Hooked and suckered
V.Giuliani
Student Writer NASOW
As the weekend drew near, I anxiously waited for Sunday to arrive because our rainbow fishing trip was on my mind all week long. My fishing partner, Rick ,told me earlier in the week not to phone him before 1:00 on Saturday afternoon because he just finished working the night shift Saturday morning. Ring, ring. The phone is ringing at 8:10 Saturday morning and it is none other than Rick. I’m surprised.
“ Vince, I just got a call from Ted. Guess what?” he said.
“ Ted and his dad went out fishing at 7:00 this morning and returned home with their limit of `bows. The fish weighed from seven to twelve pounds. Ted and Al came home shortly after 8:00 am and Ted just called me.” Rick responded.
“ I can’t believe it Rick. I know that they are crack anglers.” I said.
Rick responded. “ Al and Ted have never seen the fishing like this in all their years living up on Owen Sound. Some ministry workers could not believe it either. The run of fish was unprecedented for Owen Sound.”
“ Wow!” I replied.
“ What did they catch the fish on?” I inquired.
“ A gold and black AC Shiner. Have you got any Vince?” Rick answered.
“ No,” I said.
“ I’ll tell you what, Vince. Ruth and I are going shopping this afternoon at Dutch Boy. I’ll pick us up some.” Rick answered.
“ Great, Rick,” I said excitedly.
I hung up the phone and started to get my fishing tackle togther. I couldn’t concentrate on anything. All that was on my mind was catching big rainbows. I could not do anything else that morning. Until that afternoon, the phone rang.
“ Vince, Rick here again,” he said, “ You are not going to believe what happened at Dutch Boy.”
“What?”, was my response.
“ The clerk at the store told me that all the AC Shiners were sold out.
Guys were coming in all morning and buying them. Apparently, word got out that Owen Sound was hot for `bows. There were none left.”
“ Oh, no,” I said dejectedly.
“ I managed to get the last one,” Rick interjected. “ I’ll tell you what I will do. I’ll use the AC Shiner first and, if I catch a fish, I’ll let you use it. We’ll just take turns.”
“Sounds fine by me, Rick.” I said.
“Vince, what time would you like to leave in the morning?” Rick inquired.
“ Let me see, how does 3:00 am sound Rick?” was my response.
That night I went to bed at 10:30 pm. I was tossing and turning all night long. I was anxious about catching a limit of big ‘bows. I had enough of the tossing and turning so I got up. It was 1:30 Sunday morning. I had breakfast and waited for Rick to arrive. At 2:45 am I open the garage door to load the boat onto my car. Rick comes over to help me load it. We are now ready to go.
“ Rick, do you want to drive?” I asked.
“ Why?, What’s the matter?” was his response.
“ You drive faster than me.” I said.
Rick is a policeman and is used to driving fast plus he does not like the fact that I drive slow. He would rather drive most of the time. We are on our way to Owen Sound moving at speeds ranging from 100 to 110 Kph. We pass through Salem, Alma, and Arthur and are heading towards Owen Sound. I keep talking about the great catch Al and Ted made and how I cannot wait to get on the water and catch those big rainbows.
Just past Arthur, Rick turns suddenly quiet.
“Vince, the story about Al and Ted is B.S.” he says.
“ What!” I reply astonished.
“ You heard me. It’s all B.S.” He continues.
“ What the hell! You mean to say the whole story about the great catch Al and Ted made with the AC Shiner is a big joke.” I replied.
“ Yes.” Rick says laughingly.
I couldn’t get over the fact that I got so royally taken to the cleaners on this one. We reach Owen Sound about 5:30 am and are on the water by 6:00 am. We had no luck until I caught a small rainbow about two pounds later in the day. It is our only fish. No, I didn’t catch it on a gold AC Shiner but a silver Rapala size 11.
We happened to see Al and Ted that day on the water. I told them the whole story that Rick made up. They laughed so hard that they had to open their snowmobile suits to keep from overheating due to laughing so much. I sure got hooked and suckered, all right.