Kiddy Pioneers of the Lake - Epilogue

The morning after we finished the historic hike around the lake, Danny, Donny and I went back to the dam. We were armed with a large landing net, a metal stringer, and a large pail. We were going fishing but without poles. The day was going to be hot and the heat beetles were already buzzing in the trees. We stood on top of the dam and looked down. The large northern pike were still there. We could see at least three big ones. The water was so low in the slough that their backs were practically out of the water. We climbed down the side of the dam and walked into the slough. The open water was near the bottom of the dam wall so that is where we went to get the fish. This was easier than shooting fish in a barrel. The poor pike had no place to escape us. We scooped one large northern and put it in the bucket. The fish was so large that if we had put it on the stringer, it’s tail would have dragged on the ground. People were going to be so impressed with us when we got back with this awesome load of fish! We were just scooping up the second fish when we heard a voice behind us. Uncle Leo said, “What you are doing here is against the law, it’s poaching.” We froze. How did he sneak up on us like this? Maybe if we didn’t move this wasn’t happening. Uncle Leo was a little scary. He wasn’t a kindly sort of uncle that kids our age could talk to. Uncle Leo was the kind of uncle who, when you were watching him milk the cows, would send you up to the farm house to ask his wife for a “tit wrench.” We naïve children would do what he asked, causing Aunt Helen to start sputtering in German. We didn’t understand what she was saying but we understood she wasn’t too happy with him. He thought that was hilarious. Uncle Leo was also the kind of uncle who would offer your two-year-old little sister a piece of plug tobacco and ask her, “Do you want some chocolate?” That forced you to protect her by leading her away by the hand and doing that didn’t earn you any popularity points with the little tyke. So when Uncle Leo said we were breaking the law, we knew we were in trouble. What happened next? Did we put the northerns back in the slough? Did we dump them into the lake? I would like to think we put them back in the lake but I honestly don’t remember. I only know we didn’t carry any fish when we walked back to the cabins from the dam. We learned a lesson that day.