2020-2021 Youth Writing Contest Special Recognition – Junior Category – Maine (Grades 6–8)
The Excitement of the Sinking Fishing Bobber
Connor Remillard, Age 12, Grade 6, Massabesic Middle School
“Ding dong,” the doorbell sounded as I pushed the button.
“Hello? Oh, hi there,” said my Aunt Judy, when she saw us.
“Who is it, Judy?” asked my Uncle Allen.
“It’s the Remillards, Allen!” she replied.
“Hi, Uncle Allen! Hi, Aunt Judy!” I shouted.
“Why, hello there, Connor!” said Uncle Allen. “You can go down to the back room and change if you’d like to go fishing.” And with that, I went to the back room and got changed.
By the time I returned, a fishing rod and reel were all set up with a bobber and a worm right on it. “I am not leaving without catching a fish!” I thought to myself.
Then I went off into the water. It was delightfully warm. When I had gotten waist-high, I casted my line and waited for the bobber to go down. “I can smell victory,” I thought to myself.
“Lunch time,” called my Uncle Allen. I ran up to the deck and ate lunch. I was starving! After I had eaten lunch, I went back out into the waist-high water I casted once more. Then suddenly I remembered I hadn’t put a worm on the hook. So I went back to the dock and put a worm on the hook, taking a big whiff of the air. It smelled like fresh sand.
So I went out once more and casted my line and waited, and waited, and waited. Nothing had happened. Just when I had lost hope, I looked up and I saw the bobber was sinking! I closed my eyes and yanked on the line with all my strength.
Suddenly, I felt something whip smoothly across my face. Looking up, I saw a fish with a white belly and a green back dangling in the air at the end of my fishing line.
Filled with excitement, I started to the shore, shouting, “I caught one, I caught – .”
I stopped right in my tracks. The fish had jumped off the hook.
Without saying anything, I went to get another worm, put it on the hook, then went right back to the spot where I caught the fish. I casted my line, and waited.
I’d waited about two minutes, when the bobber went down again, and once again I yanked on it with all my strength. To my surprise, it was a brown fish. This time I did not shout, “I caught one, I caught one!” Instead, I just simply reeled the fish in, showed it to all my family, and then let it go.
By then, it was time to leave. “Thank you for coming,” said my Aunt Judy. “No problem,” I blurted out.
And with that, I jumped into the car, and off I went.
