The stinging fish

THE STINGING FISH

1969 I did not have a fishing pole. However, that never stopped me from fishing close to shore. I used to sneak along the shoreline on mild summer days through the shallow lily pads and snake grass patches. When the water was calm, I would see small Northern Pikes and large bluegills who spooked very easily in the early spring.

 They would hang just out of my casting range as would the large mouth and small mouth bass.  As I said earlier, I did not possess a standard fishing pole, cane pole, or stick pole.   My fishing pole consisted of a piece of fish line about 12 feet long with a fish hook tied on one end of the line and my index finger at the other end.

Every so often I would see catfish or black bullheads, male and female, basking in the shallows together with their pod of 50 to 100 little clones or baby bullheads. Unlike bluegills and bass, these fish were not as excitable. They seemed always to be in range.

One summer morning I decided to see if I could catch one of these catfish/bullheads.  I found a little frog for bait; I put him on my hook. I Began searching the calm shoreline slowly and deliberately moving forward looking for a catfish that was in the range of my crude little setup.  

 Finally in a bare spot between the Lilly pads and other types of weeds, in about two feet of water, approximately 7 or 8 feet from shore, the object of my quest lay right in front of me.  There were two large bullheads and a school of babies, between 50 to 100 of them.  I tossed my frog out towards the biggest of the two fish. 

He made a small splash on the surface of the water as the frog sunk he landed right on the forehead of one of the fish.  At first, it appeared as though the catfish was going to bolt. 

 Instead, however, he backed up about six inches the frog slid off his forehead and darted toward shore, but his dash for safety was oh so short as the bullhead lunged forward and, well you guessed it, chomp! Fish on! The Bullhead rolled and shook his head but to no avail. 

 “Success at last. I got him…or do I?” I thought

  Little did I know the fight had just begun. When I dragged that catfish out of the water onto the shoreline, the fish twisted and turned rolling back towards the water, breaking my line.  I hurled my body on top of the fish and, to my surprise.

What’s going on here? I wandered as I felt what seemed to be a yellow jacket sting me in the chest … except there were no yellow jackets. Next, I was stung on my right forearm and in the palm of my left hand.  I couldn’t understand what was happening. Did that catfish hurt me, I wondered?

  No, fish don’t poke people, I rationalized.  As I continued wrestling with the catfish he stung me two more times in my hand; I began to become very upset with this black stinging fish.  At that point, Jody my brother and Brian one of the neighbor kids came running over from the field to get a closer look at me while I was wrestling with this black stinging fish.

 They began laughing at me.  Jody and Brian's laughter made me even angrier than I already was so I kicked that fish senseless or so I thought.  At that point, that I remembered watching Al Linder author of the “Fishing Hole” show on t.v. On one episode he "Al Linder" held up a largemouth bass by putting his thumb in the jaw of the bass.

 ”So, ha,” I said to myself, “I know how to handle this fish" I slid my thumb inside the lower jaw, of the catfish and my pointer finger on the outside of the lower jaw.

  Finally, I stood up holding the catfish with my thumb inside his mouth he was wiggling my arm back and fourth.   I became the self-proclaimed winner of the battle with this black stinging fish, or so I thought.  However, pride comes before a fall; not only can a catfish sting you with both their pectoral fins, but also with their dorsal fins.

You know what else these stinging fish can do? You probably guessed it by now, they bite like a dog, but I am happy to report their teeth are not very long.  As I looked down into that black fish’s mouth, I saw hundreds of small teeth, you know, like that of a bluegill.

 However, unlike many other species of freshwater fish catfish have many, many more teeth in rows that run along both the top and bottom of their jaws.  So rather than feeling hundreds of teeth penetrating my skin, it felt more like hitting my thumb with a hammer but not at full force.  But it was still very painful.

I shook my hand violently back and forth and that fish, which I thought was dead, would not let go. I was a little scared; I will admit, but mostly angry.

 “I’ve had enough of this punishment,” I thought as I kept trying to get the fish to set me free.

Finally, the fish let go, and I stomped him out. Jody and Brian also got their kicks in. I usually didn't kill things like that, but this fish stung me five times. "If you’ve ever been stung once … then imagine five times." But the fish still had time for some revenge because like an idiot; I put my thumb in his mouth afterward, and he pinched my little thumb, and it hurt awfulMan, that’s the death sentence in my book anytime. 

979 words