Every fisherman has their tale of the "one that got away." But an ice fisherman from Millbury, Massachusetts, nearly landed quite the catch last week in Grafton.
"I can still feel the adrenaline," said Keith Poisant, "and thinking in my head, 'My God, this is going to be a state record something.'"
Poisant was ice fishing in Grafton's Lake Ripple last week when that "something" started pulling on his line – hard!
"When it took off the first time and I didn't know what it was," said Poisant, "it did yank me towards the hole, and that's when I started screaming as loud as I could to my buddy, Dan, who was across the ice, that I'm going to need some help with this, whatever it is."
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Poisant grabbed his cellphone and started recording.
"I'm pulling as hard as I could. I've never felt anything like it. I've caught some big fish," said Poisant. "I saw it go by the hole, and I still didn't know what it was, I just thought it was a massive fish."
Finally, after more than 10 minutes of wrestling with the underwater creature, Poisant came face to face with what he estimates was a 20-to-30-pound otter.
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"All I knew is it was 10 times heavier than anything I've ever pulled in in my 40 years of ice fishing," he said.
Poisant and his buddy tried to get the hook out, but the line snapped.
"It was right on the corner of his mouth," said Poisant, "so I think he'll either be able to work it out with his little hands, or maybe it'll just kind of fall out, hopefully."
Poisant said while he's disappointed he didn't reel in the record-breaking fish he had imagined, this is one fish tale he'll be telling for quite some time.
"It was definitely one I'll never forget, ever," Poisant said.
He says he did also catch about 10 fish that day, but it's the otter that made the outing so remarkable.
