Life-long angler lands lunker of lifetime

Mary McCord is not the kind of lady you’ll find whiling away her time at such passive pursuits as euchre or crossword puzzles.
You’re more likely to find her—at least in the summer months—up on Lake of the Woods, or one of the countless lakes to the east, plying the waters for walleye and bass like thousands of others who migrate here every summer from the States.
But unlike most tourists, this great-grandmother of nine from Houston, Tex. has been doing this for most of her 92 years. And late last summer, it paid off in spades.
On Sept. 2, Mary and her son, Rick, were fishing for walleye on a lake about 30 miles east of Nestor Falls. Mary had a typical walleye set-up—a spinner on a quarter-ounce jig with an orange grub and 10-lb. line.
The day had not been going well, Rick recalled.
“We had been fishing for walleye with no success,” he said Monday in a telephone interview from his home in Houston. “We were catching nothing but small northerns on this little lake.”
But that changed abruptly as they worked a weedy spot at the end of the lake when Mary appeared to hit a snag. At least, that’s what she thought it was.
Rick tried to convince her she had a good fish, but Mary was having none of that. Then after about 15 minutes, he caught sight of her “snag” and notified his still-skeptical mother she had something special.
“Finally I saw the back of the thing and I said, ‘Mother, you’ve got a trophy fish,’ to which she responded, ‘Oh no, it’s just a bunch of weeds.’”
When that bunch of weeds began taking line again, Mary realized she had a problem.
“She was using an old Luxor spinning reel,” Rick explained with a chuckle. “The thing was about 50 years old and the drag didn’t work, so she had to back wind to give it line.”
That would be no small chore for anyone, but Mary bore down and wound backwards and forwards until at last the fish came alongside the boat. Rick said she was sitting the whole time—straddling the centre bench of their small boat with her legs for leverage.
“She played the fish beautifully the whole way,” her proud son stressed.
But the fish wasn’t finished yet. No sooner was it alongside then it did what many pike will do—it ran under the boat in an attempt to snag the line on the keel or motor.
But rather than standing up quickly in the small boat and risking a fall, Mary just shoved her rod tip under the boat and continued to play the fish as before.
After nearly 25 minutes in total, the fish tired enough for Rick to gaff it through the lower lip and secure it to the side of the boat.
Then came the question of what to do with it.
“After we caught it, I said to her, ‘Your option, Mother. Do you want to put it on the wall or back in the water?’ Without hesitating she told me to release the fish,” Rick recalled.
But before they did that, Rick measured their prize and came away with some impressive numbers. The fish turned out to be 44 inches long, with a girth of at least 20 inches.
He estimated its weight at 24-25 pounds.
“This was the biggest northern pike she has ever caught and she’s been fishing these waters for over 50 years,” Rick said. “I’m sure it’s also the biggest ever taken in [that] lake.”
Actually, it was not the biggest fish Mary ever caught. Rick said she caught a musky in Lake of the Woods that was even bigger some years back.
Rick was determined to capture the moment on film, but he knew he couldn’t expect his mother to stand up in the boat and hold the fish in a conventional manner.
So he lashed the fish to a paddle and had Mary hold it upright on the bottom of the boat while he took the picture.
He then returned it gently to the water and after about 20 minutes of resuscitation, he was rewarded with the satisfaction of seeing it swim off—apparently none the worse for its ordeal.
But what about Mary? Was she overwhelmed by the excitement and stress? Not at all, Rick claimed.
“No, she’s a very young 92-year-old,” he said. “She has a great faith, she exercises every day, she’s careful about her diet, and never has an idle moment.”
In fact, Rick said his mother is looking forward to doing it all over again.
“The Lord willing, we’re all coming back to see if we can catch it again this year,” he vowed.