Have you ever had a story that you never told to anyone because you were sure that no one would believe you no matter how much credibility you tried to instill in it? Well, I am going to risk unbelievability and tell you a tale that I have kept to myself for many years but, the video runs in my mind as if it happened yesterday.
It was one of those times when I made special plans to spend quality time with my son. I decided that we would go fishing and spend the entire day together, he and I, just the two of us. The trip progressed in the normal manner that is common to an event such as this; load the equipment, find a likely location that promises success, setting up the camp and preparing the tackle for drowning some worms, you know, standard stuff. I remember casting the baits and securing the fishing rods on the bank to prevent a "snatch-off" (a large fish snatching the rod off the bank). Then, I turned my attention away from the bank to attend to other matters.
When I turned back toward the bank a few seconds later, my young son "Bossman", about 5 years old at that time, was standing there holding his fishing rod in the 12 o'clock position. I didn't give it much thought because I figured he just got bored and picked the fishing rod up to "play fish". Not so! He just continued to stand there holding his fishing rod like a statue. This activity rose an eyebrow but, the thing that riveted my attention was the way his arms were crossed clutching the fishing rod to his chest and the tip of the fishing rod was bent over double in a frozen arc. "What the.." I jumped to attention because I realized right then that there was something on the other end of that line, and that something was big.
I rushed over to my son and grabbed the rod, not to take it away from him but, to make sure he didn't get snatched in the drink if this critter started a charge for the back 40. Having thought that, I said to my son in a calm voice, "let me have the rod son" and I was taken aback because when I took control of the fishing rod, I was expecting a mighty run and a raucous fight but what I got instead appeared to be a snagged hook.
I drew back hard on the fishing rod, but I could not budge the object. I figured we must have been hooked into an underwater stump or log. Disappointed, I grabbed the fishing line and lowered the fishing rod to the ground. I jerked hard on the line in an attempt to break the line free from the obstacle but was met with no success. I was preparing myself for another assault when something under the surface of the water pulled back on the line, hard! Adrenaline shot through my system like a bolt of lightening and it was then that I realized why my son had acted so strangely concerning the fishing rod. Looking back, I think he acted more out of self defense than playing a hooked fish. Whatever it was on the end of that line, it wasn't playing at all. His game was life or death and he meant to win!
The spike in adrenaline triggered a physical shift into fighter mode, and I prepared to do battle with this mysterious underwater adversary. Every time I pulled back on the fishing rod, the action was answered with an opposit and aggressively defiant pull. At first, I thought I had a big Carp or giant Flathead on hook but, none of their patterns fit this scenerio. It was if I were hooked into a big log shifting in the current. It didn't make sense, but I was determined to see it through.
I don't know how long the tug of war went on however, I was gaining the upper hand. Eventually, the mass, akin to dragging a tractor tire, was being winched closer and closer to the bank. What happened next etched an image in my mind that will last a lifetime. The head of an animal broke the surface of the bay and was unlike anything I had witnessed up to that point. The head was huge and the appearance of it was prehistoric in nature, and it was thoroughly pissed off.
My fish hook was locked in the corner of its' beak like mouth. When the mouth opened trying to throw the fish hook, I promise you, the mouth opening looked large enough to easily clamp down on a man-sized fist. The animal was a giant Alligator Snapping Turtle . I gave another pull on the fishing rod trying to get the Snapper closer to the bank so that I could get my pliers on the hook and release it. The Snapper wasn't having it though. The massive reptile was determined to keep as much distance as it could between it and I, and he proved just how determined he was with his next move. He was within inches of the bank when he simply dug his massive clawed feet into the muddy bank, whipped his enormous armored head to the side and snapped that 10 pound test fishing line like and over tightened guitar string. And then he was gone! The largest snapping turtle I had ever seen, even to this day. The only thing that remained was silence, a few ripples on the surface and a memory.
Looking back on that day, the one thing that I failed to consider was, "How did a 5 year old interpret the events of that day?". Did he see the Snapper before I did, while my back was turned? That would explain why he locked up on the rod the way he did. Or, was it the magnitude of the mysterious force on the end of the line that alarmed him? One thing is clear and frighteningly obvious though, when he saw that mean, horrible looking creature on the end of that fishing line, he surely must have thought, "Monster"!