The human fish finder

If anyone ever wanted to hear a fishing story all they would need to do is get in touch with Jonny Petrowske. Jonny P, as he is known by most, is the 4th generation Upper Red Lake fishing guide, bear guide, minnow trapper and cigar connoisseur. Jonny's family staked their claim in Waskish shortly after the Wright brother's famous first flight in Kittyhawk in 1903…long before the crappie boom that brought the rest of the free world to the northern Minnesota lake. The Petrowske's have called the lake home ever since. To this day Jonny owns and operates Outdoors with Jonny P.  The Petrowske family has been witness to their share of remarkable stories over that time.

Jonny's Great Grandfather's boat, The Chief, on Red Lake
July 4th, 1914

Not too long ago when I first met Jonny, while fishing up on Red with a few other guys, we gathered outside one of the houses to keep out of the wind after setting up our tipups. We wanted to stay within sight of the flags should one of the Red Lake pike decide to chomp one of our suckers.

As with most fishermen, guides are also highly susceptible to storytelling when given the right scenario. Luckily for me and the other pike fisherman huddled outside the ice house that day, this happened to be just such an occasion.

THE HUMAN FISH FINDER

Not too long ago when I first met Jonny, while fishing up on Red with a few other guys, we gathered outside one of the houses to keep out of the wind after setting up our tipups. We wanted to stay within sight of the flags should one of the Red Lake pike decide to chomp one of our suckers.

As with most fishermen, guides are also highly susceptible to storytelling when given the right scenario. Luckily for me and the other pike fisherman huddled outside the ice house that day, this happened to be just such an occasion.

Some of the great Upper Red slabs on display

The Upper Red Lake crappie boom as it came to be known in Minnesota, was a meat hunter's mecca for those from across the Midwest, Canada, and further.  The lake was overflowing with some of the biggest crappie that any Minnesota fishery had to offer. With the influx of great fishing, and naturally the great fishing brings fishermen, masses of people on ice with heavy machinery and alcohol generally produces some interesting results to say the least.  So it was that Jonny, like the rest of the guides on the lake, had grown over time to become as accustomed to the unexpected as a person really ever could be, but the sight that awaited him on the other side of the door was one that no one could ever have been fully expecting.

The door swung open and there was Jon, shoulders pressed tight against the floor of the shack, hands flat against the floor and head wedged snug inside the 10inch hole that Jonny's auger had cut the day before.

Jonny hurried to his knees and looked down in the hole to see what needed to be done.

Like a barb on a hook the man's nose had allowed him to get his head down into the hole, but was not allowing him to pull it back out of the hole.  His lips held just above the water line in the hole Jon was hanging on for life.

Jonny grabbed his pocket knife and begun to whittle and shave away at the ice holding his nose locked firmly in place.  Little by little he freed John's head from the ice.

Then came the exchange of words that would naturally follow such an unnatural event.  Jonny asked the 60 year old man, "Why in the world did you have your head stuck in there?" to which the man replied, "I was looking for the fish".

Have any good fish stories? Share them below in the comments section, or if you want to be featured in the next post?  Email me: mcarufel@lindylittlejoe.com 

-mc