Fish tales

In this weeks Truth or Fiction challenge I will share with you a few fish tales, tales of fishing trips I shared with some family members, I love my family and I love fishing, so I may as well tell you about both;

1 - My Granddaddy loved fishing, and I remember driving him up to Ute Lake in Logan, NM for a fishing trip a long while back.

We fished from the bank and caught very little, I'm not sure how serious we were about catching anything, but one thing Granddad was serious about was the boat that continued to circle around and come in close enough to shore making a huge wake that splashed everything in the water almost into our faces.

Granddaddy waved to the man driving the boat and shouted "We are trying to fish here", to only see him make a circle and laugh as he splashed the water upon us once again, Granddaddy reeled in his line and took the hook off, I thought for a minute that this guy had ran us off.

Granddaddy smiled and took the biggest lead sinker I have ever seen in my life out of his tackle box, he attached the sinker to his line and walked back toward the water, he was standing there pretending he was fishing when this guy made another run past us in his boat.

Granddaddy just stood there and smiled as the boat came in close, just as the boat splashed him once again Granddaddy cast his line, I know the man driving the boat was shocked when the sinker bounced off the back of his head, Granddads aim was amazing and we never saw that boat again.

We laughed the rest of the day, and it was impressive to watch my Granddaddy teach a man a lesson about messing with an old man, with a simple Zebco rod and reel, a large sinker, and an accurate cast.

2 - I was about seven years old and my brother Norm a year younger, when our Dad took us fishing at Sumner Lake near Ft Sumner, NM, we went down below the dam where there are known to this day to be large catfish.

It was a hot day and like kids are known to do we were more interested in playing than fishing, there are huge rocks lining the back side of the dam and we were climbing all over them.

Dad was getting aggravated and wanted us to fish with him, he had caught nothing so far but now had a fish on his line, we ran to watch him reel in his catch, it was a nice sized catfish and Dad showed us how to put it on a stringer, and how to properly hold a catfish.

Norm and I weren't interested in this lesson, we wanted to be fishing so we grabbed our fishing poles and tried at the same time to get Dad to bait our hooks.

Finally he got our lines baited, cast in, and both of us safely seated, he had just picked up his pole when I got a bite, I remember having a hard time reeling it in and Dad had to help me land my catch, it was a nice catfish just a little bigger than the one Dad had caught.

I was laughing and teasing Dad about how my fish was bigger than his, he added my fish to the stringer and finally got his own line back in the water, I was now more interested in the fish on the stringer.

I picked up the end of the stringer and started walking around the edge of the water, over the rocks "taking the fish for a walk" I'm not sure what happened next but all of a sudden I am in the water, I remember not being able to touch the bottom, everything sounded muffled and I was still holding the stringer.

I felt a tug on my arm and I was lifted from the water, Dad looked me right in the eyes and gave me a solid swat on my rear, the only swat I ever remember getting from him, and somehow during all of this commotion I lost the stringer.

3 - When we were teenagers, my Brother Norm loved trout fishing, I was never much for walking the streams nor was I ever impressed with the pan size trout he brought home, I always joked that I could catch bigger fish without working so hard.

I usually fished for either Catfish or Bass, but Norm was adamant that Trout fishing was the greatest and that he had brought home more fish by weight than I ever had, I challenged that I could catch more than him any day, no matter what type of fishing.

With that said a bet was made, a six pack of beer for the winner, which would mean a trip to the bootleggers because nobody else would sell to us, "you boys are too young" yes we had heard this before.

Norm and I drove up above Walhalla, SC to the Chattooga River, this river borders South Carolina and Georgia, the Walhalla Fish Hatchery is also nearby, this fact makes the Chatooga Norm's favorite fishing spot.

Norms first cast with his little spinning rod landed a nice pansized rainbow trout, I was secretly impressed and two trout later I could see that I may have to make a trip to the bootleggers.

By the end of the day I had actually started catching fish, we were now pretty even with our catches and Norm was getting aggravated with me being so close to besting him, he said there was a spot he wanted to try and started walking towards the falls.

I reeled my line in and had to jog to catch him, we hiked off into the woods and began climbing a trail that went around and above the falls, "Where the hell are you going?" I asked, "to a spot I want to try, it's hard to get to and not many people know about it" he said.

At the top of the falls we broke through the undergrowth, and there was a pool of water that seemed isolated from the rest of the world, Norm tied a trout fly onto his line, one that kind of looked like a wasp to me, I still had a hook with corn on it so I made a cast before he could.

Norm tossed his line across the pool toward a dark area underneath some tree limbs, as he worked the fly I saw the water ripple just behind it, Norm broke into a grin, I was still using the corn set up when Norm made a second cast into the same spot, the fly floated slowly and Norm worked the line to keep it moving.

Suddenly the water exploded where his fly had been and the line straightened out, Norm calmly allowed it to run and then set the hook, it took quite a while but he landed the most beautiful and large brook trout I have ever seen.

I bet this fish was five pounds if it was an ounce, and I was speechless, Norm said "I guess this makes me the winner" I nodded my head, he slowly knelt down to gently release his catch and walked away.

Two of these tales are true and one is a complete fish story from start to finish, which of these do you believe is False:

1 - Granddaddy teaches the boater a lesson.


2 - Jimmy swims with the fishes and gets a swat.


3 - Norm releases his prize catch and wins the bet.

As always the ones choosing the False story as the correct answer will be added to the True Winners section.

What is your favorite seafood dish or type of fish to eat?