A Fish Bigger Than My Grandson

Many of my family members enjoy fishing, and most of them know one type of fish from another. But on this one particular day, my son, took his daughter (my granddaughter) out to fish at one of our local waterways here in Florida. She was so excited, for it had been quite awhile since she had gotten the opportunity to fish.

Her, her brother, and her dad, gathered up their fishing rods, cooler, and stopped to get some ice, and a bite to eat before getting to the dock.

With full stomachs, they stopped and got some ice in the cooler, and bought a few sodas and waters, and off they went to see which one was going to catch the biggest fish of the day.

Fishing makes for a long day. Especially when you’re not getting a bite on your line. An hour had passed when my granddaughter felt something pull on her line. She knew it had to be something very large, because she started having problems reeling it in. With help from dad, they reeled in what is called a Black Drum.

Not familiar at all with what a Black Drum was, a man on the pier informed them that they should be good to eat. But it ended up being just the opposite. These fish are not good to eat at all. The only Black Drum that is good to eat, is the smaller fish that still have their stripes.  The larger Black Drum are usually tossed back in the water.

My son and my granddaughter ended up bringing this large fish in their cooler, over to my house. My granddaughter was really excited to tell her grandfather about the large fish she had just caught. She kept saying that it was larger than her little brother. So out of curiosity, we laid the fish on the concrete of the driveway, and then asked her brother to lay as close to the fish as he could, without touching it.

Low and behold, the fish was larger than my grandson.

My son decided to try to fillet the fish, however, once he cut it open, there were worms galore inside the fish. There were so many worms that there was no way you could eat this fish. I’ve read online where some people like the taste of the older fish, and some don’t. I’m don’t understand though, how they could get past the worms, because the worms obviously have to to be removed.

My granddaughter said from here on out, she’s only doing recreational fishing, and will toss anything she catches, back in, because she feels bad that the fish died.

It reminded me of the time that my husband shot a deer, and said he felt like he had shot Bambi, and he never went hunting again.

Photo Credit – mine (I put black marks over the eyes of my grandson and the fish, to protect their identity.)