THE BIG FISH

Hi, I'm Bo Lumpkin and I've been thinkin'.
I really don't know if fishermen make the best liars or liars make the best fishermen but it sure seems like it's hard to find one without the other. I reckon if all fisherman are liars then a commercial fisherman is the closest thing you can find to a professional liar (besides a politician) that you can find.

Old Odis Walker is a commercial fisherman that lives down by the river in an old school bus and about the only time you can tell when he ain't tellin' the whole truth is when he says something.I made the mistake of mentioning big catfish and that lit his fuse.

"I was down in the a river one night, back in '63 I think it were, and I was jug fishin'. I had been to a pond I knew about and caught some great big goldfish to use for bait because I knew where there was one deep hole that had to be holdin' some big ole catfish.

I baited up about ten jugs and throwed out upstream from that big old hole and waited for them to drift through that deep hole. I was using gallon jugs cause I feared if I used anything smaller that them big fish would just pull my jugs under and it would take all night to wear 'em out were I could get them in the boat. I had a big old 5 gallon plastic can with a lid on it and just 'cause I had it I tied a strong line on it with the biggest hook I had and I baited with the biggest goldfish in my bait barrel. I throwed it out and it bein' bigger it got to that big old hole before the others.

About the time it drifted halfway through that hole I saw the end of it tip up and then I couldn't believe it, that whole five gallon bucket went out of site. I jist knowed that I must have caught a gator or somethin' else. I clean forgot all them other jugs and just went to watchin for that one.

Next time I saw it the thing was headed up the river. I had been drifting with the jugs so I had to crank up the motor and turn the boat around to catch up with it. It would go under for a spell then it would pop back up again and it would turn and go down the river and then back up the river. It didn't ever hardly leave that deep hole it was in to start with.

I chased that old can for about three hours and then I recon that fish just got plumb wore out because it couldn't pull that five gallon bucket under no more. It still swum around pullin' it for another hour before I tried to pull it in the boat. When I grab aholt of it I knew that it was a biggun. I was glad the fight had done plumb gone out of it because it was heavy enough without puttin' up no fight.

I pulled on that line and I knew I was near the end of the line because I knew how much line I had tied on it. I finally got to a point and the fish just stopped coming like it was hung on somethin'. I tied the line around the boat seat and shined my light over the side of the boat to see if I could see what it was hung on. When I shined that light over all I could see was just one big old eyeball. I was real quick to shine the light on the other side of the boat and you'll never guess what I saw over there."

I couldn't resist so I asked him, "What did you see on the other side of the boat Odis?"
"The other eye." he grinned.

I'm Bo Lumpkin and I've been thinkin', if Odis ever gets tired of fishin' he might ought to try politics.
Ya'll send me an email:bo@bolumpkin.com or bolumpkin@gmail.com

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