Just had a whole lot of fun reading through the stories. A lot of good ones!
We all have some good stories we tell, write em down and share!
OK... I'm reminded of a time I was down at the Chicago lakefront fishing for perch. The bite was on soft shell cray fish which usually come frozen because they are intentionally frozen when they are molting their shells, thus - soft shell crayfish, great bait! Well the bait shop was all out and only had hard shell live cray fish which is what I was left to fish with. This was no fun as I had to sadistically cut off their tails for bait small enough for the perch.
A lot of people, other than fishermen, frequent the lakefront. As fate would have it, a man and his very young (maybe 5 years old) son chose me to stop and ask the usual 20 questions about fishing. I would answer the questions and the dad would proudly explain to his son the virtues of fishing.
I sometimes don't think things all the way through and what I think is a good idea sometimes goes sour...
Well, I thought this young lad might want one of my live crayfish to take with him as a pet. I know they do well in fish tanks. So I say, "here kiddo, this is for you!" I reach into the bait bucket and grab the largest crayfish in there and with a big smile I set it on the walk in front of this unsuspecting child. There was like a moment when time stood still and this poor kid froze as he looked at this cray fish which had assumed the defensive position, tail down, claws up and snapping. When this young boy came out of his fear induced trance he let out an ear piercing scream and took off running and crying with his dad in chase.
...poor kid probably still has nightmares... sorry kid, I meant well.