The Puzzled Fisherman Marco DeVecchis Racine, Wisconsin

This happened about 10 years ago while my friend and I were fishing a local contest in Racine, Wisconsin.

Fishing was mostly done during the night hours when the large Chinook salmon fed. We had been fishing for 4 or 5 nights without much luck. One night I thought I would play a practical joke on my friend while he was asleep. I walked over to his fishing rod, to which he had affixed a bell to let him know if he had a bite during the night. I tied a piece of monofilament to it and ran the line down to where I was fishing some 30 yards away. I left the line alone until morning when it started to get light out. I gave the bell a gentle tug, no response. I tugged again a little harder, again no response. I tried this for about 2 or 3 minutes without getting any response from my friend. Finally, I gave it such a hard tug that the bell fell off his rod and landed on the pier, which finally woke him up. He looked in disbelief and desperation at his bell, now on the pier, and you could tell he was still half-asleep.

I slowly started to pull the bell along the pier toward me and he acted like a cat after a mouse. Every time he got near the bell I would tug it away from him. You could tell from his facial expressions that he had no clue how this was happening to him. One time the bell got so close to the water's edge I thought he was going to jump in after it! By this time many people on the pier were laughing at this strange guy. Eventually the bell reached within 10 feet of my location and my friend looked up and gave me the dirtiest look you've ever seen and said some choice words, if you can imagine…