THE SURPRISE CATCH | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: THE SURPRISE CATCH | Previous Challenge Entry
By Patricia Williams
02/02/07
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THE SURPRISE CATCH

At 5:00 a.m. the knock on my door roused me from a wonderful sleep. As a doctor I’m used to early calls, but not to being handed a fishing pole.

“Be in the dining room in fifteen minutes,” the gentleman hurriedly instructed.

My jaw dropped. It took me ten minutes to regroup, leaving me only five minutes to dress and get there. I continued muttering to myself. “Why am I doing this? What’s the matter with these guys? I’m a vegetarian. I don’t even eat fish. Why would I want to catch one? I should have been suspicious when they scheduled us at a fishing resort on the White River.”

As I walked into the dining room I spotted nine sleepy looking male doctors with their fishing poles. While eating breakfast their conversations were filled with brags about who was going to catch the biggest fish and who would catch the most. I ate quietly again wondering, “What am I doing here?”

Our host had us draw numbers so they could pair us up and assign us to a boat and guide. I didn’t know my partner very well. He was a man of few words and an avid fisherman. I wasn’t real sure he was overjoyed to have me as a partner. I felt sorry for him. I was a novice when it came to fishing. All of those fish tales I heard in the dining room made me tense.

We baited up and pushed off. What a beautiful sight, the fog floated on the water and we could hear the early morning birds in song. We could hear the splash of the fish breaking water.

So far so good... but I didn’t know what to do next. My partner got down to business. I watched him carefully and did what he did. It wasn’t going good for me, he caught fish and I didn’t. I cast off again... uuh, ooh, off went my partners hat and up into a tree with my fishing pole. The guide
caught hold of my pole as it fell into the river. How embarrassing, especially when we had to stop and cut it down! This man of few words turned to me and said, “That’s why I wear a hat.”

We recovered the hat and my pole and floated on. I began to catch some fish. Suddenly the water seemed to have exploded with movement. I had caught a BIG one! My face flushed with excitement. My partner acknowledged, “What a beauty you caught.” Hey, I was getting hooked on fishing. Soon my bucket was full with the limited amount.

The guide saw to it that we got to the campsite where the resort had planned a fish fry. They took all of our fish, except the biggest one, cleaned and fried them. They had prepared fried potatoes and cornbread.

The guys gathered around to congratulate my partner, man of few words, on his having caught the biggest and most fish. He smiled sheepishly and said, “Congratulations goes to the little lady. She did the catching.” All of a sudden I was part of the gang. This time they wanted to hear my fish story.

The trip back to the resort was full of happy chatter, even I was laughing. The day was ended by them presenting me with the trophy for having caught the biggest and the most fish. The local newspaper took my picture with the biggest fish. Tradition held it that the biggest fish would then be released back into the river. I was so relieved that I got to let him go. “Okay big boy you’re free. Thanks for making my day!” It remained a secret between my partner and I that my first true big catch had been his hat.

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