Outdoor Families: "The Fish Prayer"

As a practising Christian family we taught our children to pray. Recently at a family dinner my daughters recited the bedtime prayer from their childhood. Basically a poetic, "God bless Mommy and Daddy, Nicolette, Erin and Timothy; Grandma and Grampa Smith; Grandma and Grampa Palermo" and on through the entire family. Every time a new cousin was born, another name was added to the list. Including the family dog.

So when it came to fishing, prayer was also included in the "tackle box".

We have never been hard-core about ice-fishing, but nevertheless we would take our kids on weekend outings to Whitefish Lake. Usually in March when the fish were biting and the temperatures were not so nasty.

On one memorable occasion we drove our Chev Caprice out to Whitefish Lake and attempted to drive through some fresh powdery snow once we got to the parking area. Our Caprice was useless in the snow. In fact I joked that the darn thing could get stuck on a banana peel. Needless to say we got stuck at Whitefish Lake. But with Mom at the wheel and "mighty" Dad pushing we were able to get unstuck.

We walked out onto the ice pulling a sled with our auger, lines and lunch and found a suitable spot.

The kids loved the experience of running and playing in the snow-covered ice. Somehow fascinated that they were actually walking on a lake.

I was eventually able to punch enough holes through the ice with our auger to set our lines. (In today's parlance our auger would be known as "eco-friendly" as it ran on arm-power not gasoline!)

The kids watched the lines faithfully throughout the early afternoon with no takers.

Late in the day we noticed little Timothy (perhaps 5 years old) squatting near one of the lines through the ice. "I said a fish-prayer." Announced Timothy. Gently jigging the monofilament line.

Antonietta and I smiled from ear to ear at our little boy's plea for divine intervention.

Low and behold, not twenty minutes later did we have a nice walleye flopping on the ice and our three children jumping for joy.

"See. My fish-prayer worked!" Said Timothy. Who quickly said a prayer for an additional fish.

And low and behold we went home with about four nice walleye that evening.

I never said anything about the tendency for Whitefish Lake's walleye to bite at dusk; but instead I silently acknowledged to myself that regardless, God had provided fish, and planted a seed of faith in a little boy that day.