COMMENTARY

Judge gets sneak peak at fish stories

The cat butler thinks he's pulling the fur over my eyes because he padlocks all the fish-story contest entries in a trunk. Thinks I won't be able to sneak a peak at the fine stories sent in by you readers.

This amuses me. I whip out a lethal claw, and, in a nanosecond, the lock is picked. As chief fish-story judge, it's my duty to keep tabs on how the contest is going.

So let's take a look inside the secret trunk and have a peek at some of the entries we've received. But first, a little more about the contest.

It's the annual Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette fish story contest, and there's still time to enter. E-mail your story, write it on a Big Chief tablet or napkin. Just get it here to fish story central by May 31. E-mail stories to [email protected]. Please write fish story contest in the subject line. Or, mail your story to the paper at 2560 Lowell Road, Springdale, Ark., 72764. Either way, include your name, the town you live in or near and a daytime phone number.

This prestigious contest is for true fish stories. No yarns. The winner gets a zipper bag full of fishing lures courtesy of War Eagle Custom Lures in Rogers and Arkie Lures of Springdale.

This year's judges, Mary Loots of Beaver Lake, David Higgenbothem of Hindsville and me, chief judge Boat Dock, will pick the winner in June. Our champion gets his story and photo published in the paper and gets the swell bag of lures. We'll run as many of your stories as we can in NWA Outdoors.

We judges are going to be burning the eight-o'clock oil. Some masterpiece stories have come in so far.

You may notice in the news section of the paper nobody ever talks about worms. Here are two stories to prove bass have an appetite for worms, plastic worms.

One tells of a company fishing trip where some rookie anglers learned the virtues of rigging a worm wacky style. You just stick the point of the hook through the worm's center and cast it out. Here's another worm saga where a husband and wife each caught the same fish twice with their blue plastic worms.

In another story, our scribe remembers the day his dad ordered him to go catch fish for a family fish dinner. Turns out mom and dad were doing some remodeling and junior was always under foot. Dad said go to the creek, and let his boy use his bamboo fly rod. Junior delivered the goods -- enough fish for everybody.

Our fish-story authors wet hooks in all kinds of water. Here's one about catching fish in the Gulf of Mexico and getting chased by a shark. Another is about fishing in Dry Run Creek near Lake Norfork Dam, a place where kids can fish for trout.

Here in my paws is a story that happened at Table Rock Lake and another from Lake Eucha. Thanks to modern technology, we get stories from near and far. The most distant comes from South Dakota. It's a great story about fishing for walleye when a giant -- oh, I don't want to spoil the ending.

You know every story we get is the bona fide truth. You can't make this stuff up.

What better excuse to go fishing than to gather material for your story.

"Can't take care of (insert your favorite chore here) today hon. Fish story deadline is almost here."

Boat Dock is feline outdoors columnist for the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. His column appears when he feels like writing one. Write to Boat Dock on his Facebook page.

Sports on 05/23/2017

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