By Chris Smith
Life has a way of speeding up when you’re not looking. It had been many years since Jake and Jake, Jr. had been able to get a line wet together. Jake has always been able to make jokes and keep the everyone in stiches, regardless of the work at hand or just hanging out. Both Jake and Jr. were able to be home at the same time for the first time in many moons. Susan was delighted to have her men home and under the same roof and had prepared a meal with their favorites. After the meal was devoured, Jake and Jr. went down to the shop. Jake noticed the fishing gear on the rack on the wall. He looked over to Jr. and asked if he wanted to go to the dock. Jr., of course, excitedly said, “Yes!”. So, they picked a couple of rods and grabbed the catfish tackle and loaded up.
They had to drive a couple of miles to the property on the river and made a pit stop at a bait shop for some worms. The two of them were cracking jokes left and right on the drive. They eased up to the dock and grabbed their gear out of the back of the truck and walked out to the end. It had been raining earlier in the day and now the moon was out. For Jake, it wasn’t about the act of catching fish but more for the time with his son. Jr., on the other hand, was there to out-do his dad. The air was comfortable, the moon on the rise, and bugs not bad at all. Jake set his bag chair up and took a seat looking around at everything, watching the water and his son. Jr. had already baited up and made a cast. Jake enjoyed the lazy method of catfishing, you know, bait the hook with a weighted lead and casting a county mile, laying the bait on the bottom, and reeling the slack out and setting the rod down.
Fifteen minutes or so has passed and Jr., luckily, had placed his rod between his boots, because his rod almost feel off the dock. He grabbed it and pulled. The line went limp, and he said he must have missed it. Jake said, “Better check your bait”. Jr started reeling in and suddenly, the fight was on. Jake was watching his son have a good time and it brought back memories of him growing up and the fun they had camping and fishing. Well, Jr. was finally able to bring the catch up on the dock. It was a larger than a pan-size catch. While he was removing the hook and releasing the catch, he said, “that’s one”. Jake chuckled because he used to do that exact same thing to Jr. when he was younger.
Jr. reset and made another cast. Another ten minutes or so passed and his rod bent in half again. This time the fish wasn’t ready to come to shore. Jake reeled his line in to get it out of the way since Jr. was having to chase his line. After a spell, Jr. was able to get the catch to shore, it was such a heavy catch he had to make his way off the dock and onto the bank. His catch was an exceptionally large channel cat. He brought it to the dock, where his pliers were, to remove the hook. Jake was happy for Jr. and was encouraging him on like dads do. Jr. was focused on the task and without missing a beat, he said ,“Knock, Knock!”. Jake, without thinking because he was also focused his son and the fish, said “Who’s there?” Jr. knew he had set the hook and was reeling his dad in for the kill…He said, “O and two!” and started laughing. Jake laughed so loud he was sure the campground across the river heard him. He smiled and said, “That’s my boy!”
Chris is a Combat Veteran recently retired. A few places he has deployed are Afghanistan, Jordon, Panama, and several other hostile areas. He is an avid outdoorsman that enjoys hunting, camping,