Just Fishin'

The other day, Rick Watson, on his "Life 101" blog, told a fish story, and that reminded me of something that happened about 60 years ago in a far away place...

But first, a report on our weather. Last Sunday, we broke a record at 110 degrees, and today we'll top out at about 75, cloudy and rain. And we should be back in the 100s by next Wednesday. Some roller coaster, eh what?

Oh yeah, fishing. Well, I've written previously about Joe Maloney, who I believe is still wanted by Interpol. This is another Joe Maloney story.
South of Rochester, NY is a county park called Mendon Ponds. There are several ponds within the park boundaries, including one with a sand beach. At one time it was possible to rent rowboats there, which we often did in our pursuit of fish - Largemouth Bass, Strawberry Bass and Northern Pike. One day back in the 40s, Joe and I were at the beach area. I don't remember the time of year, but the beach was closed, so it was probably in the spring. Anyway, we were using worms and were casting out into the water to see what might decide to bite, when I heard Joe shouting "Bob. Bob. What do I do now?" I looked over to find Joe at one end of his line and a duck flying in circles at the other end of the line. It seems he decided it would be more fun to fish for ducks, and now he had hooked into a live one. I told him to reel in his line, and we unhooked the duck to everyones relief, especially the duck's and the rest of the flock that was all a-quack. Fortunately, there was nobody else around, particularly the game warden, so we packed up our gear and headed out.

I don't know what the moral of the story is, but I don't remember ever going fishing with Joe again.