished their ice cream, they walked out and as they passed the grumpy old man, Luke dropped a silent but smelly surprise which upset the grumpy old man.
"Ooh man that stinks!" complained the grumpy old man.
They kept quiet until they got outside then burst out laughing and walked back to their grandpa's boat to drive back to the cabin for the night.
Chapter 3: Bass on the rocks
Day two of the fishing competition was for Large-mouth Bass.
As Dane and Luke read the post for the day, they knew exactly where they wanted to go.
"Bass Point, near Sun Glass island," they both said at the same time.
The name "Bass Point" is from the fact that Dane's brother and Luke's Dad had both caught a huge, Large-mouth Bass there.
The name, "Sun glass Island" got its name because Luke's Dad found a pair of sunglasses on that island.
Dane's Dad had been teaching the boys how to fish for Bass, so they were ready to go.
As day two of the contest began, all the high-powered boats again roared out of the harbor, leaving a lot of fun waves for Luke and Dane to drive through.
Today was Dane's turn to drive the boat out to the fishing spot.
Arriving at Bass Point, Dane made a safe left-hand tactical turn into their fishing spot.
Today was Dane's turn to drive the boat out to the fishing spot.
Luke quickly prepared the trolling motor and lowered it into the water, setting the automatic directional controls to anchor the boat about thirty feet off Bass point.
"Time to get our hooks wet," said Dane.
"Wizzzz," "Wizzzz," they cast out toward Bass Point.
The sun was just rising above the trees and the air was a perfect temperature with a slight breeze, just enough to keep the bugs away, but not strong enough to cause ripples in the water.
After two hours of slowly trolling and working the banks, they still hadn't caught anything.
Luke decided to switch to an old pole of his, one that his Dad used to catch his bass.
After two hours of slowly trolling and working the banks, they still hadn't caught anything.
Luke decided to switch to an old pole of his, one that his Dad used to catch his bass.
Luke put a special bait on his hook and cast it off the back of the boat.
He let the bait sink to the bottom, just as Dane's dad had instructed him.
When Luke was about to start reeling it in, Dane said the boat was drifting.
The automatic anchor on the trolling motor must have turned off.
"I'll reset it," said Luke as he set his pole down.
Luke walked to the front of the boat and reset the trolling motor anchor just like he had done many times.
As he walked back to his pole, he could see it moving.
The line was being pulled tight.
Luke thought it was a snag, so he gave his pole a few tugs and reeled it a few times when he realized it was a fish - a big fish.
"Dane, I got one!" shouted Luke
"Just relax and don't boat flip it, I'll grab the net," said Dane.
"Boat flipping" a fish, is when you lose the fish as you are bringing it into the boat.
As Luke reeled it next to the boat, they could both see it was a huge large mouth bass
Dane quickly began lowering the net when all of a sudden, a huge four foot long Muskie swam up, grabbed the bass in its mouth, and broke the fishing line as it dove back down with its meal.
Even the boat judge couldn't believe what he just saw.
"Can you believe that!" exclaimed Luke.
Unfortunately, that was the only bass they saw all day.
Dane checked the competition APP and was relieved to see that no one caught a lot of bass that day.
However, they were no longer in first place.
Worse was the fact that the grumpy old man was now in first place by fifty points.
Chapter 4: Pikes Point
As luck would have it, the third day of competition was going after Northern Pike.
Dane and Luke knew an excellent spot to fish for Northern Pike.
Once Luke, Dane, Dane's brother and Dane's Dad had a 30 minute challenge to catch enough Pike for dinner.
On that day, they caught five Pike trolling in between two spots called, "Pikes Point" and "Eagle Stump."
Today was Luke's turn to drive out from the Tiger Muskie Resort.
Again, they waited for the other boats to race out of the harbor and they laughed while they bounced over and around the big waves created by the fishing boats.
Once out of the harbor, the water was smooth as glass which helped Luke and Dane relax and enjoy the warm fresh morning air.
Just ahead of them, a bald eagle dove and grabbed a fish right out of the water.
Dane smiled as he enjoyed being out in nature.
Luke made a careful right-hand tactical turn around the final bend near Pikes Point.
They were both disappointed to see three other boats in "their" fishing spot!
"Let's take turns, one person steering the trolling motor and the other person fishing," suggested Dane.
"I like that idea," said Luke.
Since the other boats were basically in their area, someone would need to carefully steer their boat through and around the other boats.
Luke and Dane packed drinks and snacks and were prepared to be on the water the full five hours allotted for the competition today.
Luke volunteered to drive the trolling motor first.
As Luke sat there, he remembered how the last time they were fishing there, a bald eagle landed in a tree and seemed to watch them fish.
There was a tree stump at the base of the tree where the eagle was sitting, so they decided to call that location, "Eagle Stump."
Luke and Dane were both wearing polarized glare eliminating sunglasses which helps them see fish in the water.
Today the Pike needed to be at least eighteen inches long to count in the competition.
The competition APP also calculated the approximate number of fish each contestant was behind the competition leaders.
"According to the fishing competition APP, we are approximately ten fish behind the leader," said Luke.
"We will figure it out," said Dane.
"Wizzzz," Dane cast out and Luke directed the boat in between Pike's Point and Eagle Stump, weaving around the other boats.
Throughout the day, Luke and Dane realized that their were three primary areas where they were catching all their fish.
