The Nine Pound Small-Mouth Bass

To say I like my new job is rather an understatement. Today I had the pleasure and joy of meeting a very good father and his 12 year-old boy. I had already taken care of the medical problem at hand and we commenced to discuss the main issue of the day, the best spring fishing. This very intelligent, animated boy, proceeded to tell me about all his best fishing spots and the large small-mouth bass that he caught last fall. They had been fishing at their favorite inland lake for a while, from shore, and didn’t catch anything. This young man all of sudden yelled that he had a big one on, and his pole was waving madly in the wind. Father, brother and even mother ran to the shore to see what all the commotion was about. The young man played it up for a minute, and then said he was “just kidding”, there wasn’t a real fish on, he is just a joker you see. Well, about 15 minutes later this “NINE” pound small-mouth bass really did take his bait and soon the fight was on. He screamed to his family, “fish on, fish on, help, get the net”. Of course, they ignored him. It wasn’t long when the “NINE” pound bass jumped into a fury of frothy splashes and they started to take him seriously. Mother had already started cleaning up and had taken the net back to the van. Father ran furiously toward the van, but couldn’t find the net. Mother all the while was screaming directions to the net to Father while the bass took out line. Dad finally found the net on the dashboard and hurried back to the beach. Dad goes into the water and the line promptly winds around his legs as he missed the bass on the first scoop. Despite the tangles the bass takes out line again but eventually Dad becomes untangled and they proceed to land this very large small-mouth. Now, I have never seen a “NINE” pound small-mouth myself, but the boy swears by it. Dad said it was more like four, but like all good fishermen the boy earned his literary license that all good boys deserve when it comes to fishing. I suspect that that fish will continue to grow over the years, and this is my favorite type of “growth”. I am reminded me of my own son’s 12 pound salmon caught two autumn salmon fishing trips ago. You see, that fish is now over 20 pounds when he describes it and re-tells the story. Of course, the fish had two more years to grow and probably is 20 pounds by now, out there somewhere. Somewhere, maybe, there’s a “NINE” pound small-mouth bass out there for you or me. In any case, someday soon I am going to go fishing with that very good father and his very bright boy.