The Old man in the Tree - a fisherman's tale

"The Old Man in the Tree" - a fisherman's tale


the ripples from my cast had barley settled, as the jig softly sank pulsing it's way through the water column finally finding a home in the "V" shape created by two fallen entwined trees.. the bait bumping up against the ancient timber awoke the old giant who called this place home.

stirred by the noise and his hunger the giant peaked his head out of the cover and quickly opened that big gaping mouth to inhale my bait. My eyes now wide with anticipation I allowed my training to take over.. "wait for it, wait for it".. my line tightened and the rod softly kicked as the giant turned that big ugly head around looking for a place to enjoy his lunch.. I reared back on the rod, using both legs and arms to set the hook.. thud.. he barley moved, this giant is in charge and he will come only when he is ready.

Keeping the line tight I began to work the angles, doing all I could to turn this beast around and take control of the situation. My patience paid off and the giant who had no doubt been in this situation before  decided that it was in his best interest to play along and he began the slow methodical swim towards the boat, showing no signs of fight, other then the odd head shake almost like he couldn't believe he had fallen for this trick again. An old pro the Giant came up along side my boat and allowed me to pull him from the water. We posed for a few images then I lowered the giant back in the cool water, though his age showed he was highly resilient needing almost no time to recover from his ordeal.. he was an old pro at this by now, and he simply turned that giant head an began his long slow swim back to the tree that was his home.

the end.



P.S: On his back the giant wore a Ministry of Natural Resources tag, the bright yellow tag though  still highly visible was worn down to it's fabric, the numbers that once represented who this fist was, and how long he had been here were long gone. Im glad I had the change to cross paths with this giant of a fish, and hope we meet again some fine summer day

"The Old Man in the Tree is the first in a line of short stories written for fisherman by a fisherman. Like all good fish tales it is up to the reader to decide what is fact and what is fiction - Rob Edwards