MAINE MEMORIES: There’s something “fishy”

by Evangeline T.

Hello and welcome to Maine Memories, little snippets of life from our home state.

This week, I have a fish tale for you. Hope you enjoy it!

Every fisherman (or woman) has a tale to tell about the big fish that got away or the trips taken to catch fish in some far away river or lake.

Here’s mine. Since we lived in northern Maine with two nearby lakes, my husband and I purchased a lakeside cabin, spent the summer there and traveled to work each day.

We had a boat and built a wharf to accommodate it. One day, my husband and son decided to fish using our boat. They didn’t go far from shore.

A while later, I walked out onto the wharf and yelled at them. “How’s the fishing? Caught anything yet?”

“Nope,” they answered, “Not yet, but it’s still early!”

Just then, I looked down in a space between the wharf and shore, and there was a good sized fish. He seemed to be sleeping in the sunny shallow water.

“Hey, there’s a big fish right down here!”

They both laughed. “Why don’t you catch him, mom?”

I decided to do just that. I’d use my thumb and first finger to hook his gill, and at the same time, grab his tail with my other hand. I carefully got down on my knees and leaned over him and made a lunge with my thought-out plan in place.

Can you believe it? I actually came up with that two foot-long fish in my hands. He never even knew what had happened to him.

Our neighbor, who’d been watching and listening to this while rocking on the two hind legs of his chair, got so excited, he fell over. Boom! “Let’s see you do that again!” he shouted.

My husband and son gave up and came back to shore, their short trip ending in no fish…and maybe a little embarrassment. After all, mom had outdone them, even without bait or a fishing pole.

That’s my fish story, and I’m stickin’ to it!