Well, I finally caught him. The big one that – for so many years – kept getting away. My son Peter and I were down the lake a ways, flipping purple-colored, grape-flavored plastic worms into some weed patches. All of a sudden, this monster of the deep hit mine, and started to run with it. I hauled back, setting the hook, and the battle was on. He had it in his mind to go deep and bury himself in the weeds, and I had it in my mind to pull him up into that little Sears johnboat of ours with the 6-horsepower Johnson outboard, and eventually get him onto a plaque nailed onto a wall back at camp. And these two conflicting ideas – mine and that fish’s – expressed themselves in a loud whine as the drag on my fishing reel played out and the contest raged on.
But you know who won that battle! I even have the picture!
But then I got to thinking about that largemouth’s family. The Mrs., and all the little ones that would come home from school that day only to learn that Pop was gone, the victim of some ruthless fisherman. And I thought about how, in future years, that fish family would probably all swim up to our end of the lake, and pass by our house, and look through the big picture window and see their daddy hanging on the plaque on a wall. Oh, all sorts of bleeding-heart-liberal thoughts slid through my mind.
And I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t keep him. So, even though it had been a good while since I’d caught him and he was laying pretty still inside the big Coca-Cola cooler next to the house, Pete and I picked him up and brought him down to the water. Had to give him a little CPR and some mouth-to-mouth, but soon enough he regained enough strength to pull himself out of my grip and slowly swim away. We checked the lake surface for the next couple of days to see if he’d turned belly-up, but there was no sign of him which was good.
And back down the lake where I’d caught him, there were some little party hats and noisemakers floating around on the water that seemed to indicate a homecoming celebration.
Great story Marty – and, an even better ending.
Always knew you had a big heart. Nice to see On Golden Pond in real life. Miss you and your sermons, but glad to see you are enjoying retirement!