A Dream, A Fish, A Prayer!

by Commando

~FISHING~TRUE STORY Contest Winner

A Dream, A Fish, A Prayer!

~A True Story~

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Wider spaces between words are due to the use of "fully justified formatting."

On March 13, 1986, Joey Floyd (age 17) of Marianna, Florida, caught a world record sunfish (red-ear shell-cracker) from Merritts Mill Pond weighing 4 pounds 13 and 3/4 ounces. I have on many occasions taken time out, spent money that I had put back for "honey-do projects," then loaded up and slipped away to the Mill Pond. Of course, my goal was to catch a whopper for the Guinness World Record Book.

Over the years, I have caught a great number of large shell crackers from Merritts Mill Pond. There were some of which I could hardly wait to show my friends hoping to impress them. However, one of my neighbors said, "Aww, Bill, put 'em back in the pond and let 'em grow up." Then he showed me one he caught bigger than my largest. Doggone his hide!

Back on April 10, 2020 (Good Friday), I was up at the crack of dawn, swallowed down a bite to eat, hooked the boat and trailer to the SUV, then headed for the Mill Pond. As I put the boat into the water, I whispered to myself, "Some dreams still come true, Bill!" Slowly, I trolled over to an ol' cypress stump, threw my baited hook into the water, then "Bam!" After five minutes of wrestling with the shell cracker, I took my net and lifted the monster into the boat. It weighed 4 pounds 6 ounces and was 15 inches long. "Hurrah," I yelled! I was happy to have caught it; yet, I was sad because it was smaller than Joey's.

Now, the real test--should I continue to go out, get rained on, mosquito bit, bend my hooks, break my line, etc., while trying to catch a new world record shell cracker? You betcha! For after all, I believe dreams come true and miracles happen.

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May 16, 2020
W. Isaac "Bill" Bishop
Marianna, Florida

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Writing Prompt
~~FISHING***TRUE STORY***
~~~PROSE ONLY~~No poetry~~
*PLEASE/FOLLOW ALL RULES*
1. Name of Author will be displayed
2. Dedication and title may be included with text of story.
They do NOT count towards number of words allowed.
3. Author may sign and date poem at bottom--
does NOT count towards number of words allowed--up to 3 lines may be added.
4. LENGTH--300--350 words
5. ONE picture--author's choice (refer to rule #7)
6. ONE color font with ONE color background / FONT choice MUST come from what is available on Advanced Editor on Fan Story (no outside sources)
7. NO animations, videos, or music
8. Author notes allowed
9. TOPIC (subject) of story MUST be a TRUE STORY about FISHING
10. Category--SPORTS (select this)
11. No warnings of any kind will be acceptable--(PG allowed)
12. At least 5 entries submitted before voting booth opens

~~~FISHING~~~TRUE STORY
Contest Winner

Recognized

People often ask me about the history of Merritts Mill Pond, Blue Springs and the Florida Caverns. When I first moved here, I didn't know too much about them other than some general information. All three are joined and located in Marianna with 270-acres. The head spring is called Blue Springs by cave divers. Twin caves are located on the bottom of the pond approximately 0.3 miles upstream from the boat landing on the southeast side. The two caves are 88.6 feet northwest of the swimming area. Blue Springs main source of water comes from the Florida Caverns, which dumps millions of gallons of clear clean water into Merritt's Mill Pond, a "Natural Wonder of the World."

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Artwork by meg119 at FanArtReview.com