A fishing story from early this summer

How did you catch that 27 lb carp fish?


Well, I really hadn’t had very good luck that day. I have not been fishing over the winter, since I can’t take the cold. So I wasn’t setting the hooks quite right. Seems like I had 6 or 8 bites that I didn’t set and they got off the line easily.
Grandpa was feeling sorry for me, so when he got a hard pull on his line he insisted I get it in. I said No, Grandpa, its your fish, bring ‘er in! but he insisted. I lost that one too! Guess I horsed ‘im too hard (pulled too hard on the line as I tried to force the fish in). It had to be a good one.
I set my two lines in the water and waited. My luck was lousy as my uncle, buddy and Grandpa were getting sheepheads and bullheads every few minutes or so.
We were getting late, starting to fall dark, and most of us had put our lines up to go back. Then Grandpa struck it lucky. It took him some time but he pulled in a huge carp. Roger put the net under ‘er and would you guess, the blasted net broke clean through! The old men all three looked at me and without being told I knew-I had been elected to run up the embankment, across the railroad and up the roadbank to the truck for the spare net. They all swore I did it in ten seconds flat but it seemed a lot harder than that. The second net held. Grandpa’s fish barely fit in it. Well, with such good luck you just can’t pull up and head out. Ya gotta put one more line in, even if it is only for a little while.
I put my line in. Almost right away I had a pull. I wrestled with it pretty well, Uncle Howie coached me along the whole way. I appreciated it; couldn’t quite remember some things about it anymore and he did a great job of coaching. It was exciting, I think I screamed happily ((like a girl, they said) when I finally secured the 10 pounder.
Of course just to be on the better side of ending the day well, I put the other line in, just for a little bit while the guys talked about the fish we got. Right away, no doubt, I got a tug on it and she ran off with my line. I pulled her up high and the fight began. I had her near the shore several times when she slipped the drag and pulled away again. Several yards out again, don’t horse it too hard… …man she pulls like a steamengine… …gotta be a big one… ..cat or carp??.... it was fun and exciting and everyone was in on the game. She pulled real well, I had to brace the fishing pole against my stomach to keep hold on it. I finally got it up to the edge until I could clearly see it was a huge, fat, carp. It was getting a little tired but the net spooked it. Out she went again. …keep the line tight… …don’t horse on it, she’ll off n’ break it on ya… well a minute or so later finally pulled her in, Roger put the net under her and hefted it out of the water. She didn’t hardly fit into the net. It was swell. Just a perfect end to the day. When we got the fish home (lots of fish, three carp, eight sheep and four bulls) Grandpa suggested I weigh it to see just how big it was. I said I had never been so conceited before. I clearly remember him saying “So? First time for everything…J) Well for the sake of being able to tell Eunice and Gang, I decided to weigh it. Grandma let me walk through the house to the bathroom scale like big smelly fish and fish-smelling grand-daughter’s happen every day. It came in at 27 lbs.
The weather was beautiful. The day was beautiful. The company was excellent, and, after you catch a 27 pound fighter like that, I gotta let you know, life is beautiful.