My First Fish

Everyone has a fish story. It may be about a big fish or about one that got away. I have a fish story too. Except my fish ...

When I was four or five years old my family lived along the Haines Highway at Pleasant Camp, BC. We were only 48 miles from Haines, Alaska and would often go there to fish in the ocean.

I remember being out in the boat and catching a fish. I don't recall a struggle, but my dad had to help me reel it in. I had caught a flounder. I was very proud of that fish. Imagine my horror when we got home and my fish wasn't with the others. It had been forgotten. Everybody has a story about the fish that got away. My story was about the one that got left behind.

A few years ago I was sitting with friends and family and the subject of fishing at Haines came up. I joked that my parents forgot my fish. I was surprised when my mom said the fish was deliberately left behind.

I was so proud of catching my first fish. It was only a flounder and not a salmon or halibut, but it was my fish. I wandered around with this heavy fish on a rope for hours. I could hardly keep the thing off the ground, but I didn't want anyone to have my fish. By the time we were ready to go home my fish was getting pungent. My parents managed to distract me long enough to discard the fish and get us home.

I didn't get to eat the first fish I ever caught, but I do remember it. It may have been 'forgotten' on the day it was caught, but it hasn't been forgotten since.

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This story is my contribution to the Online Potluck. Leon's Microwave Rice is a recipe of mine that can include fish.