A4 - Sunday, November 13, 1983 - North Shore News

First ca

IT’S TRUE what they
say about delayed grati-
fication. Recently, I
caught a fish. For most
people, that might not
seem like much of a
deal. But, you see, it
took me 42 years to
catch it!

Excited? it was hard to
know which was twitching
around more, me or the fish.

I expect to immediately be
offered an editorial position
with Field & Stream or any
number of other outdoor
magazines. After all, I'm an
initiate now. I know the
secret thrill.

To be honest, the fish I
caught was probably only
three and a half inches long,
so small that I nearly missed
the fact it was on the hook at
all. It was a big-mouthed
bass. (Okay, a small-
mouthed big-mouthed bass.)

God knows I should have
been overwhelmed with guilt,
but instead I was seized with
an exultant sense of triumph.
The Curse had been lifted!

This may sound weird, but
after four decades of not cat-
ching a fish, I had slipped in-
to a sullen state of mind
-wherein I was convinced that
in some previous lifetime, or
something, I had been cursed
by King Neptune or one of
his flunkies.

Of course, one’s chances
of catching a fish probably

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increase in direct proportion
to the amount of time you
spend at the far end of a
fishing rod, and I can’t say
that I’ve spent all that much
time out there on the salt-
chuck waiting for finned
destiny to strike.

My biggest handicap has
always been the fact that 1
tend to fall asleep two
minutes after the hook hits
the water and does not in-
stantly produce a fish. In a
nutshell, next to church or
board meetings, fishing
struck me as the most boring
activity in the universe.

Still, there were social con-
sequences to being a gill
virgin, or whatever us non-
fisherpersons were called
behind our backs.

It ain’t easy being the only
guy on the block who, when
it comes time to swap fishing
stories, heads off to the
men’s room to powder his
nose. As far as I was concern-
ed, they ALL got away.

Now, of course, when
somebody at a party reveals
himself as a member of the
Steelhead Society, I can wait

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STRONG

tch lifts curse

Strictly personal

by Bob Hunter

out his inevitable yarn of
almost ancient Chinese pa-
tience that ended in the cap-
ture of a minor marine titan,
knowing full well that my
moment will come.

In fact, P'm thinking of
writing a book. The title will
be: The Old Man and the
Shrimp. A classic tale of a
guy who goes out in his
declining years, the glint of
gutsy determination in his eye
undimmed by the pitiless
burden of years of failure,
and lands a, ah, big-mouthed
bass. A feisty big-mouthed
bass.

Yeh, it took a while to haul
the monster in. Probably at
least 37 seconds.

But it wasn’t the size that
mattered, as they say. It was
the principle.

No red-blooded Canuck
male should have to go to his
grave without having taken at
least one fish with him. Isn’t
that the law of the True
North?

About that curse. I might
have been able to handle it

HONDA DATSUN MAZDA C

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except that, about a month
ago, a well-intentioned friend
decided to take me and my
family fishing, just to prove
how easy it was. Within
minutes, nay seconds, my
wife had landed a respectable
ling-cod. Then my four-year-
old son caught a rock-cod.

Me? Well, the line grew
taut. Feverishly, I reeled it in.
At first it looked like I had
snagged the tentacle of a
submerged alien, but the hor-
ror turned out to be a sea
cucumber. That did it! I was
mad!

Thus, the old man went
out one last time. Thus the
small-mouthed big-mouthed
bass met its fate. | threw it
back in, of course. But not
before getting a picture.

Guess | can hang my rod
now. I’ve done what I had to
do.

You shoulda seen
zillions that got away.

the

| Third liquor theft_|

FOR THE third time recent weeks, the Westview
Liquor store was hit by thieves. And for the second
straight time, North Vancouver RCMP have been

able to lay charges.

Police dog Dain, who
tracked down three female
juveniles who smashed a li-
quor store window two weeks
ago, was called out again ear-
ly this Monday after the win-
dow was again broken.

Dain went to work, picking
up the track of the thieves
and leading police to discover
the small amount of liquor
that had been stolen, stashed
in a storm sewer pipe.

Police later arrested a
22-year-old North Vancouver
man and a female juvenile —
one of the three that had also
been arrested a week earlier

— in the vicinity of the liquor
store.

The two will be charged.

Charges will also be laid
against a 26-year-old Lillooet
man as the result of a second
weekend incident.

The unidentified man at-
tacked and robbed a Yellow
Cab driver who had picked
him up in the area of Moun-
tain Highway and Rupert
Street.

The man, who fled after
stealing less than $20 from
the driver, was later arrested
by police and will face
charges of robbery with
violence.

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