TALE

A friend wrote a fishing story about Betty & I. It’s quite a tale. He posted it on the oliver forums. Here it is exactly as he wrote it:

Happened Near Jugfest!

by meanderthal on Fri Oct 01, 2010 2:15 pm

So I heard of an old Arkansas fisherman who lived on the shores of the mighty Lake Gleason. He and his wife had tried many years for a family with no luck. Finally, after decades they were blessed with twin boys. Caught by surprise, his wife was panicky about names for the boys. "Don't worry" he said, as time passes we'll come up with names for them. As the boys grew a little, the parents noticed that one boy was always positioned to face toward the lake while the other was always turned away from the lake. No matter how they sat the boys down, they would turn to this position. So the fisherman named them Toward and Away.
Almost as soon as the boys could walk, the fisherman started training them to become great jug fishers like himself. He worked with them on their balance on the deck of the boat. He gently taught them the commands of Forward, Backing, Backing faster, Aft, etc. so that they could maintain balance as he maneuvered the boat. As they grew a little older he taught them about the bait procedures, how to tie the bait trap rope to a strong, but flexible limb, how to load the bait, how to secure the onion to the top of the trap, how to remember where the traps were, etc. Later he taught them how to empty the traps into a large bucket of fresh water, etc., when to set the traps, when to harvest.
Next, when they were ready, he taught them how to bait the hooks, how to use the dip net to pull a few bait fish from the bucket, exactly how to put the hook just beyond the dorsal fin so as to leave the fish free to swim and enable it to live for a long time.
By the time they were 8 or 9 he taught them to cast the jugs, how to toss the weight with one had and the jug with the other, etc. Then they learned how to store the jugs in the containers on the boat, how to wrap the line around the jug and how to place the hook into the twine without the sharp hook exposed.
Finally, finally he was ready to let them go to find the jugs, pull in the fish - the big payoff. As his wife stood on the shore in the early morning fog, the man and his sons set out to haul in the fish. After a few hours, his wife thought that they must be having a great day. After a few more hours she became a little concerned. On through the afternoon and dusk, she didn't know what to think, maybe they are setting bait traps? On through the night and next morning. She was just ready to go for help when she saw her old man husband coming slowly up the hill with his head down. She ran to him and asked him what had happened. With tears in his eyes, he said "We were having good luck when we saw a jug standing straight up and bouncing. We knew it had to be a good one. Forward, slow Forward, Backing slow. Then Toward reached over the bow and started pulling the fish up. Then the fish started pulling like you've never seen. Before I knew what was happening, the line got wrapped around his leg, and the fish pulled him into the water. The last we saw he was about 60 yards away and being pulled under", he sobbed.
"Wow that must have been some, some fished", the wife wept. "Yes, but nothing like the one that got Away."
Jeez folks, I'm sorry about that. I was just thinking of Pete being down in my home country learning how to tell stories, and I know he will outdo me from now on.
While the story is really bad, I offer it in honor of the person who brought most of us to Oliver, who started this forum, and kept it lively and informative, Mountainborn.
Please come back and yak with us Larry.

Tom and Karen Whaley
RV: 2008 Oliver
HULL NUMBER 0016
TV: 2008 Honda Ridgeline

Thanks Tom, we’ve got fishing on our minds too !