My Trophy of the Summer
In light of the recent viral fishing video that's come out of Colorado, I just thought I shared with you all a similar story. But one that really made my summer.
A few weeks ago, I was fishing Lake Ladora in The Arsenal and managed to grab my favorite spot. I was a few casts deep when a crew boys rolls up behind me, all around middle-school age. They drop their bikes and gear and one of them, I'll call him John, immediately sidles up next to me, less than a few feet away on an empty shoreline.
Now I feel I should mention, I am a public school social worker. So I tend to have a higher level of patience, but I'm human and that level can vary when I'm off the clock.
However, before I can ask John to give me some space, a late arrival to their group rolls up and the first thing out of his mouth is, "John, why are you blowing up this guy's spot?" I chuckle, give the kid a nod of appreciation and John bumps down a bit. A few minutes later, I hook into a pike and John loses his shit.
He is again, right next to me. "How did you do that? What are you using?"
And I haven't even landed the fish yet! I tell him, "Give me a minute and I'll show you."
After releasing the fish, I showed him the swim bait/jig I was using and rigged up a couple to give John and his buddies. I tied one on for John cause he didn't know any fishing knots and showed him how to slow retrieve the swim bait.
They head down shore a ways, but I can hear them jawing each other. Maybe an hour goes by when I hear, "Shit, I'm snagged...NO! IT'S FISH! HOLY SHIT!" They ALL are going nuts, jumping around hollerin! Then I hear John yelling for one of the guys to go get his pliers. Well, the knuckleheads left a bunch of their gear back by me and nobody is volunteering to run back.
So, I reel up and walk down with my pliers. The moment he sees me, "YOU!!! DUUUDE! I DID EXACTLY WHAT YOU SAID AND IT WORKED! I NEVER CAUGHT A PIKE BEFORE! LOOK AT THIS THING! I had to admit it was bigger than the one I caught. I helped unhook it, made sure he got his pictures, and released the decent sized pike. John thanks me and I go on my way.
Eventually they came back for their stuff and each of John's friends thanked me. John hangs back, thanks me again, and asks if I would like anything out of his tackle box to return the favor. I just ask him to pay it forward and if he knew what that meant. He replies, "If I see someone fishing that needs help, I'm going to help." We exchange fist bumps and I go back to fishing.
Not a minute later, John is back and insisting, "I want you to have this. I've never caught anything with it, but I think you can," and hands me the lure pictured above.
My trophy of the summer.