Adding Insult to Injury

By Mike Wilkins


While attending Campbellsville College in the early 60's, I, along with my lifelong fishing buddy, Mike, would attempt to schedule our classes so that we would have Tuesday and Thursday off for our true lifes ambition, Fishing. In the late spring, we would finish our classes and after packing our gear, snacks, and tackle, proceed to Grider Hill Marina on beautiful Lake Cumberland. This is but one story of many that continues to bring a smile to my face as I relive past memories. Neither of us owned a boat in those days and either fished from the bank or rented a small outfit from the dock. During May each year the white bass Rainbow trout and a occasional Walleye could be caught from the docks by hanging lanterns overhead and fishing with minnows with only terminal tackle. Lake Cumberland is a very deep and scenic lake located in southeastern Kentucky and has been renowned as a tremendous fishery since the 1950's. On this particular night, we arrived, bought our minnows, rigged up, and waited for the lights to draw in the shad, which in turn, attracted our quest. The white bass is a fish that travels in large schools, ravaging huge schools for baitfish and when one takes your bait, several poles are usually throbbing with the weight and pulling power of these great fighters. We baited two rods each, one on each side of us, as monitoring more than that would lead to a potential loss of rod & reel. On this night, Mike sat to my left and a local fisherman sat to my right. A lively minnow and selecting the right depth were the only requirements that usually led to a strike. There were 12 to 15 fishermen sitting at various slips within 100 feet of us. I immediately had a violent take and fought the fish in from 30 feet of water. Setting the hook is NOT a factor in catching these fish, which averaged 2 lbs. They hit at full speed, as they are competing with many fish within their school. It was my night! My two rods continued to receive strikes until I had caught the first 12 whites caught from our slip! I had noticed that everyone, but especially the guy sitting to my right, had been following my lead when changing depth. Each time I would let out 5 feet or reel in 5 feet of line, he would do the same. He was getting very frustrated and voicing his opinion. I actually felt bad for the others, and Mike kept giving me a good natured ribbing. Most of our contingent just shook their heads and commented to their fishing buddies about my being either the best fisherman or LUCKIEST fisherman they had ever seen! My luck continued and as I grabbed my rod, placing it in another arc, as the white bass bulldogged for the bottom. The fisherman to my right jumped up cursing his luck and slammed his rod and reel into the lake, turned and stormed into the dock. My buddy had to laugh, as his physical presence was not a threat to either of us. As I was placing this 17th fish on our now heavily weighted stringer, my friend Mike, shouted for me to grab my other rod as it was slowly being pulled from the dock! I quickly grabbed the rod but upon reeling it in, noticed it was not fighting back? When the object came to the surface, laughter errupted from all. To add insult to injury to this unlucky fisherman, his rod had sunk and became entangled in my other outfit! I reached down, grabbed it securely and handed it back to him. He took it, turned around and mumbling something under his breath, left the dock!

...BELIEVE IT OR NOT!!!