A friend of mine I work with at night, who is about my same age and we were in chemistry class together last semester. Well we would always bs about the weekends, etc. at work, and he asked if I was going fishing last weekend; of course I was, so I invited him along. He said he’s done some fishing before, but he didn’t have any of his own gear or anything, so I told him not to worry I have MORE than enough (conveniently I had just bought two new reels about 4 days before).
So I take him out to my favoite spot, and we pull up on the channel that feeds into a marshy area. And there are two gators, ones about 6 foot and the other is about 4. And he gets worried. I expalin that in all my years of fishing, as long as I don’t antagonize the gators they won’t antagonize me.
I set him up with a new rig and grab my favorite, and start walking to the shoreline. And he is like… well which bait should I use? I grab him a trusty Rapala Crank bait, which I have caught many a fish on, and say, “this one works well, I’ve caught some nice sized fish with this.” He gives me an “ok thanks” and I start walking away again, when “how do I tie this on? just a knot?” So now its apparent he really hasn’t fished before, but wanted to try. So I show him how to tie the trilene knot, and set the drag on the reel for him. The next question is “how should I do this”; well, I realize that there isn’t going to be much fishing time for me that day, but I’d rather teach him the right way to do things and have a fishing buddy who fishes similar to me. So I explain a bit, then tell him about the warm weather, and how to fish the structure he was going to be around.
10 minutes later: “HEY JESSE!!!”; he’s got an alligator gar hooked and thrashing around on the bank. I trot over and tell him what kind of fish this is, and if he catches another one to be careful because they do have sharp teeth. He lets him go, and was pumped. I was happy because he caught something… I hear a lot of “I’d go fishing but I never catch anything” from friends, so now he knows whats going on.
Flash forward a half hour: “HEY JESSE!!!” and he pulls this 2 pound bass out of the water with a beaming smile. I showed him how to lip the fish, get the hook out, explained that this is what we’re fishing for, and congratulated him on his first bass.
Then his 2nd one came about 10 minutes after that, just about the same size. Meanwhile I’m getting skunked. And we decide to pack it in, it was too hot and we had skipped lunch already.
Him: 3 fish
Me: goose egg
Apparently he is telling everyone at work about the fish he caught and how much fun it was, and how he wants to go back out this weekend. And of course I’ll be right back on the water with him this weekend too.
Jesse
