April Fool’s Day
As I write this on April 1, 2025, I am reminded of the best April Fool’s prank ever played on me. One day, years ago, when our kids still lived at home, I returned from work and got into the shower. I picked up the new bar of soap from the dish and tried to lather up, but I couldn’t get any soap, no matter how much or how hard I rubbed. Eventually, I just washed with the shampoo. Afterwards, when I got out and dried, my son and daughter stood outside the door laughing. I learned they had coated the new bar of soap with clear fingernail polish. It looked like soap, and felt like soap, but it was waterproof.
Monster Trout
Also on April Fool’s Day, fifty-eight years ago, my dad caught the largest trout I have ever held or seen out of the water. The monster, a thirty-inch, eleven-pound, six-ounce brown trout, came from the South Platte River in Eleven Mile Canyon. Unfortunately, I missed the battle while fishing upstream from him. I had to get up to the road along the river to go around some large boulders, and looked down to see cars and people lining the road. When I got close to where our truck was parked, I heard a war whoop from across the river. Looking over, I saw Dad holding the monster trout. People on the road cheered.
Dad had to sit and calm down on the other side of the river. He smoked a cigarette before walking upstream to where he could ford the river. When he got across to the truck, we put the fish and our gear in the back and drove to the store in Lake George, where they weighed the fish on a certified scale, and the owner took Polaroid pictures of the fish he pinned up in the store with other photos of big fish. We took more pictures when we got home, and Dad spent the money to mount the fish. It still hangs above the desk where I write.
My kids once bought me a T-shirt that said, “I don’t need a fish finder. I am one.” I think that expression applied to my father. It didn’t matter where or how he fished; he always caught fish. He taught me everything I know about fishing, but I am not as good at it.
Missing Dad
This time of year always brings up memories of my father. His ninety-fifth birthday would have been March 26th. I’m sure he would still catch fish if he were alive. The days I spent with him fishing the Colorado lakes and rivers around Colorado Springs, or wading the rivers near Springfield, Missouri, on vacation, are forged into my soul. I got brief glimpses of those days when I would take one or more of my grandkids fishing. I hope they remember those days fondly as they leave home to start lives and families of their own. My dad
New Book
My new book, Lightning’s Edge: Lost World Odyssey, is available as either an e-book or a paperback. Both versions are available from Amazon. (Amazon.com: Lightning’s Edge: Lost World Odyssey eBook : Jones, C.Buck: Kindle Store) Your favorite bookstore can order the paperback for you, or you can order it directly from my website.
