Monday, July 7, 2008

Fun Monday - And It Was As Big As Him...

Originally, I was going to bow out of this Fun Monday. I had convinced myself that this week's challenge was beyond my area of expertise. The wonderful hostess, UR Olive, has asked the participants to tell a fish story. Of course, by definition fish stories are not necessarily true to life. Fisherman and fisherwomen seem to be given to exaggeration. Not being a fish enthusiast, I was going to exclude myself from this delightful foray into the world of fishing. I have been fishing a few times, but I never caught one fish.



However, I remembered a time back in 1978 that , our sons, Luke and Dean, did go fishing with a dear family friend, Rick, and his children. I think that Dean was 7 and Luke was 4. Since my husband and I were not experienced fisherman, we had no fishing equipment. Rick provided the children with cane poles. The children were understandably excited about the day of fishing. The small fishing expedition went to a nearby park that used to be called "The Trap Shoot" and is now called Independence Park. As I remember, the fishers returned in about an hour's time. Although I wanted the children to have a good time, I was rather hoping that they would not catch any fish. I know little about fishing and even less about cleaning fish.



Independence Park Today

My wish, indeed, was fulfilled. Neither, son caught any fish. However, Luke did catch something. He caught a snapping turtle that was almost as big as he was. Now, perhaps, Rick helped reel in the ancient reptile and catch the snapper in a net, but the turtle did nibble on young Luke's bait. And, the turtle was caught on the novice Luke's pole. Unfortunately, I cannot show you a picture today as the the only photo is on a slide some place. In that picture, Luke is beaming with pride, holding his cane pole next to a humongous snapping turtle.

As you might imagine, if I was not looking forward to cleaning a fish, I certainly did not want to butcher a turtle besides Luke would not want the turtle for food. As far as I know, Rick's friend took the turtle for soup. Or perhaps, they let the turtle return to his home in the pond.

To read about other true-to-life or not fishing stories, visit Olive for a list of participants.

25 comments:

Driftwood and Pumpkin said...

Yikes. Now that is something I would certainly NOT want to catch. One could lose several fingers for sure!

ChrisB said...

I rather hope they returned the turtle to the pond. Don't think I would fancy turtle soup!

Jo Beaufoix said...

Wow, I bet the boys were very excited. :D

Jo Beaufoix said...

Wow, I bet the boys were very excited. :D

Anonymous said...

Neat-o. I think turtles are awesome creatures, and snapping turtles are just a little scary.

Unknown said...

I cannot count how many fricking turtles we've caught over the years. As a kid you don't care though. :)

Alison said...

great post and I sure you son's will never forget their experience either!!

Sayre said...

They're lucky to still have their fingers! Snapping turtles aren't very patient even under the best of circumstances...

Peter said...

What a shame you didn't have a "snap" of that turtle Molly.

Faye said...

I see Peter is getting punchy Molly. His head must be swirling from all our FM fish tales. Have you noticed that kids sometimes get lucky and have a stand in adult to help them experience things that their parents may not know or care about? Your boys can always tell about landing the big snapping turtle on their first fishing expedition.

Like you, I would have no idea about how to "deconstruct" a turtle.

daddy d said...

Rick did a very good job with the kids. He could do all that out doors stuff very well. The kids all learned from that turtle trip to the fishing hole.

Jan said...

Yes, I think catching a turtle would be much worse than a fish. I can't imagine eating one, either.

Aoj and The Lurchers said...

Wow! That beats my scallop!

Anonymous said...

You are lucky Luke didn't want to keep the turtle as a pet!!!
I don't blame you...I wouldn't want to clean fish either.
Just stopped by to say hi, and to get your email address...it didn't work when I tried to reply to your comment. Thanks for visiting and commenting on my post!!!

Nessa said...

I vote for the turtle being released back to the wild.

karisma said...

What????Rick did not eat that turtle really did he? I hope not! You don't EAT turtles, they are far too cute! Here I was all worried about all the fish and now a turtle! Its all too much for me! I hope the turtle escaped!

Anonymous said...

I actually really enjoy fishing, but there is no way in heck I like to clean them. I always toss mine back into the water anyways.

Rebecca (Ramblings by Reba) said...

POOR turtle! I seem to be saying "poor..." a lot today.

Anonymous said...

I hope it was the latter!

Anonymous said...

Turtle soup is good eating. So I am going with the take it home to eat instead of putting it back to the water.

Cleaning fish is such a dirty job and no one really likes doing it - even me.

Anonymous said...

Corky used to drag me fishing when we were young, but I don't have a lot of patience, so it isn't really the "sport" for me. I also couldn't/wouldn't clean something like that unless my survival depended on it. I watched the Man VS. Wild guy jam his knife in to a turtle shell and then toss it on a fire and an hour later eat it.
That was TMI Tues. lol

Rudee said...

My first time fishing was with a guide. We took our young son who wanted to go fly fishing while on vacation in Colorado. Nobody caught anything but it was fun. He still remembers his day with his very own fly fishing guru.

Anonymous said...

LOL, that was quite a catch! We haven't had that happen!

Cazzie!!! said...

Wow, they caught a turtle! Unbelievable! Even more unbelievable is that I just posted about our fishing holliday we just returned from it yesterday..and each of my kids caught some great little fish :)

Anonymous said...

I cannot imagine cleaning and gutting a fish; I barely remember my dad and others doing that years ago. So glad this time didn't turn out to be a learning experience for YOU!

:)