Fish Boy
The Fish Boy was only nine years old, but he had fished most of his short life. Father and son were on a summer
fishing trip when the youngster fell overboard. He must have hit his head because he sank straight to the bottom.
EMS rescue teams searched the lake for days, to no avail. The family was heartbroken and Dad blamed himself
for the tragedy.

No one knew that Fish Boy could breathe underwater. A school of fish watched as he plunged to the lake bottom.
They swam around him for days and nursed him back to health. His adopted family taught him to swim like a fish
and he soon learned to catch and eat minnows. It wasn't long before he was considered a member of the fish
family. Over time, he almost forgot that he was a boy.

Everything was going well until a school of teenage fish began to harass him. They knew he was born on the
other side of the dam, and they taunted him daily. Fish Boy had finally had enough. He swam to a big rock and
climbed from the water. The air smelled good as he walked on dry land for the first time in years. Somehow, he
remembered his way home. His arrival was quite a celebration. Mom cried and Dad hugged his long lost son. The
local paper heralded his homecoming with a picture and a headline that read, "Boy, Raised by Fish, Returns!"

Fish Boy wasn't through with the school of teenagers that had ragged him mercilessly. Each night he went to the
lake with his fishing rod. Using minnows, like the ones he learned to catch and eat, he eventually hooked and
caught the entire school of fish. He placed them in an enclosure made of netting and kept them segregated in a
semi-solitary confinement.

He fed them big night crawlers to keep them healthy. As everyone knows, feeding worms to a teenage fish is like
forcing a child to eat spinach. Fish Boy kept the fish in captivity for more than a year. The worms, their only food,
must have been good for them. They never became sick and they all grew to trophy size.

One day Fish Boy filled the bed of the pickup truck with water and took his captives for a ride. He trucked them to
a fishing tournament weigh-site and proclaimed that he had caught the winning stringer. He was the envy of all
the fishermen. They had never seen so many large fish. The fish were happy when the tournament official placed
them in a holding tank with the soon-to-be released fish. But….Fish Boy had other plans.

He put them back in the truck and hauled them off to a taxidermist. The thought of spending an eternity, hanging
from a plaque on a den wall, made them quiver with fright. They were all ears when he explained to the
taxidermist how he wanted each to be mounted. He described which fish was to face left, and which was to be
mounted facing right. Some were to be in a leaping position, while others would appear to be swimming with a
wide open mouth. He wanted the largest fish displayed on pieces of driftwood and the smallest ones on shiny
mahogany plaques. The poor fish panicked when they heard the details of their final resting places.

Dad arrived just as the taxidermist was beginning to flash freeze the fish. He yelled to Fish Boy, "Stop the
nonsense and let the fish go!" The trembling swimmers couldn't have agreed more. In a very short time, bubbles
of joy were streaming to the surface of the water in the bed of the pickup truck.

The next day found Fish Boy swimming in the lake with the school of smiling fish. They chomped on worms
attached to barbless hooks. The other end of the line was a fishing pole held by an orphaned child. Each time a
fish was hooked it would jump and fight until the child reeled it to the bank. A picture of each catch was taken and
every fish was released to fight another day.

Be reminded that small fish have…. LARGE TALES!


Captain Gus Gustafson of Lake Norman Ventures, Inc. is a member of the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association and a full time
Professional Fishing Guide on Lake Norman, NC. Visit his web site, Fishin' with Gus! at http://www.fishingwithgus.com/ or call 704 617
6812. For additional information, e-mail him at Gus@LakeNorman.com.
February 2007