While fishing in a cove that had lots of houses close by and a few boats within sight, the ol' mud-shark started barkin'. Bad breath too. No big deal I thought till it crept out and drew a picture in the bottom of my skivees. In panic I hopped up onto the back deck, covered myself with a life-jacket, popped open the livewell lid and dropped ol' muddy right into the port box. Pretty slick I thought till I realized I had no squatwipe. Well, my skivs were ruined anyhow so I used what was left of them. I put a few bullet weights in the skivs, tossed them over the side and gave them a good salute as they sank slowely toward the bottom.
While I was digging through a storage box for a minnow net to release ol' muddy I heard a boat pull up. NO KIDDING, it was THE MAN! He asked how I was doin' and I told him I was just "hangin'". He went through the usual routine, life jacket, fishing license, etc.. Then he asked if he could look in my live-well. I stuttered in disbelief that I hadn't caught any fish and said "you don't have to look in there do ya"? He got real suspicious and a little snotty. I took offense to his attitude and said alright, then pointed to the port live- well lid. He opened the lid, stared in for a moment, slammed the lid down, looked up at me and said, "what the HELL is that"? I said "sir, that is a mud-shark. I'll put it on the rule if you want but I'm pretty sure it'll measure". The scowl on his face was PRICELESS! He hopped out of my rig, mumbled that he would write a ticket for that if he could and tore off. Laughing myself to tears I took the minnow net and released ol' muddy over a brush-pile. I "hung out" in the cove for a while longer and went home. That live-well is pretty comfy. I may just have to install a magazine rack in my boat.
