Think backcountry fishing mean an endless drive? Think again. This fly-in adventure was just hours from the city

The 36-inch surprise

On his third cast of the trip, my son Sam connected with a 36-inch northern pike. He hadn’t come anywhere near a fish bigger than his shoe in a decade, so this was exciting stuff, and quite the confidence booster.

I was in the other boat across the bay. I saw—and heard—Sam and Wes in a flurry of activity and showing some level of stress. I thought about going over to help , but didn’t want to give the impression I didn’t trust them to handle things. Though of course, when I realized they’d had a serious fish, I wished pretty hard I’d seen it up close.

I will admit their photo (above) is a little goofy, but I love how it captures the chaos and energy of the moment, as he and Wes raced to document the fish for posterity, while ensuring a rapid and safe release.

It also turned out to be our best fish of the week, which is a pretty good reminder of one of backcountry fishing’s more reliable rules: you never know what’s going to happen on the first cast—or the next one, or the last one.