Muserology Cafe

Forty-Four Fish (February 2011)

by Elanor Jorgensen, age 12, Nebraska

It was 5:00 AM when I stumbled out to wait in the crisp morning air. I was going on a four-day camping trip with my godparents and their family. My godmother’s sister’s family had a cabin up in Wisconsin by the lake. I couldn’t wait to get there and see my friend Jack.

We finally arrived after about 10 hours of driving in my godparents’ cramped car. I was greeted enthusiastically by Jack, who is two years younger than me. “Ready to go fishing?” he asked.

“Fishing?” I said. “I’ve been fishing all my life, and I’ve never caught a single thing!” But that was soon to change. The next day, I caught my first fish.

It was a small perch, only about five inches long, green, with a white underbelly and small orange fins on its stomach. After that, the fish just wouldn’t stop coming! Fish after fish, perch after perch, along with a few bluegill, which are circular, usually bluish-purple, and have spikes along the sides of their fins.

If you like to move around a lot, fishing might be really boring. But in my opinion, it is very relaxing. You stand there watching the bobber, and you start to notice how the light shines on the water, how the ripples flow after each other, how pretty the sky is...And then you feel a tugging! You tense up and wait for the bobber to go all the way under, and when it does, you start screaming, "I'VE GOT ONE! I'VE GOT ONE!" Then you start reeling it in, and it hurts your arms, and you're tugging upward and upward, and everything else fades from your mind except that you must get the fish--and suddenly it breaks the surface and it's flopping and you throw it on the dock, and it lies still. The scales reflect the sun and create rainbows, and you're feeling awesome, like you just did something really important.

We put all the fish we caught in a small wire cage that hung in the water. At the end of the day, we whistled the grown-ups down to the dock and introduced all of our catches. After displaying each fish, we threw it back in.

My biggest one was a five-inch bluegill. It was purple with a pink underbelly and teal behind its eyes. But as I held the cage door open for Jack, the fish wriggled and stabbed my right middle finger with one of its sharp spines. Part of the spine broke off, and we spent the next half-hour digging it out with tweezers. Ouch!

The next day was just as fish-filled, as was the day after that. My record was about 13 fish in one day. I was trying to get this one fish that kept eating all my worms, and I finally snagged him. It was a largemouth bass! Jack called all the grown-ups down to see the fish. It wasn't the biggest I had ever seen, but it was the fattest--nearly four inches wide. We had it for supper that day. It was delicious!

There were only two bedrooms in the cabin, one for the boys and one for their parents, so I was sleeping outside. On the next-to-last day, I woke up in my one-person tent to find that I was floating. It had started to storm and my tent was swamped and all of my belongings were floating around me. I had a covering over my mesh roof, but the rain was slanted and came in anyway. I gathered all of my belongings, stuffed them in my sleeping bag, dragged it outside, and ran into Jack' s cabin. I sat there, shivering and dripping water on the couch at three in the morning, and waited for someone to show up. Eventually, Jack came out and woke up his mother, who helped dry me off. We dried my stuff out, but it kept raining all day, and I didn't get a single bite.

On the last day, I only caught four perch, but I also caught two turtles, which we named Frank and Fred. Frank was smaller than Fred, but his claws were two inches long! They were painted box turtles, and we kept them as pets for the rest of the day. All in all, I had caught 44 fish and two turtles.

I'd never caught a fish before this trip, but I usually only get to fish once a year. I fish in different places, but mainly lakes here in Nebraska, and usually only for a short time. Also, I used to use plastic bait. It never works. I think I caught so many fish on this trip because I was using live bait, I had plenty of time, and the lake was well stocked. The next time I go fishing, I plan to use what I learned to catch a lot of fish!

I also learned that actually, fish aren't just big dumb things that flop around everywhere. They are smart enough to make sure your bait is fresh and alive before they bite it. I also learned that it helps to have a pair of work gloves handy--you don't want to get spiked!