Category: Grades 7-9
My Fishing Story
by Claudia Motley
8th Grade, Copiague Middle School
It was dark as the both of us sat comfortably on the boat. Me and my best friend Annie were night fishing tonight, something we only did on special occasions. Since we heard that we had passed the finals this year with above normal, there was definitely reason to celebrate.
“Nothing’s happening.” Annie said, after we had been sitting in the boat for almost half an hour. She sat in one of my lawn chairs, picking away at the paint on her nails. Some strands of her long, black hair fell down from her pony tail, and whipped the side of her face.
I shook my head, smiling. “Patience, Annie. They’ll come.”
Annie sighed, and then went back to picking her nails.
Annie and I have been friends since eighth grade, and she always had this bad habit of picking her nails when she was bored. We knew each other like the back of our hands, being best friends for so long.
School had been horrible, for the both of us. After she had broken up with her ex, she was never the same. Then when my grandfather passed, things dramatically changed for everyone. Even my fellow classmates gave me empathetic looks when I would walk down the halls.
My grandfather, Joe, was one of the best fishers in town. They all knew him as “Fisherman Joe,” the captain of the sea. It was a good thing I learned to drive a boat after he passed, for then we wouldn’t be out here now. Grandpa Joe always took me and Annie out fishing, and we caught at least five fish each day out. Since I was a kid, fishing was something I was skilled in. Grandpa Joe was always proud when I could heave a keeper back home for supper.
I sighed, and then leaned back on my seat. I pulled lightly on my long, brunette curls. They had knotted up on the boat, the wind roaring wildly. Then I got up, leaning over the edge. I stared into the deep blue ocean, noticing my blurry reflection. My blue eyes sparkled under the moonlight, giving my face an eerie glow with my pale complexion. Fishing at night was an absolute pleasure, but we usually always caught something.
“Look, Ali!” Annie shrieked, causing me to bounce up.
My rod was bending over the side of the boat, barely able to hold the weight of a struggling fish. I could feel the energy on the boat shift, and soon the both of us were anxious to look over the side. The water thrashed below us, the boat wiggling beneath our feet.
“Help me out, Annie. Get the net, this one is pretty big.”
Annie obeyed me, crawling into the cabin and coming back out with a large, thick net with a metal rod to hold on to. I threw myself at my fishing pole, slowly reeling up the mighty beast. My muscles strained as the fish continued to pull itself back into the sea. The wind grew stronger, whipping against my stern face and cooling the sweat at my brows.
“Here, Ali!” Annie said, handing me the net. I grabbed hold of the end, Annie squeezing her fingers around my pole. I bent down over the water, slowly making out a monster with a scaly body and huge, sharp fins.
“Keep it steady!” I bellowed, lowering the net into the water. With a quick blow, the fish shot right into the net. I heaved it up onto the bow, letting out a sigh of relief.
Annie smiled, looking over my shoulder. “What a fish.”
When I looked down, I gasped in shock. The fish was huge, probably five feet long with glimmering scales and thin, flexible fins. I remember catching this type of fish, one day with Grandpa Joe. I remember how tough it was to get that fish on board. They didn’t migrate here often, so it was definitely a miracle that we caught the same type of fish grandpa caught a few years back. I nodded, reaching out to tug the hook out of the fish’s jaw. It struggled, but I was able to wring it free and toss it into our oversized cooler in the back of the boat.
Annie sighed, as if she had done all the work. The both of us took our seats, resting our tense muscles. Memories of Grandpa Joe driving us out here to catch some of the biggest fish flooded my mind, and I gazed off in the distance as the sun began to set over the horizon. The sky was a marvelous array of colors, mostly pink, scarlet, red, and purple. Even with the temperature dropping, my skin was warm with delight and satisfaction.
I was about to close my eyes, surrendering to the cozy feeling, when my phone in my back pocket began to vibrate. I pulled it out, and then held it up to my ear.
“Hello?” I said, tearing myself away from the beautiful scene.
It was my boyfriend, Alex, who answered back. “You’ve been gone for five hours. You’re going to be late if you don’t hurry up. Catch anything?”
Alex and I had been together ever since Joe died, and he never said anything about wanting to go out fishing with me. He knew that this was something only Annie, Grandpa Joe and I shared, wherever Joe may be.
“Yea, we’ll be right there. We did catch a fish, a pretty big one too. Tell my mom that she needs to make some room in the freezer, this is huge.”
“I’ll do that. Oh, and make sure you change before the party. No one wants to have the dance floor smelling like fish.”
I smiled, then hung up and put the phone back in my pocket.
“Time to go?” Annie asked, standing up and going to the front to rev the engine.
I nodded. “Yea, let’s go. We don’t want to be late.”
Annie turned around, giving me an uplifting smile. “Grandpa Joe would have been proud of that catch, Ali. You did well.”
I sighed, and looked back at the sinking sun as the boat sped along the dark blue water. Annie and I had to make it back in time for the ‘End of the Year’ party, but there was still something I had to do.
“Ready Annie?” I asked, looking over at the wheel.
Annie grinned. “Almost forgot, grand finale.”
Annie reached for the center of the steering wheel, and then pushed down hard. The boats horn pounded the surface of the water, booming louder than the wind that froze the tips of our nose. It was the end of the best fishing experience ever.
Next: Winner Grades 9-12 – Lindsey McErlean (St John The Baptist Diocesan HS, West Islip, New York)