The fishing competition

The following account is loosely based on a real life occurrence and warmer weather. The names have been changed to protect “somebody.”

Gnarly Dan and JP had been talking fishing – again! They compared favorite spots, preferred equipment, and swapped the usual “fish stories.” The challenge was then made. JP invited Gnarly Dan to go silver fishing with him in his boat, sort of a “put up or shut up,” situation to determine the best fisher.

A date was set and both men began sorting gear, sharpening hooks, curing bait, and otherwise get ready. However, there was a slight problem – who would determine the best angler? Obviously, neither man could be relied on, with bragging rights on the line. Who would be impartial enough to determine the winner in this grand adventure? That would be none other than Lindy Lu, Gnarly’s “better half.”

Lindy Lu was a quiet lady with a good sense of humor and a charming manner. She had been keeping Gnarly Dan in line for many years and knew exactly what to say whenever Gnarly began giving fishing instructions. You see, Lindy Lu had fished with Gnarly Dan and JP before and JP always had to chuckle when he listened to the discussion between the two after Lindy Lu hooked up.

“Lindy, set the hook, harder,” Gnarly would coach her. “Keep your rod tip up and only retrieve line as you lower the rod to pump in the fish.” “Don’t let the fish get behind the boat. It could break off on the lower unit.” “Don’t reel in so fast” or “Reel in faster,” depending on the situation and how excited Gnarly was.

Lindy Lu would calmly take everything in stride, sometimes giving Gnarly “the look” or countering his coaching with, “I’ve done this before!” She would then bring the fish in to be netted.

She would make the perfect impartial judge!

The big day arrived, and JP had the boat launched and idling when Gnarly and Lindy Lu arrived. After loading Gnarly’s gear on board, the trio was off to find productive fishing grounds. However, rather than make the long 78-foot trip from the launch to their first “secret” hole, JP decided to run the boat up the river a mile or so to another hole which Gnarly and Lindy Lu had never fished. JP was looking for any advantage he could get!

Gnarly and JP finally got the anchor to hold in the swift river current and the fishing began in earnest. Now JP knew that the best fishing had always been on the near-shore side of the boat, and he also knew about where the hole was along the shoreline. The water was murky, so unless one had some previous experience fishing the spot, you could easily miss the fish.

Gnarly was baited up and casting off on the main channel side of the boat. JP was chuckling to himself about Gnarly’s choice of location! Then, suddenly, Gnarly had a bite! He reeled in a colored up “humpy.” JP scooped up the fish in the landing net and Gnarly quickly removed the hook and decided to release the fish. JP rolled it back into the river.

Shortly thereafter, while fishing in the “wrong” spot, Lindy Lu set the hook and the battle commenced. Gnarly offered his usual “assistance,” which Lindy politely ignored as she brought the fish alongside the boat. JP netted the 10-pound male silver, and the first fish was in the box.

Not to be outdone, Gnarly set the hook on a small 4-pound coho female about a half-hour later. Two fish were on the stringer and JP hadn’t gotten a bite yet! About an hour later, Lindy Lu had another hook-up and JP netted her 8-pound female silver. Lindy was limited out on cohos. She could now concentrate on judging the contest between the guys.

The boys fished for another three hours. Gnarly had one hook-up but the fish threw the hook a fraction of a second before JP could get the net under it. JP wouldn’t give up on trying to catch a fish from the “best” spot behind the boat and only managed to break off one set of gear on a nasty snag. His persistence in fishing this one location did result in using up about half of Gnarly’s bait supply, so there was some positive from his futile efforts.

When the day was done, Gnarly was declared the winner; however, the boys both realized who the true angler was on board that day!