Time For A Fishing Story

[reevesr1]

I took a break from the story of the week thing to give you poor folks a break. But I thought that since we can't catch fish right now, I'd try to scratch the itch a bit through a fish story, with a big setup...

 

Now I don't know if ya'll remember from the stories this summer, but there is a bit of a gambling theme in my dad's family. One of the ways my dad gambled was bowling (don't laugh, bowling is a big deal in Texas). The main bowling alley in my home town was owned by one of my dad's best friends John. I worked for John one winter when I was in my first year of university (1980). I was working one Thursday night, and dad was there late Pot Bowling ($10 a man, usually 6-10 bowlers, winner takes the pot). Dad won way more than his fair share, so I don't know that you would call it gambling as much as getting paid. Anyway, I'm watching dad bowl and he turns to me and says "hey, go ask John if I can bum a cigarette." So I go back in the office and ask John, to which he replies "you go tell that SOB that I won't give him another smoke as long as he lives." Ok, I think. So I tell dad, he laughs and relays this story to me:

 

Back in the early '60s, dad was out of work and was able to fish pretty much every day. But since he wasn't working, it could get to be a bit hard to justify the expense (at least to my mom). So he would invite a friends and bet on biggest fish, first fish, most fish, etc. Well, since dad was such a good fisherman, this, like the bowling wasn't much of a gamble. He wasn't making near enough to make up for the loss of a job, he was financing the trips. Well, one day he is fishing with John, and John hooks one of the biggest Speckled Trout my dad had ever seen. 30" and 9-10# of bad attitude. After several minutes, John gets the fish to the boat and just as dad starts to slip the net under, the hook pops out of the trouts mouth. But dad is quick enough with the net to catch the trout. He pulls the fish out of the water, says "nice fish" and tuns the net over and lets the fish go. John says "what the &%$* did you do that for?" Dad says, "well, since the hook popped out before I netted it, I figure I caught the fish. Since I didn't want there to be a big argument, I decided the best thing to do would be to let it go." John looks at him in disbelief and says a LOT of bad words. An hour or so later, dad is out of cigarettes. He asks John for a smoke, to which John replies "you SOB, I won't give you another smoke as long as you live." And he didn't.

 

Dad did say that he always felt bad about letting that fish go. He never told John that however.

[SteveM]

Instant classic!