A fishing story

[Lauren] wrote an interesting story on her blog about a stolen leather jacket and the replacement she got for her husband. It made me think of a similar, but not really, story of loss and replacement!!

Anyone who grew up in the 70's will remember the Popeil Pocket Fisherman. Ronco products sold millions I'm sure! Doug got one as a teenager and although not entirely the best rod out there, it was fun, quirky and portable!

When we bought our cottage, the PPF went to camp. I love anything RETRO, and this rod was so kitchy and cool that I loved that we still had it. I was hesitant that Doug was going to use the rod, but since he uses his regular rods in the summer, the PPF proved to be the perfect rod for ice fishing. I figured, what could happen??

One sunny winter day, Doug put a few holes in the ice and went out fishing. My daughter Meg and I walked out to check how he was doing. We asked why he did not secure the rod into the ice. [Anyone who has ever been ice fishing before knows that the rods are usually propped up by the ice hole with wet snow and water to keep it upright and secure]. Doug replied that he was sitting close by and that he would see the rod move if a fish took hold of his bait. Now, the two holes he had set up were about 20 feet apart. He had to watch TWO holes. We again expressed our concern, but who knows better about fishing than a guy who is fishing!? What do we know?

Meg and I returned to camp and Doug continued to fish. Some time later, Doug came back to camp and said,
"Have I got a fish story for you!!!

And it goes something like this:
"First of all, I just lost the biggest fish ever!!!"
"Really? How?"
"Well, I was checking my one line, and at the corner of my eye I see PPF start to move! So, I started to turn for the PPF and doesn't it start to go sliding along the ice. I ran as fast as I could towards the rod and SWOOOOSH it slides towards the hole!"
"And how come you're all wet?"
"Well, just as I got to the hole, the rod went THWUCK -- right down the hole!! I dove onto my belly and plunged my arm down into the water to try to catch it. I JUST missed it! My PPF is gone. A huge fish took it away!"

I omitted a few choice words in his telling of the story, but we indeed had a good laugh. He was soaked from the wrist up to his shoulder. He tried so hard to get that rod before it disappeared down the hole. I can't help but think of the poor fish who was swimming around down there with a PPF attached to him. We like to think it was a nice big Pike!

I felt so bad that he had lost a piece of his childhood. I hate it when sentimental things get lost or stolen or broken. So I got onto EBay and I found an original, 1970's Popeil Pocket Fisherman, still in the bag! So it has taken a place on a shelf in our Sauna building and there it stays. He is NOT going to use it anymore!!

That's the story of the one that got away!!!