Eric England

UWRT 1101
Instructor: Fran Voltz
Oct. 2014
The best way to end the work week
Bwwammp, went the sound of my alarm at 5:30am on a Friday morning. It was my
summer break and I was up in Vance County visiting my Aunt and Uncle. While I visit them, I
work with my uncle for his landscaping company. At that specific time, it was dark with the sun
nowhere in sight. Little did I know today was going to be a day to remember. I rolled out of bed
and rubbed my eyes. I crept out the room and headed to the bathroom to wash up. When I
finished, I slipped into my work clothes, put my keys, wallet, and knife in my pockets, grabbed
my boots and headed to the front porch. As I sat in the rocking chair lacing up my boots, I felt
the cool morning air hit my skin. I gazed up at the horizon and looked at the glow of the now
rising sun, I had a great feeling about this day!

I walked over to the far side up the property to the workshop. My uncle was just about
done wiping down the truck. I did my usually morning routine of fueling all the equipment.
When I finished that, I double-checked all the straps and locks. Jr, come help me out, my uncle
calls from inside the shop. As I walk into the shop, I see him in the corner where we keep the
fishing equipment. He hands me my tackle box and my rods. You didnt forget did you? Today
were gonna hit the pond behind Docs house when we get off! My face lit up! I completely had
forgotten about it. That was why I probably had that feeling that today was going to be such a
great day! Then I also remembered that today it would be just my uncle and I. Ki, the other guy
that worked with us took the day off. I loved Ki like an older brother, but I always enjoyed the
days that it was just my uncle and I. We loaded up our stuff in the back of the truck and headed
out. A couple of minutes later, my uncle pulled into Mikes store. We walked in to see the
normal people. We walked to the breakfast counter. We saw Ms. Lilly as we usually did in the
morning. We went through the usual greeting and catch up. My uncle told me to grab anything I
wanted to. I got my favorite two things; a red hot, egg, and cheese sandwich along with a cold
Snapple apple drink. Thinking thats all we were going to get, I began to head to the register. But
my uncle stopped me guided me to the fishing isle. Grab two or three lures, he said. I got a
cricket, spinner bait, and a bag of artificial worms. When we finally got to the counter, we had
breakfast, new baits and lures, two cases of drinks, some Canadian nightcrawler worms, and two
bags of ice. We threw the drinks and worms in the cooler, hopped in the truck, and headed down
U.S. 1.
Going from Vance to Wake County on any weekday morning is pretty hectic, but this
morning went pretty smooth. Our first stop was at our client Ms. Janelle. She was probably the
most beautiful client we had. I usually never saw her, but today was not a usual day. I cut the

back yard while my uncle cut the front yard. I liked cutting this yard because it was nice and
level which meant I could cut nice patterns. I decided to do a diamond pattern. To execute this
nicely, it all depends on the initial first pass across the grass. I squared up the yard throwing all
the grass to the inside and picked the corner I would start from. I came across the yard trying my
best to make a decent pass. As I got to the other side of the yard, I spun the mower around to see
my work. It was as close to perfect as could be. I continued to cut, the pattern continued to come
together. I rounded the Crepe Myrtle trees and gave them a figure eight design as well.

When I finished cutting, I took out my weedeater and began to trim up. I edged up the
drive way, around the Crepe Myrtles, then headed to the front yard. As I trimmed around the
front steps, I got the feeling that I was being watched. I looked up to see Ms. Janelle. She stood

at the top of the steps smiling and waving. I walked up the steps and took off my hat and
sunglasses. Good morning, I told her. Well, good morning handsome, she responded back. I
gazed at her in the morning sun. Her hair fell down the sides of her face and rolled into curls just
below her shoulders. Good God Almighty, I thought to myself. She reached her hand to me.
She handed me a check and a twenty dollar bill. That check is for the whole month and the
twenty is for you. I appreciate how well you make my yard look! I took the check and bill and
replied Thank you. I appreciate how well you treat us. I headed back down the steps and
finished up trimming around the house. We finished up at Ms. Janelles house, and headed on to
the next job.
The day went on pretty well. The sun was shining, but it wasnt blazing hot. Cool breezes
intermediately would blow keeping us cool as we cut acres and acres of grass. We stopped for
lunch and grabbed some subs from the subway. My uncle again told me to get whatever I wanted
to get. I grabbed a foot long steak and cheese sub. My uncle paid and we headed back to the
truck. My uncle checked his watch and said We are running ahead of schedule. We can actually
take a break. So we dropped the tailgate, grabbed some drinks from the cooler, and enjoyed our
lunch in the summer sun. We sat around for about twenty minutes shooting the breeze and
chilling out. We finally decided it was time to get back to work so we hopped back in the tuck
and headed off across town to North Raleigh. It was around two oclock when we got across
town and started on the first of the last three jobs we had. We started cutting the yard and things
went as usual. I had finished up my part of the yard and had begun to trim around the yard. I was
deep in concentration when I heard a HHwwoo, a distinct call my uncle and I had to get each
others attention. I spun around and saw him across the yard. He gave me a set of hand signals
which translated to him telling me to move the truck. I threw my hand up in conformation and

