Must have been hard to tell that story, Dave.
Hope it helped.
Kind of reminded me of that Wayne Newton song:
"Donkey Shame. Darling, Donkey Shame . Thank you for all the joy and pain" .
Sorry. Couldn't help using that one.
You just gotta get back in the saddle and get him this year, eh.
I've got a story.
Back in the 70's i was living on a lake in sturbridge for awhile. my neighbor showed me how to troll little wet flies ( black knats, rat-faced irresistables, coachmen, etc.) for trout. My dad came to visit , and i thought i'd show him. He was a city kid ( paterson, nj) and I don't think he had ever fished except for those bottom-fishing party boats off the jersey shore. Well, we got out there and i got him on a trout. but the more he reeled, it seemed, the further the fish got away. yeah. i had screwed up and forgot to set the drag. lost that one but there was excitement and still time and hope. a few minutes later we hooked up again, and my dad had him coming toward the boat. he was so excited. But i hadn't prepared him for the next step in the process. The more excited he got, the faster he reeled. i swear, he never stopped reeling. the trout came out of the water, up to the rod tip and hurtled off into space. If it wasn't so sad ( he never hooked up again ), it would have been funny. I think of that day once in awhile. It always makes me sad.
I did come clean on that picture... way back when...
We posted a pic of the same fish in a horizontal hold on the bragging board. It was 21.5" and just under five pounds. Nice plump fish!
That was the day I learned how to make a fish grow, via trick photography, from master photographer John Sampson. Hahaha... memories.
For those who don't know this is Rick and Paris. That is Rick's Secret Furry Bag (faux fur of course) and paris is trying to steal all of it's secrets, she kept sweet talking Rick telling him how big it was and how good it felt, you know the fish and catching it, but rick held on tight.
OK... here's the original post about that salmon of mine. Somewhere in time it changed from the 4 lbs 9 oz in my post to 4.9 lbs on the bragging board? I made the mistake of writing the weight above according to what was on the bragging board, as I honestly couldn't remember. Thanks for keeping me in line Rick. LOL
Here's the original from June 11 of last year.
"OK an email has been sent to AJ... he's going to post a different photo (which looks more realistic) of this "football" salmon. In all reality this fish was 4lbs 9ozs... but the killer... it was only 21 1/2 inches. What a fatty. He jumped many times while bringing him in and was smart enough to stay in the prop wash trying to shake the hook. I didn't see it myself, but when John netted it he said I was VERY lucky to have landed it as the hook basically fell out in the net.
We had another on earlier in the day that had to have been bigger! I never saw the fish, but will swear that I have never seen one of those "yellow rods" bend so much at a hit... and stay just as bent until it shook the hook. That fish was instantly taking line off the reel and didn't look back. AND no it wasn't bottom."