guest author Pam Garlick

In the course of my life as a writer, I’ve gotten to meet many interesting people; yet, it is the normal everyday people who sometimes turn out to have the most interesting stories. Like my friend, David, and his son, Eli.

Eli is a Cub Scout and his father looks upon their special trips and events as an opportunity to grow closer to his son. However, I don’t think the two realized on one simple fishing trip, they were going to have something they could share for the rest of their lives. – A fish story. – They call it, The One Who Thought He Got Away.

Butch and Eli With The Fish That Thought He Got Away

Butch, as everyone calls David, tells how it was a great day for fishing. "Everyone was catching fish," David explains, in his story about the trip. "Even the dads were having fun."

He continues to tell how his son had cast out his line several times. When one of the other fathers needed a pliers to get a hook out of the mouth of a fish he and his son had just caught, Butch took his pliers over to help them. Eli, curious to see his friend’s fish, followed.

Next thing he knew he heard someone yell, "Butch, your rod!" He explains, "I turned and looked to where the rod had been, and all that was there was the tackle box. The rod was no where to be seen."

"I was a little bummed, but not as much as Eli when I told him he was done fishing for the day because he had no fishing rod," said Butch. Another father came over and said he would try to hook Eli’s line with the end of his line. I was thinking to myself, "Yeah, right. What’s the chance of hooking a rod in the bottom of a pond when you can’t even see it?"

Butch watched as the other father threw his line out. He did this a couple of times and about the fourth time he was reeling it in he said, "I think I got it!" I looked over, again thinking, "Yeah right."

However, when Butch saw the other man’s rod bend, he was soon to become a believer. "Then suddenly I saw he had hooked another fishing line, and within moments I saw Eli’s rod."

As the other man reeled it in, Butch quickly grabbed the rod out of the water before it could disappear again.

"But when I grabbed it I felt something pulling at it," he continues. "I quickly started reeling it in; and, you guessed it, there was still a big fish on the hook at the end of the line. At least I assumed it was a big one by the way the rod was bending."

Yes, it was a big one. "A good two to two and a half foot long catty," Butch explained. "We’ll be telling a story about the fish that thought he got away for a long time."

Scouting for this father and son is a way for them to not only bond with each other; but a way for them to interact with other like-minded fathers and sons. Not everyone will have a fish story when they return from a Scouting trip or activity, but they will have so much more.

To see more related topics, please go to Pam's "Relationship" link below