Brady Wettlaufer and Justin Mujwid were chowing on some barbecue and enjoying late-season ice fishing for a couple hours April 2 at Elkhead Reservoir when the flag on one of their tip-ups came snapping up.

Knowing there could be a trophy fish on the other end, but not wanting to get out of their chairs to cross the thinning ice to get to their line 20 yards away, the two looked at each other in hesitation. Then they tiptoed across the ice and began working what turned out to be a massive female northern pike. 

“A tip-up is a great way to kick back with your buddy, have a nice conversation while you stare at your flag, and boom when that flag goes up, it’s like Christmas morning or sliding into home plate,” Wettlaufer said. “You go running over there, grab your tip-up and handline it.”

As Wettlaufer explained, you have to pull the fish up by guiding it with your hands. If you squeeze the line too hard, the fish could snap it. It’s all about working with what the fish gives you. 

“It’s a really sensitive process. You’d think you have to pull hard, but it’s really not a lot of force and more of a gentle motion,” Wettlaufer said. “You’re just taking up line as she gives it to you, and as it runs a little bit, you are the drag, per se. You have to finesse it; there’s an art to it. As she takes line, you give it to her, and then as she lets up a little bit, you pull back. It’s intimidating, to say the least, when you have a 10-inch jaw coming up a 10-inch hole.” 

Neither angler had a measuring device handy, so Wettlaufer is unsure of the length of the pike. However, he estimates the fish came out to about 22 pounds.

To get the fish out of the water, the anglers made sure to put their fingers just under the fish’s gill plate, not in the gills, before gently pulling her out. Wettlaufer said he got the hook off the fish, took a quick picture and then released her back into the reservoir. 

But what did he have on the other end of the line?

“It’s a long-protected secret,” Wettlaufer said. “I could tell you, but Justin would kill me.” 

Wettlaufer is the owner of Steamboat Fishing Adventures, but he is moving to Granby to start a new business this summer. He says Elkhead is a great place to catch fish and recommends it to all anglers in the area, especially during the winter.

“It was a total of four hours I ice-fished this year, and to do it in unfamiliar territory on unfamiliar water was really cool,” Wettlaufer said. “There are good fish to be caught in Elkhead; it is a great place to fish. It gets murky at times and folks stay clear of it, but wintertime is a great time to fish it because it has clear water and the game fish that are in there gives them better visibility and anglers a better chance to catch these beautiful fish.”

This story is from SteamboatPilot.com