This story (and accompanying illustration) come to us from Lori of N. Muskegon, Michigan. Lori writes: “In my story, ‘Tackle The Big Guy,’ a boy learns that his girl cousin was made up of more than just sugar and spice. And the onlooking grandpa noticed the help of his grandson was more than just thinking about his own best catch of the day. They all came away from the fishing catch of the day feeling really good about each other. My artwork is a sample of how the story would be illustrated. As a picture book illustrator this image was used in a similar fishing story.”
Here is her story:
The pond had lots of Bass, Grandpa was proud of how well stocked and how big they were. At every chance he pointed out the big guy was his pride and joy, and that nobody had caught him. “That big guy is a finicky eater”. “Nobody has ever found out what he will take.” “He’s just smiling at us.” All this talk about the big guy was like a set up, just to see if I’d take the bait. “Hey Grandpa, that big guy is going to like what I feed him…so I’ll bring plenty of what he likes to eat when I come to the family picnic tomorrow.”
All Grandpas’ talk sounds like a challenge to me; I noticed when I hung up the phone. And right then and there, I decided to accept his challenge.
The very next day the family gathering was getting set up, when our family arrived. I had a rod of my own, my Dad brought an extra from home, “maybe someone else will join you and fish too,” he said. I couldn’t imagine who would like to fish at the pond, all my girl cousins seemed to just talk about soccer and their hair. Worms would make their hands slimy, while they worked their hair over, it would get all goopy. Hey—maybe they like worm slime to work in their hair with. Laughing at my thought, I didn’t notice Sally work her way over to my tackle box, so I couldn’t start fishing before she started in with the questions.
“What does a bobber do?” was her first question. Beginner—was going through my head, but I answered the question while I adjusted the sinkers on tighter than they were tied, checking the strength of the line. “It’s gotta be real strong”, my thought spilled out of my mouth, not just in my brain. “Huh?” she said. “Here we go”, I’m thinking out loud again. “Oops, I mean—we go fishing with strong line, so if the big guy strikes, (I mean When–) I’m ready!”
“Me too,” Sally said as she cast the line in a nice arc, I must admit. “Just reel him in,” she said confidently. “If you’re lucky enough”, I reminded her as I cast my line out too, different spot than the middle of the pond, where Sally landed hers. Her bobber dropped, wiggled, dropped again. “Look at that!” she was screaming…Look!!!” She did have a big one on…and wouldn’t you know it—at the very same moment, I got a hit.
The big fish was swimming around taking a look, and then he took my bait! I didn’t want to let this one get away. Reeling him slowly, after setting my hook, I played the line some. Wow—huge fish—now that I caught another look! “So cool!!” I thought out loud. Sally was screaming again, “What do I do??” I can’t reel it anymore! she yelled.
”Sure you can,” I told her, but when I took a look at her, she was having trouble. Then she did something incredible, she dropped her fishing pole on the ground, and picked up the line in her hands!! She was pulling her fish in by her bare hands–! “Hey—don’t – hey – what the?” Was all I could muster up to say before I just reacted. Soon as pressure was off the reel, my fish swam off free.
No time to think about my disappointment, I grabbed Sally’s pole, and told her I had it for her, “drop the line, Sally, here, take the pole and listen to me.” She took the pole again, “listen, and reel nice and steady like this…” “Man you got a big one, I can barely do this too”. “Pull, then let him go…pull again…let him have a swim…” Then I saw what she had, it was the biggest Bass I’ve ever seen. “Bigger than I ever got, oops I said that out loud.” She was laughing!
I got the net, waded in to net the big guy. “You Got the Big Guy, Sally,” I was surprised to hear myself say. True enough, I sacrificed the biggest fish I ever had on, for this one: the biggest bass ever. Grandpa came over and said, “Holy cow, you both did a great job!” As he padded my back, I knew he saw everything, and was proud, “Makes me feel good,” oops again—we were all laughing now.
Thanks for sharing your story with us, Lori!
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