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A tale of two fishes
By DAVID HUBBELL
Now that my kids have grown, with my youngest one off to college and the others building families and careers, I spend many hours wishing for days of the past. Being an empty nester has its advantages, such as dates without a sitter and full possession of my car keys, but I still miss my kids when they were young. I wish for more soccer games and stories about how “I didn’t do it, it was her!," thus presenting the opportunity to become judge and jury while trying to keep a straight face. Ah yes, the good old days! Maybe my memory is fading too.
My son Sam is a sophomore studying mechanical engineering. I can’t tell you how much I miss him. With his activities, school clubs, church trips, band trips, girlfriend and studies, the time I have with him is rare and golden. I have to schedule my time with him weeks in advance and usually feel cheated when he leaves. However, this week is spring break and I got my chance!
I wanted everything to be perfect. Go Dad! Be a hero! I wanted to do something special. I looked at every option, fishing, hunting, movies, dinner -- you name it. So I went to work. Phone call after phone call, I heard the same result. Sorry but it’s spring break you know, and we are booked up. Finally I decided to take matters into my own hands. That’s right, good ole Dad can do it! With my mighty checkbook in hand I went shopping; oh yes, fishing equipment, here we come! I bought plugs and slugs, worms and stink bait (that I hope my wife never finds) and so we would not to be fooled, I bought a fish finder too.
Saturday morning was finally here! I jumped out of bed at 6 with the coffee pot brewing on its timer setting because every moment counts. We needed to hit the road and get to the lake in time to catch the big ones! So, now I wait… and wait… and wait… finally at the crack of noon Sam rolls out of the sack and says, “Hey Dad, ya wanna get a burger or somethin?”
"I wanna go fishing, Sam! You should have been up hours ago."
He says, “Oh yea, college you know, I don’t get to sleep in much.”
By 1 p.m. were off! To get a… burger, and his fishing license… by 2:30 we are ready to go fishing for sure! With a 50 percent chance of rain in the forecast… I decided that with the storm front rolling in and the boating idea adding another hour at least we should keep it simple and fish from shore, with a quick departure available when the rain set in.
I had fished below the dam of lake Lewisville at the UNT park close to fish hatchery road, and it seemed to be a good choice. We were there in 15 minutes and I set Sam in to position and tied on my “lucky white slab.” Within minutes he had one on! When he picked it up I couldn’t believe my eyes! He had just pulled in a 15” rainbow trout! From the Trinity River? I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true!
He landed a nice striped bass and we headed home laughing and joking all the way, wondering how the trout ended up here. Before we stopped at home, I needed to show my neighbors. The result was the same at both houses I stopped at: “What? You caught a trout in the Trinity River? How did that happen?”
With both of my neighbors going crazy with the unusual catch, Sam realized what had just happened. His smile became bigger with every surprised reaction.
I couldn’t wait for Sam to taste a freshly caught Rainbow Trout, which is one of my favorite meals. I demonstrated the cleaning and preparation with his keen interest and attention to detail. Wrapped in foil and into the oven it goes with great anticipation of what was to come!
Fifteen minutes into the process, Sam said, “Hey Dad, the record for Rainbows in the Trinity is 15.25 inches.” My heart stopped. I had never considered that this could be a record fish, and now it was baking away at 350 degrees. Oh no, what have we done? I can’t believe it.
Now as any good fisherman, I must tell you Sam had just broken the record for a trout in the Trinity river. Unfortunately, we didn’t know about the record until the fish was cooked. It tasted like a record to me, Sam and I had a great day together, I’m sure it will be one he will always remember, and I did my job as “Super Dad” without all the junk and hardware that I bought for our big day.
You can take it from me, enjoy your kids every time you can -- they don’t stay little for long and you will long for the time when they were little. Go do something fun with your family today. It’s worth it!
Oh, and don’t forget to measure your fish before they’re cooked!
Signed, “Almost Super Dad!” We’ll get ‘em next time!
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