Fish are Biting at Island Lake!

[scifisher]

Fish are really biting in Island Lake, boy discovers

BY SAM COOK
NEWS TRIBUNE OUTDOORS WRITER

One moment, 11-year-old Mason DeRosier was hunting frogs. The next, he became the hunted.

Mason and his 9-year-old sister, Katelyn, were wading in about a foot of water on Island Lake, near Moose Lake, when he was attacked by a muskellunge or a northern pike. The resulting lacerations required 11 stitches.

Both kids are from Silver Bay and were at a family cabin on Island Lake when the incident occurred about5 p.m. Thursday.

Mason's father, Richard DeRosier, was in a paddle boat just offshore and witnessed the event.

"I was facing them, and I see a hell of a swirl," said DeRosier, a Lake County deputy sheriff. "Before I can say 'Holy moly! Look at that!' all of a sudden the swirl is by their feet."

Mason saw the original swirl just offshore.

"It was like maybe five feet in front of us," Mason said. "Then it splashed right at my foot and bit me. It hurt."

And the fish didn't let go immediately.

"I smacked it in the head and tried to pry it off my foot," Mason said. "He let go, but he bit my hand."

Both children were screaming throughout the incident, their father said. Katelyn wasn't bitten.

Mason was taken in his grandfather's motorboat back to the cabin, where he washed his wounds. Then he was off to the hospital emergency room in Moose Lake.

He received eight stitches in his left hand and three in the bottom of his right foot. He has numerous other bite marks across the top of his foot, his dad said.

"I'll bet he has 20 cuts on his foot and 10 cuts on his hand," Richard DeRosier said.

Nobody got a good look at the fish. Island Lake, just across Interstate 35 from Sand Lake in Pine County, has muskies and northern pike, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Either species would be capable of inflicting the kind of wounds Mason suffered.

Because Mason's foot hurts too much to walk on, the family decided to postpone a planned trip to Valleyfair in Shakopee, Minn. On Friday, Mason was back at the cabin recuperating.

But he and Katelyn weren't chasing any frogs.

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Entropy makes life interesting.

[scifisher]

I've heard of this happening before. There is a lake I used to fish when I lived in the Twin Cities. It was a DNR brood lake for muskies and it had a 48 inch minimum limit. Around the swim area, they installed a shark net after a 14 year old boy was attacked.

Crazy stuff! Anyone else ever hear of this happening?

scifisher

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Entropy makes life interesting.

[Northlander]

Ya it happens every so often but doesnt hit the news. When I was a kid another kid at Camp Miller got chomped on in Sturgion Lake.

[Surface Tension]

Thats why I don't skinny dip in Pike infested waters anymore.

[chunkytrout]

Was that Cedar Sci?

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chunky

[MrSenarighi]

My friend knew someone that had his toe almost severed by a musky. I can't remember the name of the lake, but it is the one you can see right from I-35 before sturgeon lake. I have a cabin on Amnicon Lake in WI, and a little girl was supposedly bitten on the leg by a musky there also. That is why people up north don't go noodling.

[loadmaster]

I am glad I am to old to skinny dip

[scifisher]

Chunky

It was Rebecca.

sci

[fishface5]

HA! Sci, I knew you where a city boy! Can't take the lefty out of the city/boy! It's all them years reading the red star. Bet your Kid will be a Con! You fish though, you can't be completly screwed up. Get out and catch one for me! I'm out of time! I've started school. I'll never catch up to you, but use it or loose it, Ay?

[scifisher]

Fishface5

Even if she was, I would love her just as much. I'll tell you what, her rhetoric would be sharp. Years of honing on her father would have a lasting effect!

sci