Fishing is not a foot race

When I was young lad years ago, I learned to fish on the Stillwater River just outside of Absorkee Montana. I was lucky enough to stay with my grandma during these summer months when school was out with very little to do but fish. I was around 12 years of age during these times and not knowing how to fish, it was trial and error. I was told that I could catch fish down at the old sheep shed on Myrtle Pollington place, which was less than a quarter-mile away from grandma’s place.

As time went on my skills improved, and I started getting bites, but I can never get these fish reeled in because I would always lose them right at the bank of the river. This happened for several days when I came up with this bright idea at least I thought it was for a 12-year-old. The next fish that bites instead of reeling it in, I would just take off running up the bank and pull the fish in. It sounded like a good idea to me. So the next fish that struck my lure off, I went, I did not even bother reeling, I just took off running and before I knew it, I had eight fish. These were big trout 14 to 18 inches, Brown, rainbow and cutthroat. I thought to myself “man this cool… all I have to do is take off running.”

That evening we had a big fish fry and of course, the following morning I was back down at the river. However, this time I had the company of three younger brothers, and we were all going fishing. It was early in the morning when I hooked into a fish and took off running as soon as the fish broke the water it came ashore as if it pulled like a skier behind a ski boat. After my brothers saw, my technique, they quickly adapted to the style, and we start catching fish. It was somewhat funny watching him trip and fall over the logs stumbling over the rocks trying to get this fish on shore, but we had fish to take home.

The next day all four of us was back down at the river, and yes we were catching fish with the technique that I discovered to be successful in bringing the fish to the shoreline. It was getting late in the morning when I noticed Frank our step dad approaching our location. He asked “how we were doing, and if we were catching anything?” One of my brothers produced a string of fish that we have already caught. I could tell by looking at Frank’s face that he was surprised. It was no sooner than my brother put the string of fish back in the water when one of us had a bite, and he took off like a jackrabbit running up the bank to get the fish on shore. It was during this time that Frank’s head went from left to right and start looking around. When he realized there were no bears or anything else that would harm us, he asked my brother “what are you doing?” my brother explained the technique that I discovered to get these fish on shore. After the explanation, Frank simply shook his head and said, “Fishing is not a foot race.”