Luke also noticed something else that was helpful.
Chapter 5: Eagle Eyes
With only one hour remaining in the competition, Luke and Dane were behind in third place.
They needed to change what they were doing if they stood any chance of coming back for the win.
As Luke was relaxing in the chair at the front of the boat, he happened to notice a large bald eagle circling in the sky above them.
Luke was fascinated by how it was gliding through the air.
The eagle circled round and landed on the top of "Eagle Stump" tree.
Luke was so interested in the eagle, that he stopped trolling the boat and set the autopilot anchor on the trolling motor.
As Luke carefully watched the eagle, he noticed a pattern.
The eagle was looking back and forth at the three different hot spots they had found.
Luke mentioned this observation to Dane, and they decided to test this theory.
Luke and Dane could see the eagle looking in the area they called place number one.
Both Dane and Luke cast into that spot and within a few seconds of the cast hitting the water, "I got one!" shouted Dane.
"Don't boat flip it, I'll grab the net," said Luke.
The judge measured, weighed, and recorded the results, "It's eligible for the contest, I'll record it," said the boat judge.
Luke and Dane looked back up at the eagle and observed it was looking in location number two, so they both cast out.
Just like before, as soon as their lures hit the water, "I got one!" shouted Luke.
This went on for the next fifty-five minutes.
They continually checked the competition APP as it updated the ranking in real-time.
"Five minutes remaining gentleman," announced the boat judge.
You could feel the tension in the air.
Luke and Dane looked at each other, then both turned their heads up toward the eagle, waiting and hoping for a signal.
A minute passed and nothing happened.
Then, suddenly, the eagle began staring at an area behind a fallen tree!
"Dane, look! What do you think the eagle is looking at?" asked Luke.
"I'm not sure, but whatever it is, that eagle is going crazy, so it must be a big fish," responded Dane.
The problem was the location.
With only two minutes remaining in the competition, there was not enough time to drive the boat over to the third location, and they didn't want to scare or disturb the fish.
It was going to be a very complicated cast.
They would need to cast twenty feet, then get the lure under and through a suspended branch that was about six feet above the water and around a fallen bush.
Luke was controlling the trolling motor so Dane let out the first cast.
"Wizzzz," He made it the twenty feet and under the branch, but not around the fallen bush.
Dane tried again with the same result.
"Try putting a sliding weight on your line, then do a sidearm cast to curve the cast around the bush. The sliding weight might cause the line to curve as the weight slides back," suggested Luke.
Sure enough, that got the lure even closer but it was still about five feet short of the best spot.
As Dane reeled in his line,
a plan popped into his head.
Chapter 6: Leap of faith
"Thirty seconds remaining," announced the boat judge.
Dane was reeling as fast as he could.
Once all his line was in, Dane carefully walked to the other end of the boat, turned around, and took off running as fast as he could toward the back of the boat.
"Dane! What are you doing?" yelled Luke.
Without wasting a moment and in a single motion, Dane leapt headfirst off the boat, with his arms fully extended toward the best fishing spot.
He released a perfect sidearm cast as he flew parallel over the water.
The fishing lure flew through the air, under the suspended tree, and as the sliding weight dropped, it changed the direction of the lure to go around the fallen bush and landed exactly where the eagle was looking.
"Wow!" yelled the boat judge.
The moment the lure landed in the water two things happened.
First, a giant Pike bit the lure and second, Dane splashed into the water.
Both Luke and the boat judge looked over where Dane was and all they could see were Dane's hands and the fishing pole out of the water as Dane was frantically reeling in the fish while his head and the rest of his body were underwater.
The moment Luke heard, "fifteen seconds remaining," announced by the boat judge, Dane grabbed the fish and threw it toward the boat.
It seemed like time had slowed to a standstill as Luke watched the huge Pike topple end over end toward the boat.
Without a moment's hesitation, Luke stood on the edge of the boat and looking like a football wide receiver catching a pass along a sideline, Luke extended his body as far as he could and caught the fish, then handed it to the boat judge in one movement.
Five seconds remained as the boat judge measured the length and the weight.
Luke watched with his eyes wide open as the judge slowly looked up at him and said, "It's eligible, I'll count it, and now time is up."
Luke looked around and realized that the other contestants in the area were watching everything that just happened.
Luke could not hear what they were saying, but he could see them shaking their heads and waving their arms and they appeared to be angry.
As Dane handed his pole over the side of the boat and pulled himself in, he and Luke began laughing about what just happened.
Luke checked the competition tracker APP to get the final results, only to see a message that read, "Final results will be posted at the Tiger Muskie Resort."
Luke secured their grandpa's trolling motor and fishing poles as Dane started the boat for the drive back.
As they pulled into the Tiger Muskie Resort harbor, they could see a large crowd of contestants standing around.
There was quite a bit of commotion, so Luke and Dane walked up to find out what was going on.
"That last fish doesn't count. He was out of the boat!" yelled the grumpy old man.
"There is no rule requiring contestants to stay in their boat, the last fish counts!" said the head contest judge.
The crowd began to clear, exposing the flat screen monitor on the wall.
Much to their surprise, the competition rankings were posted and stated that Luke and Dane had won first prize!
The new fishing boat was theirs.
They burst out laughing with joy, then turned to each other and said, "You wanna go fishing?"
The End
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