A Jack Daniels Fishing Story

I don't have a clue where this item originated, but an old friend and former classmate of mine from back in the Midwest sent it to me, and I decided to share it here.

I went fishing this morning, but after a short time, I ran out of worms.

Then I saw a cottonmouth with a frog in its mouth. Frogs are good bass bait.

Knowing the snake couldn't bite me with the frog in its mouth, I grabbed it right behind the head, took the frog, and put it in my bait bucket. Now the dilemma was how to release the snake without getting bit. So, I grabbed my bottle of Jack Daniels and poured a little whiskey in its mouth. Its eyes rolled back, and it went limp.

I released the snake into the lake without incident and carried on fishing, using the frog.

Not long after, I felt a nudge on my foot. And wouldn't you know it was that darn snake...with two more frogs in its mouth.

Life is good.

All joking aside, I did go fishing this morning. However, I wasn't using any worms (real or plastic), I didn't see any snakes, either, and I certainly didn't have any booze in my boat--never have, never will.

Shortly after I launched this morning (about 8:45), the fog started rolling in, so I immediately dismissed any ideas about running some place. I decided to live or die in West Neck.

It took me until about 1:20 to lay claim to my first and only fish of the day--a scrappy 12-incher that found my wakebait to its liking. I was nearing the S-turn above the bridge when he hit. After a quick photo, I released him and had just gotten into a rhythm again when I suddenly realized it really was getting dark. Glancing skyward, I could tell my day was about to end.

In less than another 10 minutes, I felt a few drops of rain and heard the outboard on Bob Glass' bass boat fire up. I followed suit and arrived at the ramp, just as Bob was pulling his rig out of the water.

The little shower that sent us scurrying for the dock only lasted about 4 or 5 minutes. As Bob joked while we were comparing notes, "It'll probably turn sunny now and finally hit the 70 degrees the weather forecasters predicted this morning." Bob found a couple of bass while he was out and had planned to try and get enough for a meal but decided just to dump the two he had in his livewell.

I'm not anticipating any more trips this week but will try for at least one next week.