A tornado and a fish.

Long ago, it seems like everything is long ago now, I used to drive by a pond on the outskirts of Jackson every now and then. The pond was enclosed by a fence which also enclosed a steel business. If I ever knew what they made there I have forgotten it now.

But to get back to the subject, I loved the looks of the pond. Much of the pond was covered with lily pads and there was thick brush around part of it. It would be hard to fish in except for a few places, but it just looked like it should have some big bass in it.

One day one of my customers was in the store and mentioned he was a manager at the steel company. Bing bong went my brain.

"Could I fish in the pond by the business?" I asked.

"Sure, any time. The gate is locked around 5:30 so be sure to be out by then."

A place to fish!! And not far from my store! Fantastic!

I started fishing there fairly regularly. To get to the pond you had to walk within about sixty feet of the building. They had several of the big roll up doors which were usually open and you saw the men working both inside and outside of the building. I did not catch a lot of fish there but most of those I caught were a pretty good size.

One day I thought I would take off for about an hour and a half and fish. I kept my fishing tackle in the car so all I had to do was get in the car and go. When I finally got to the pond it was muddy around part of the pond and there was really only one place I could fish. When I saw how muddy the water was I was ready to leave.

"Since I'm here I had just as soon cast a few times"; I thought. The water was too muddy for a fish to see the lure in the water. I decided to put on my largest top water lure and hope I could make some noise with it and attract a fish.

I made a cast out about twenty feet and let the lure set there for a few seconds and gave it a hard jerk to make some noise. "Kaaplash!" I was so surprised I almost dropped the rod and reel. A big one hit it, coming out of the water. That was a sight for sore eyes. It is a wonder he did not jerk the tackle out of my hand. After a fight I landed him. I knew that there was very little chance of catching another so I quit for the day.

As I walked by the building I heard someone say; "Look at that. He just went to the pond a minute ago." I think half or more of the workers came outside to look. I just waved and kept on going.

About ten minutes later I was back at the store and weighted him. I doubt if I had been gone over thirty minutes. It was a six and a half pound black bass!

"Hey! A tornado just hit Candlestick Park;" someone exclaimed as they came in the door. Apparently I caught the fish about the same time a tornado demolished a small shopping center in southwest Jackson. If someone wants to look up information on the tornado they will know almost exactly when I caught the bass.