A 9-year-old boy ice fishing on the lake in front of the family cabin was nervously reeling in a big fish, and even asked his mother to go fetch dad, but he kept reeling and soon started handlining the fish of a lifetime up through the ice. The word excited just doesn’t do his reaction justice.
“Come on, come on…come on, buddy,” Hunter said as his mother Melissa Warford videotaped the special moment last week on Shabogomo Lake in Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. “Come on now, oh that’s a fish!”
When the head of the estimated 12-pound lake trout came through the hole in the ice, Hunter was beside himself. His mother told him to pull him up and he replied, “I can’t. Help!”
But he did. And then, wow.
“He was so pleased with catching the fish on his own and even had some nasty cuts from pulling on the line,” Melissa told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors. “But he didn’t care because he felt it was worth it.
Also on FTW Outdoors: Watch ice fisherman pull a 50-pound fish through tiny hole
“He was so excited for days. It was all he could talk about. He had never caught a fish without dad’s help so I think he was a little nervous that he couldn’t do it on his own.”
The video cut out just as Hunter began crying tears of joy.
“I’ve never seen him so emotional,” Melissa told For The Win Outdoors. “He’s caught big fish before but always in the summer and with the help of dad. This is the first one he did all by himself and I think that made him very proud.
“I will treasure this memory forever and I’m sure he will as well.”
Quite frankly, so will we.
Photos courtesy of Melissa Warford.