A Flying Fish Tale

It was the last day of our long summer weekend getaway with the family. Our son in law Jesse invited Shelly and I out for a cruise on the water in his new fishing boat. I sat in the fore, Shelly the middle and Jesse manned the outboard. Once we got out of the no wake zone Jesse opened it up and the cabins on the shore behind us got smaller and smaller. We were talking over the engine, commenting on the weather and landscape, and enjoying the little excursion. I was looking forward when suddenly there was a loud thud. I turned around and asked Jesse if we had hit something. He said no, a fish had just jumped in the boat. Peering over the bench between us sure enough, there was a silver carp over two feet long flopping around at his feet. Jesse had slowed the boat while we were looking at it, and we decided to leave it be for now and continue on our tour. He told us that the day before he had talked to some fellow fishermen, and they related the story of a boater who was knocked out by one of these fish, fell overboard and drowned. This tale, if true, meant these things could do more than injure you. We decided to continue on to a certain point then turn back. As we cruised along we looked back and could see big carp jumping out of the wake the boat was leaving. While Jesse was turned looking at them I tossed a life jacket at his leg. He jumped and cussed before chuckling at the prank. We headed back for shore, and I was thinking this was a memorable way to end our weekend when suddenly another huge carp jumped into the boat, smacking Jesse’s leg and shooting green poop all over the place. Shelly, who had been a little nervous about the situation before, was now making it known to anyone who could hear that we were being attacked and she wanted out of this boat NOW! We made it to shore and helped her onto land where she retreated to the safety of our cabin. While Jesse was washing the green goo off his legs in the water I thanked him for a memorable boat ride. He grinned, “Anytime!”