Catch mo' fish than you

There’s a line from Taj Mahal’s song Fishing’ Blues that courses through my head every time Barb and I go fishing.

Bet yo’ life, yo’ sweet wife’s gonna catch mo’ fish than you.

She usually does.

And I’m fine with it.

It’s only when she tilts the scale in her favor that we have an issue. And that only happens, it seems, with exceptional fish.

When Barb and I first got together she told me a story about fishing with her brother on Hebgen Lake when they were kids. Barb hooked a large trout and had it nearly to the boat, when Charley, who was wielding the landing net, knocked...