Big Catch

First day of fishing, second time out. We were trolling for something big. Although I grew up in Minnesota, land of 10,000 lakes, I had never been fishing until that day. I had my poll over the right side of the pontoon, waiting and hoping I was doing this “fishing thing” correctly. All of a sudden, I felt something pulling hard. “Uh, I think I might have something.” I said as I stood up and started trying to reel in the line. Jim hopped over beside me and began coaching me through it. The excitement in his voice made me believe this was going to be the best fishing experience of my life. “Keep it tight. Keep reeling!” he said. “Oh man, it’s a huge one! Look at your arms. Your muscles are really working! This is a really big one!” I wondered if his heart was healthy. The shock of a fish this big could give a middle-aged man a heart attack. Jim was totally freaking out, but I was too inside. I was putting all my energy into reeling in this extremely heavy “fish” instead of wagging my jaw. Also, I didn’t want to say anything stupid if it turned out to be a boot or a tire. This lake doesn’t have boots and tires though… We were all at the corner of the pontoon, and Dwayne was hunched down ready to scoop up my catch with the net. After reeling my “big catch” in for what seemed like 5 minutes, I brought it to the surface. It was the “biggest” catch of the day, the “largest” catch of the day, it was even the “longest” catch of the day. It just wasn’t a fish. We all started laughing as Dwayne grabbed it out of the lake and held it for all of us to see. It was a tree branch as tall as me. For all the excitement, adrenaline, and laughing this turned out to be my favorite fishing experience of the weekend.