A fish story
Summertime
on our lake in Maine. It's 5 a.m. and I'm already up the lake in the boat,
sipping coffee, getting ready. The water is glassy, mists are rising everywhere
and there's the soft yodel of a loon down the lake. The beaver pushes
a new birch sapling through the water. The sounds are muted but distinct,
natural. A kingfisher chitters as he swoops above the shore, and there
is the muffled sound of a boat way up the lake. Nature's quiet mystical
cathedral, which I'm about to interrupt. I put on a fresh wiggly minnow,
cast out about 10 yards and wait. The bobber soon starts to move just
a little. I decide it's probably just the minnow swimming. But now the
bobber moves more quickly to the right followed by a sure determined plunge.
Fighting instinct, I wait a few more seconds. The bobber is almost out
of sight. I quickly heave back on the rod, setting the hook. Got one!
A big one too, who heads for the boat then under the boat, then up to
a splashy dance on the surface, then back down again. A hefty largemouth,
ol' bucketmouth. I eventually get him into the boat with some help from
the landing net. Light glitters from the greenish-black scales of this
beautiful fish, a male. I look at him and he seems to scowl back at me.
He weighs five pounds. I carefully slide him back into the water. He hangs
motionless for a second, then he's gone!
.... June 2002
three largemouths and a smile