The Mermaid of Lake Erie

Throughout my time as a child I spent hours at a time fishing in the Portage Lakes. Many times I brought up crappies, sunfish maybe a keeper bass and even a few freshwater clams and crayfish but that was when I was using a cheap rod and reel and a bobber to let me know if and when I hooked a fish.

Now that I am a “grown-up” I sometimes still fish in those familiar lakes but now I have my own boat and I fish in the Great Lakes…especially the waters between Long Point in Canada and Presque Isle in the United States. The fish there are bigger, stronger and they will put up a more powerful fight than any fish I ever caught in shallower waters.

I remember, it was a week before summer officially arrived. It was cool…about 55 degrees I think. I decided that I would go out and get some fishing done before the summer tourists arrived and there would be too many people fishing to get the giant fish I wanted to catch. I found that within a few days after the tourists arrived those monsters went into even deeper water and would hide until the season was over in October.

That morning I got down to the marina sometime around 6 AM. Just as I knew it would be the marina was full of boats but, other than the attendant, I was the only person walking around. Anyway, I filled by boat with fuel and started out. I waved to the attendant as I was pulling out into the lake and as I did I noticed something strange…there were hundreds of fish covering the rocks at the opening where the marina opened into the lake. I am not talking about just the smaller fish but there were some lake trout that I guessed were more than seven feet long…which were a rare sight in open water much less than more than a dozen being washed up on the land at the same time. I made a quick note on my computer about what I had seen and set out to my favorite spot twelve miles off the coast of Presque Isle.

About a mile out I turned on my fish tracker and put my headset on so I could hear the returning signal. By doing that I not only can see where the fish are but I can also hear how big the schools of fish were.

Time passed slowly which isn’t uncommon when you are alone on a boat far beyond the sight of land. I saw and heard the usual traffic, birds hitting the water to catch the smaller fish in the lake, a couple schools of muskies and a few solitary lake trout. It wasn’t until I was out about five miles when I hit something that was interesting…there was a school of salmon about a half a mile off to my right. Quickly I changed course. It would take about twenty minutes to reach the school so I set the auto-navigation and went and got me a sandwich and a cup of coffee.

I was only gone for a minute or two but when I got back I saw that the salmon were long gone. Yes, I was disappointed but I did what I knew I should do. I increased the sensitivity of the fish hunter and settled back to eat my sandwich. It was just a second later that the alarm went off and I sat straight up. The salmon were just a little bit off. I readjusted my course and started after them. The course took me into deeper water. I knew I was almost in Canadian waters but I kept following,

I travelled about another mile before something happened. From somewhere down in the water a high pitched sound was heard. I hadn’t put my headphones back on yet…I was still drinking my coffee but it was so strong that my fish finder turned totally black and I could hear it clearly from the back of the bridge and it was not just one call…there were several that I could pick out over the next few minutes.

I looked around and called out on my radio…there were no ships within fifteen miles of where I was but I saw that the sound was closer, much closer than that. It was coming from no more than fifty feet below me and it wasn’t moving so I turned off my motors and sat perfectly quiet. My boat just bobbing in the waves but other than that nothing!

I sat there listening to chirps and whistles for the next hour. Eventually there was a second and even a third. I was by myself so I started talking to myself. “I have heard those sounds before,” I said. “They sound like whales or dolphins but the lake is fresh water. There is no way they could live here.” For a few minutes I didn’t know exactly what to do but that changed rather quickly. I got my rod and reel, tied on a big steel hook and baited it was a large minnow and I dropped the bait into the water.

The screen was still all black but I could still hear everything that was going on. It took forever to drop down the fifty feet but it reached that depth and I stopped it. I set the reel to a slight drag and sat back ready to catch nothing.

Suddenly, I felt a huge tug on my line. It was so strong that I was deathly afraid that either my pole would snap in half or, as a worst case, I would be dragged off the boat and into the depths where I would drown.

At the same time the line tightened there was a loud high pitched sound come over the headset followed by another and another. Some were faint and others were stronger. I could tell that the first one was still below me and it was in pain and fighting hard.

“Great,” I said as I fought the line…slowly winding it in while giving whatever it was a chance to rest while still wearing itself out. “It has to be a whale or something like that.”

I was reeling it in for hour after hour. The day had long since turned into a brilliant starry night. The moon was full so I had enough light to keep going and somehow that coffee I had drank was still giving me more energy than I should have had.

Finally, there it was…the yellow tag I always placed on my leaders. Only six feet to go. It was hard reeling in that last bit of line. My muscles were on fire and my mind was wandering but I still knew what I had to do…I had to get this damn thing up and on my boat.

I felt the line tighten as I started seeing the hook just below the surface. One more jerk and I would have it. By now it felt heavier than the biggest fish I ever caught and that one was a seventy five pound catfish in Presque Isle Bay.

One hard jerk and I finally saw what I had been fighting with for so long. Its appearance was a shock. I could see hair and wide open blue eyes that were glazed over. The skin was a grey color so naturally I assumed that I had hooked a body of someone who had died and drifted out into the depths. The thing was the skin was not decomposed in any way. It looked as smooth and healthy as mine. Still I thought it was dead.

I dragged it onto the boat. Yeah, it was extremely heavy. I guessed it was over one hundred pounds.

I knelt down next to it and placed my hand on its body. The skin was warm…a lot warmer than it should have been. Its hair flowed down between a pair of human-like breasts. I could not believe what I was looking at. Suddenly it opened its eyes. Its eyes were the bluest I had ever seen. The hook still hung from a hole in the creature’s bottom lip. I could see a look of pain in its face, I had never seen the before in anything I had ever caught.

I reached over and slowly, gently I removed the hook. I watched its eyes and I could see tears flowing down its cheeks. Even though there were tears in its eyes I saw its mouth form a slight smile. I looked at it and thought to my God…what have I done?

It opened its mouth and the sound was soft…almost forgiving. Now the tears were flowing down my cheeks. How could I have done this? How could I have hurt something with a soul of its own?

Again I looked into its eyes. They were so human I could not believe it.

I knew that with this creature I made the biggest catch of all history. I knew that my name would be well known. I also knew that, alive or dead, the scientists were going to have a field day over what I had caught. Now, I was never much for fame or fortune. I just liked going out and catching a couple fish for dinner but this was so much different.

I lifted its head and whispered, “I am so sorry I hurt you. I do not know what I could do to make it up to you.”

She looked at me and smiled. I knew what I had to do. I lifted her from the deck and slowly, gently lowered it into the water. She did not swim away as I thought she would. She lowered her face into the water and let out a call. Within minutes several objects appeared in the water surrounding my boat. They all looked at me and then into the heavens and they let loose with a loud scream.

I am not sure what it meant but as quickly as they arrived they were all gone and I was left alone with my boat, the stars and moon and one hell of a story to tell.

I have not shared this story in more than twenty years but I am willing to do it now since, well, I am the only one who knows the location and besides that I am just an old man making up fables…or am I?