Hasty, Mn
Rick Wright is a guy who can find a fishing spot wherever he goes.
A few years ago, Rick was working close to St. Cloud, Minnesota and the Mississippi
River. When he got off work he went looking for a place to fish. He found a
place but he didn't really want to tell me about it, even though I had to do
some work around there a week later.
I started talking about our boss and how I was going to be working with him
the next week. Rick gave in and said, "Find the graveyard in town, by the
river. Go through the graveyard toward the river. Find the compost pile where
the groundskeeper puts all the grass and leaves. Then go straight down the hill
and that's the spot".
I have to admit that I felt kind of weird getting my fishing stuff out of my
truck while people were getting flowers out of their vehicles. It was a misty
day in late October. I had two dozen fathead minnows and two hours of light
left to fish. Right away I started catching smallmouth bass. I caught four bass
that were about four pounds apiece.
The Graveyard
When it started to get dark I kept hearing noises up the hill
and it seemed like someone was watching me. The wind picked up and started making
the trees sway and made some real weird noises, so I got out of there. I only
had two minnows left anyway. I started up the hill with all my stuff, trying
to do it all in one trip. I was just about to the top and something caught my
jacket, springing me back down the hill and almost into the river. Looking down,
I saw what was left of my rod and minnow bucket. I then charged that hill like
I was climbing Mt. Everest, not even thinking about looking back. I got into
my truck and I was gone, my headlights lighting up the tombstones as I followed
the winding trail out of there. Thinking my new work jacket was ripped from
the branch that caught me, I turned on the domelight to look. Not a scratch
on it, so I still don't know what pulled me back down that hill. Rick must have
been out there after dark too because he never wanted to go back in there again,
at least not alone. I bet I caught about 20 bass that night, but in my book
it's a better daytime spot than night, if you know what I mean ...