One That Got Away

A calm evening and the shank end of a holiday weekend conspired to find the cheeze and myself out in our canoe , bobbing about Lake Erie at dusk plugging away with our # 3 mepps spinners looking to the waters good graces to provide piscatorial thrills and our angling skills to perhaps catch a fine fish or three for dinner. Half way through the 2008 baseball season , and it is still difficult to forgive manager Wedge from his post season 2007 choke , against the Boston Red Sox. Now our Cy Young award pitcher C.C. Sabathia is headed for Milwaukee and a chance to play for the new York American League team next season , and I believe that the wrong player in this baseball travesty is being shipped out of town , to a New York American league farm club at that. General manager Shapiro and his bench lackey Wedge have held reign here long enough. Time for their bobble heads to roll along Carnegie Road and out of town for good.These two are the logical candidates for departure , not C.C. Sabathia. We kept meaning to get out fishing in June , though the Lake has been rough , and events have conspired otherwise. Thus , a calm night in July found us two hours into our casting about , with a single rock bass , and a undersized small mouth bass that spit out the spinner mid air as our only strikes while on the water. As we fished around a previously good bass spot along the shoreline , we passed numerous post fourth of July revelers that still found the combination of Lake Erie waters and food and beverage a good bet for their Sunday evening party minds , and a fair number of these folk were perched on a deck hanging over the water when the fish hit my spinner. A fair amount of fish weight is an easy read to gauge by the tension felt on hands and line , and this particular finned customer was no small potatoes. Hitting at some distance away , and bending line and pole gave me an idea that I was in for a fight. I was not disappointed in this department. As I reeled the fish towards the canoe I had already notified the cheeze , and he was ready with the net. Visions of fishy fleshpots most have dulled my senses , and it was after a few minutes strenuous fight that I felt the line go slack , and no fish was meant for our chops this evening. I felt bad enough loosing this battle , though in true Cleveland fashion a rousing chorus of boos and hisses greeted my flub from the near bye deck on the shore.Typical behavior of the native tribes mucking about these days. I laughed out loud at the irony of these events , and the cheeze and I had not another fish even approach our humble offerings for the remainder of our voyage. Some poor fish is now swimming about with a lure stuck in it's craw , and for that I am sorry. We had been fishing out at our dear friend's farm pond , a couple weeks ago , and I had not inspected my tackle prior to this canoe trip. My fault , plain and simple. Oh well , another day , another fish. Not so however for Wedge and his 2007 post season choke. Wedge let a real big fish get off his hook , and this 2008 baseball season is testimony to his sad managerial skills. Just ask Brandon Phillips? Eric Wedge did not see talent in Phillips , nor did Wedge get along with Mister Phillips.Phillips had the last laugh and his play against the Cleveland American League team this season said it all. In your face Eric Wedge. I only wish we could have at least caught a glimpse of the fish that got away? Walleye ? Small mouth ? Sheephead ? Never will know? Just like that 2007 choke by Wedge. Never will know if the Cleveland American league baseball team would have gone the distance and brought home Cleveland's first world series championship since 1948. Good bet we would have captured the flag however . Now , with the wrong player leaving the clubhouse in C.C. instead of Eric Wedge , it will be sometime before we will get another chance.Perhaps if Shapiro had traded Sabathia for Brandon Phillips , this whole baseball joke would be more palatable. As for fishing , we get another chance this evening , and I hope to land tonight's catch not fall victim to the boos , jeers and invectives again. I am saving my personal bile , jeers , and invective for that loser Wedge , and plan to give him my own version of the Lake Erie raspberries when fishing season is over , and it is time again to watch the 2008 Cleveland baseball team imitate the 1950 Saint Louis Browns .

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