December 26th is a Holy Day for the Danes. Unlike North Americans, this Holy Day is not known as a Boxing Day when shopping madness takes place across the continent. It's a day of relaxing, spending quality time with the families and recovering from the excessive amount of food and alcohol consumed during the previous two days. We arrived at the lake around 11:00am. The thin mist blanketed over the entire lake, and half a dozen or so fishers were already fishing. Instead of paying for two hours of fishing, we decided to buy the four hour tickets and brave the weather this time. After sorting out the payment and tickets quickly, we hurried down to the shore and tried to get the first cast in as soon as possible. Once again we stuck with our trusty spinners. The fish were supposedly sitting right on the bottom due to the cold temperature. By using a spinner we were able to allow the lures to sink deeper and still make them spin. The goal, or hope, was to wake one of these sleepy fish up as the spinner went by. Hopefully, after a quick glance at the flashy rotating French blade, it would follow it and eventually take a bite out of it.

We were the only spin fishermen that morning, most of the anglers were float fishing with Powerbait. Apparently Powerbait is a popular bait that is widely used in these put and take lakes. At times it can be effective, but since it is used so often, it has become dull and most fish are no longer attracted to it. Thirty minutes went by, still no action, this began to worry us. Spinning can get so boring when you are just casting and retrieving repetitively with no action. An hour went by, and finally a good tug at the end of my line. Actually, not just a good tug, but a strong tug. It took me by surprise but the normal reflex took over as the arm jerked the rod back to set the hook. Fish on, but it was coming towards me fast. I quickly walked backward to tighten the line as I was having trouble keeping up with the fish by reeling. Not realizing there was a bench behind me, I tripped over the bench and fell on my rear end. I mean, how often do you find a bench at your fishing spot? Half of the crowd busted into laughter. Not to worry, the fish was still on. I quickly got up, made sure the fish was under control. After a couple of minutes of diving and running, the fish emerged on the surface by the edge of an ice plate. A nice looking rainbow it was, probably around four pounds. First fish of the day, out of everyone, must be a foreigner's luck! A quick bonk on the fish's head, I looked up, everyone had switched to spinners!

Two hours went by, I still caught the only fish of the day. The rain started to pour down heavily, so much for a warm day of fishing. By now there were well over a dozen anglers fishing. It wasn't just fishing, but a social gathering. Most anglers who fish the lake usually know each other, so going fishing is also a way for them to catch up with each other. The owner, Mogens, came out from his house by the lake to check out the action, or the lack of it. Seeing how cold, wet and miserable we were, he opened the kiosk (which is normally closed during winter) and offered free coffee for all. A quick coffee break was enough to boost the energy and spirit, we were ready to tackle the lake once again. Another 45 minutes went by, still no sign of fish, and hands were still getting colder. Finally, Nina had spoken, "That's it, last cast!". Whenever those words are spoken, it really is pointless to argue, because you will never win. Last cast it was, I whipped the spinner out as far as I could, let it sink all the way to the bottom before my retrieve. As I started to retrieve, Nina joked about how nice it would be to finish off the day with another fish on the last cast. A few seconds after those famous words had come out, fish on once again! This time it was a smaller rainbow, but still in the three pound range.

The laughter continued as we packed up our gears right after the second fish was landed. We didn't know which was funnier, the fact that I had hooked the only two fish of the day, or that we were actually stupid enough to fish for four hours in miserably cold, wet weather during Christmas. It was a fantastic day, but the luck ended there. Two more outings on the following week produced nothing at all except frozen fishing guides and numb hands. It is not so easy after all.

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