As we are well into spearing season in the north, I felt the following article was printed in the Ludington Daly News for March 17, 1951 was appropriate.M.br>
We hooked onto another unusual fish story this week, and when we type this story we're not just flapping our fingers.
A short time ago, Clyde Eckley, local carpenter, borrowed the fish shantv of George Brant, local Dow well checker and Clyde's neighbor. Clyde wanted to do some spearing so he bought himself a ten-Inch live sucker for a decoy and started out for Lower Hamlin lake where George's shanty is located.
Fishing was rather mediocre for awhile. That is until a big pike swirled into the hole and grabbed the sucker decoy, tearing it oft the hook and getting away unscathed. Clyde the resorted to an artificial lure for decoy purposes, and it wasn't long before the same hungry pike was back again looking for another easy snack.
However, Clyde was ready for him this time. He speared the big fellow and brought him into the shanty. Then, just to verity his assumption that it was the same fish in both instances, he slit him open to look for his original live decoy. Sure enough, there was the sucker and seemingly none the worse for his hit-and-run experience. So Clyde took the wriggling sucker and put him back into the water as a live decoy again, which he most certainly was.
It was just moments afterwards that another larger pike drifted in for a quick look, and he also got nailed by the carpenter. Scales later revealed the first pike weighed nine pounds and the second weighed fifteen. It was a very nice haul with the sucker ending up high on the list of lucky personalities. He was tossed into a pail of water where he lived for another week of active decoying.
It was W.C. Fields who said, "Never give a sucker an even break;" but Clyde's sucker deserves a pat on the back. When he was down in the mouth and things looked mighty black, he kept flipping unUl he won . . . with a head AND a tail.
-- Gary L. Miller
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