My first year coaching I was talking to a couple of football players. I was telling them how much I enjoyed fishing. I kind of threw out there, “Are there any good places around here to fish?” Well I love fishing in farm ponds because you never know what you might catch.
Tater and Matt were the two boys I was talking to and Tater said to Matt, “We ought to take him to our secret pond.” Well they had me at “secret” because I’m thinking that means it’s not fished often. So I have visions of 10-pound bass being pulled out of here right and left. So I tell them, “I’m in, let's do this!”
So that weekend I meet them at the school bright and early and they have a flat bottom boat in Matt’s single cab pickup. We pile in there and somehow I end up in the middle trying to look around the rearview mirror.
The ride was longer than I anticipated as we headed south to the destination unknown. I tried to make conversation with these two guys, neither of whom talked much. “How often have ya’ll fished this pond?” Tater peered over at Matt who had a wry grin on his face and said, “Not often.” Well we finally arrived and pulled the flat bottom boat out. This pond was way back in the woods at the end of this oil top road.
We caught a lot of fish over the course of a few hours. Feeling good thinking what a great pond this was, I asked Matt, “So who owns that pond?” Matt says, “I dunno” and Tater chimes in “we have no idea.” I’m like, “What?” They said, “Coach it’s no big deal, no one ever goes back there and they never use it!”
Moral to the story, when a country boy tells you they are going to take you fishing to the secret pond they may mean they are keeping it a secret from the land owner! Needless to say I never went fishing with Tater or Matt after that!
