You hear about it, every year.....
Some guy has all his traps out at night, tipped with bait and laying on the bottom, while he jigs in the shanty.... checks his traps every hour, like he's supposed to... pulls his trap out of the hole to clear the ice and.... WHAAPP!!! the flag goes off in his face as he lifts the trap.... Nothing much stings worse than a flag in the face when its 11pm and 10 below!!
What's happened is this: the cusk/burbou/eelpout/lawyer has swallowed the bait without setting the flag and has decided to take a little nap... He's hooked, but not going anywhere. So when the trap gets pulled, the line tightens, and the flag goes off. Happens ALL the time.... I got one in the face, last year and so did my boy.
Just a friendly reminder to hold the trap away from your face when checking your holes while cusk fishing....
