He hooked a monster!

Well, it's been some years ago now, but I will share this with everyone.

I was out one Summer day with my son. It was my Saturday to have him, and I'd always try to make the best of the little time I got to spend with him as best I could. We didn't have a lot of time, so we grabbed the poles, and headed on over to a public lagoon located smack dab in the center of a city. Not much in the way of keepers of any type come out of this water mind you. But the bites come real steady, which keeps a young boy's interest, and Dad's busy taking fish off hooks.

All the while we fished, a young boy sat watching us from a nearby park bench. Before too much longer, he mustered up a conversation with us. Now I'm kind of a burly guy, but this young man's words hit home real hard for me. You see, like me, his Dad used to take him fishing too, and he surely loved going fishing with him. He said that he really missed fishing, and that his Mom loved to eat fish, but they hadn't had any since Daddy had went to Heaven to be with God.

Turns out his Dad was a Marine, one of them that didn't make it back home from Iraq to his wife and son. I asked the boy if he'd like to fish with my pole since he didn't have one to fish with? His eyes lit up, and his smile was a county mile wide as he said "Sure mister!" He soon was catching the little gills and crappie just like he was an old timer.

My son was smiling up at me, and it made me feel good all over that he was there to share this experience too. But soon it was starting to get dusk out, and though I hated it, I knew we were going to have to leave to head home before too much longer.

All of the sudden, the young boy was calling for me frantically with fear in his voice. He'd hooked a monster! He kept trying to get me to take the pole, but I wouldn't and told him it was his whopper to land! I'm glad I had Fire line on that reel, because the boy ended up landing a 6.5lb flathead!

He was so proud he could hardly get the words out! It was the biggest fish he'd ever seen! I then asked him what he wanted to do with it? And he said he'd love to bring it home to his Mom, but his Dad never got the chance to teach him how to clean fish, and his Mom didn't know how to either.



So the three of us went through the finer points of how one goes about fileting a fish. As I watched to boy ride off on his bike, he took a little bit of my heart with him, and I couldn't help but to tear up. And this is why one of my tag lines reads "Take the time, and take the kids!"