headed toward the truck. I locked everything down, hopped behind the wheel, fired it up and
headed down the street. I circled the block looked for a spot to turn around but couldnt find one.
After another twenty seconds of looking, I gave up and pulled in someones yard. I backed the
truck and trailer out in the street and pulled off. It was about 3:15 at the time so it was about the
time the school bus was dropping off the high schoolers. A couple of cute girls had seen me
backing the truck up and I knew I had their attention. I glanced at them with a smile and threw
them a wave. The blushed back and waved. I had to show off just a bit more. I mashed the gas
pedal, spiked the rpms, and cracked the exhaust pipes. I headed back to get my uncle who was
already waiting on me at the end of the drive way. When I got out of the truck he gave me a
funny look. What? I asked curiously. I heard you down there, Leadfoot, he chuckled. Hey,
what can I say, I got it from you, I responded. That made him laugh even more. We loaded up
the rest of the equipment and headed off to finish up the last two jobs.
The last two jobs went by normally. We finished up the day around five. As we hoped in
the truck, we both looked at each other. You ready? he asked. Heck yea Im ready! I know
you are! I responded eagerly. Oh yessir, fo sho! We headed off to Docs pond which was
about fifteen minutes away, but North Raleigh at five oclock on a Friday is about as thick and
slow as molasses on a cold winter morning. We crawled through traffic for about thirty-five
minutes. When we finally got to Docs house, we jumped out of the truck so quick, you would
have thought a swarm of angry wasps was in the truck with us. We grabbed our fishing rods,
tackle boxes, the drink cooler, and the fish bucket and headed down to the pond.
We found a nice spot at about mid length of the pond. We set are stuff down and began to
take it all in. We stood there for about fifteen seconds. It was finally here! The thing that had
been on our minds all day. The thing that we had wanted to do, and could do all day was finally

right in front of us. How deep you think it is? I asked. Ten to fifteen feet I think he
responded. Sweet, I said. I was going to use my normal strategy of using one rode with a
bobber with live bait and one using a lure. I put my bobber on and set it about three feet from the
hook. I took one of the huge nightcrawlers out of the container, broke it into a manageable piece,
slide it on the hook, and casted it about half way across the pond. Before I could flip the lever
back on my open face reel, I saw the bobber start to bump. I flicked the lever back over and
watched the bobber. It bounced up and down twice then it went under the surface and out of
sight. I gave the rod a violent pull and set the hook. I reeled in the fish. It gave a bit of a fight but
he wasnt a challenge. When I finally got him up into the bank, I realized what I had. It was a
decent sized Brim fish about the size of my hand. My uncle and I looked at it. It wasnt bad. I
took it off the hook and dropped it in the bucket. As soon as the fish hit the water in the bucket ,
he swam straight to the bottom, came up full speed, jumped out of the bucket, and I swear it did
a cart-wheel, and landed back in the water. My uncle and I looked at each other in disbelief. I
slid the bucket back a few feet and we continued fishing. Just as before, as soon as my bobber hit
the water, a fish hit my hook. I set the hook, reeled it in and it was another Brim. This happened
about twenty more times in the next thirty minutes. There was a point when I had the bucket
filled to capacity. I finally had to stop using live bait because I kept catching Brim. I grabbed my
other rod, hooked up my spinner bait, and started going for Bass. I casted and casted for a good
while. Nothing. I swapped from the spinner bait to the cricket. I casted and cast for a bit. I got a
few bumps but no bits. I looked over at my uncle. He had three decent sized Bass. Whatcha
using? I asked. Frog, he said, its all in the rhythm. I looked through my tackle box, I had
something similar to a frog, but it wasnt like the one my uncle had. I gave it a try. I remembered
my uncle say Its all in the rhythm. The thing was is that my rhythm wasnt too good. I gave it

a try anyways. I casted about ten times without even a bump. Yea, if I was a fish, I wouldnt be
fooled either, I thought to myself.
We had been there for about an hour and a half and I had done nothing but fish since we
had arrived. I went in the cooler and grabbed a drink. I took a sip and started thinking about what
tactics I could use. I thought about everything I knew. My uncle said the pond was probably
around ten to fifteen feet deep. I also knew for a fact live bait is always the best thing you can
use. I raided my tackle box and found the biggest hook, a three barbed J-hook. I set the bobber
around 6 feet away from the hook, slide a worm on, and finessed the hook back into the water. I
let the hook sink to the bottom of the water then eased the line over to a better spot. I took a seat
on the cooler and focused on the bobber. I watched it for a few seconds. Then a few seconds
turned into a minute. Then a minute turned into a few minutes. The only movement that affected
the bobber was it rocking with the rhythm of the water. I sipped on my drink and pulled my hat
down low over my eyes. Off to the side, I could hear the other fish flapping around in the bucket
trying to get on top of one another. I glanced over at my uncle who was about thirty yards to my
right. He was still using his frog, giving it that rhythm as he reeled it in. Dang, this is nice I
thought to myself, Work is done, got a nice pond here, and a long weekend ahead of me.
As I went to refocus on the bobber, I realized it was gone. I grabbed my rod and gave it a
solid yank. Whatever was on the end of my line was big. My rod bent hard and the line went
tight. I began to reel, yank, and fight to get whatever it was to the surface. We fought for about
five minutes. My uncle hollered, Dont let that fish whoop you. As I finally got the fish over to
the surface, I expected to see a bass, but saw something gray. It was a catfish and man was it a
big one. I leaned over into the water and grabbed him by the mouth. I drug him out of the pond
and put my foot on him to yank the hook out. After sizing him up, I realized this fish was about

the length of my torso. My uncle ran over to help me wrangle the catfish who was still bucking
trying to save his life. We threw him in the bucket and put the lid on. At this point, it was about
seven oclock. We decided to pack up and head home. We gathered up all of our gear, loaded it
up in the truck and headed toward home. Before we made it to the house, my uncle stopped an
ATM. I had completely forgotten that today was payday. Three hundred dollars in my pocket.
As we head home, I thought Man, that was the best way to end the work week.