A Tale Of A Fish

Saturday, my three youngest children "the girls," and I attended a fishing derby. We were late. Baby girl and I were ready on time, and had to wait on sleepy heads, then stop for gas. When we finally arrived, it was 15 minutes left for youth fishing. Baby girl, and the middle daughter were determined to fish, even for just a few minutes.

Armed with a pole, hook and bait, baby girl dropped her line and watched as a boy near by pulled fish after fish, in that very short time. I guess he found "The Sweet Spot."

Just before time was called, baby girls bobber started dancing on the water. OMG, she caught a fish! She pulled that pole out of the water... and it was not that mammoth legend of a cat fish that might have been living, eating, and growing on the bottom of the pond for two decades. In fact it was just the opposite. It had to be THE smallest fish in that pond. For real! The picture makes it look bigger!

I had no plans of leaving with ANY fish! Unless... it was a mammoth, and only after taking pictures for all the major newspapers, interviews with major networks, and accepting an interview the Good Morning America. Oh yeah, and making arrangements for its display in the Smithsonian. Oh well!

Time was called. It was time to weigh in. I thought we would release the itty-bitty fish right then. Baby girl had other ideas. She wanted to have her fish weighed, like everyone else. So she got in line. I asked her, how much she thought her fish weighed. "About 10 or 15 pounds," she said with confidence.

There were kids who's catch weighed in at 9, 10, 15, and 19 pounds being the most. My baby stepped up, proud as she could be, and stuck out her line, with that little fish STILL dangling. Instead of putting her fish in the bucket, to be weighed, the guy just put it on his finger and said, "Three ounces."

While watching as the others had their fish weighed, she realized just how much 10 or 15 pounds, Aint'! For her catch, she won (Yes she won something), fish bait. She'll have the right food to catch that mammoth fish this summer, in one body of water or another.