I am a charter member of a fishing oriented website that has been around since late 1998. A few years ago one of out sponsors, Billy MacDaniel of BillyStiX custom rods, decided to stage a contest with first prize a free custom BillyStiX Spiral Wrapped Rod. The rules were that he wanted imagination, action, humor, adventure and above all frequent mention of BillyStiX spiral wrapped rods. He stated that there was no such thing as "too far out". I'm thinin' "uh-oh, this is right on my street.
I really got into it and wound up winning the contest and the frist place prize of the custom rod. I have been thinking about posting that story here. But it is kinda long. It isn't a full blown novel but it might pass for a novella or maybe a short story. I dunno.
It is 6 chapters long and these chapters get longer as the story develops. I thought what I'd do is post up a chapter every day or so and maybe have to split a couple of 'em into two days worth. I'll start it off today but I have to tell y'all a few things first.
First of all I need to explain what a spiral wrapped rod is. Billy MacDaniel makes them all by hand and the feature about them that makes them so special is that the eyes or line guide wrap around the rod as the progress down to the end so that they start out on the top of the rod and by the time you get to the end they are on the bottom. You would not believe the control it gives you when fighting a strong fish. I have won a total of 4 of them from writing contest from Billy and he finally started using other criteria to give away his rods.
Oh well, I'm all set by now eh? 
I also want to mention that Billy and everyone in the story are real people and my friends on the fishing website. All except for poor Josh/Wayne are pretty much in real life as the roles they play in the story. Josh is a great kid and we have a lot of fun with him at beach gathering and what have you. I had to dig him a little for this story but he took it well.
And remember that part of the rules stated that I had to sing the high praises of these great rods and paint the good and generous Mr. MacDaniel as a good guy, which he is. We flew him from Gainesville Fla to be with us here for a gathering and he stayed with Miss Pam and me. He has a heat big as Texas and he has given away many of his rods to under priviledged children and disabled vet etc.
I know I harp on these rods a lot but well...it paid off eh? What can I say? Call me an apple polisher if you must.
So here we go with Chapter one. Don't expect too much now we're all ametures right? Give it a chapter or so to get going and I hope y'all enjoy it.
POOR BOY MAKES OUT
Chapter one
6:15 AM. Dawn was breaking on the day that would change my life forever. A fact which I was totally unaware of as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and sat there on the edge of my cot and gazed around the room at my humble surroundings. See, I was born poor. No...I mean REAL poor! I was born and raised in a shabby little cluster of hovels just out side of Gainesville Florida. Did I mention that we were poor? When I was 7 years old there was so little to eat around our house that the rats and cockroaches all moved out and left no forwarding address. I had 4 brothers and 5 sisters and we all chipped in and did what we could to help the family. Sometimes we'd hitch a ride with a neighbor in his hay waggon, into Gainesville and sing gospel music on street corners. Daddy would do a little preachin' and Moma would pass out little religious bookmarkers she made out of scraps of ribbon and other material.
As I stood up this particular morning, A full grown man with a family of my own, and got dressed I was careful to make as little noise as possible because it was Saturday and I wanted to get out of the house without being discovered. I now lived in the same old shack I was raised in. Mom and Dad had long since passed on and all the bothers and sisters were scattered to the four winds.
Now a family man and having no better luck at earning a living than my parents had, I never had much time for myself or any money with which to entertain myself. My wife suffered a broken back when she had stopped plowing one morning to adjust the harness on the mule. When she turned to walk back to her position behind the plow the mule kicked her in the back. The doctors said she would never walk again. Our two boys, twins, and the oldest of our 6 kids, were hard workers, once you got them going but not overly ambitious or clever. Two of the four girls were too young to do much and the other two were in their teens and too busy with their social lives to help the family out much.
But whenever possible I liked to hitchhike into Gainesville (we couldn't afford a car) and then on out to the coast. I just loved to hang out at the marina and watch the boats go out and come back in loaded with all those fish. I LOVED fishing but I rarely got a chance to go. One day I found an old discarded rod and reel in a dumpster out behind the marina. I fiddled with it some and it seemed to work alright. I scrounged around and scraped up a small piece of dead shrimp that someone had stepped on and put it on my hook. I stood on the boat dock and cast out as far as I could.
A few minutes later a boat came in and a friendly looking feller got out and saw me fishing and came over to me. Just at that moment a fish bit my hook. It was fighting very hard and I completely forgot about the guy watching me. I was busy fighting my fish and I was afraid the line would break. But that is not what happened. The ROD broke!, then the the fish got off and swam away.
I wanted to die! I looked over and the fellow looked really sympathetic. He could see how it hurt me to lose that fish because my rod broke and he could tell by my shabby clothes and appearance that I had nothing. Then I saw a smile of pity appear on his face. He stuck out his hand and said, "My friends call me BillyStiX". I introduced myself and we shook hands. He said, "I couldn't help notice that that was not much of a rod you have there. I truly admire your fishing skill but you need better equipment. Just so happens I know a little something about building rods and if you can meet me here next Saturday morning I'll take you out fishing and let you use one of my rods."
I thought the next week would never pass. I don't remember another week in my whole life that took that long to get through. But finally it was Saturday once again. I had laid awake on my cot all night tossing and turning and finally when I couldn't stand it any more I got up, ate a cold, dry biscuit and drank a cup of coffee made from yesterday's grounds and hit the road with my thumb held high in the air. When I got to the marina BillyStiX was waitin' for me. He gave me a warm handshake and a big smile and invited me aboard his boat. On the ride out to his favorite fishin' hole I learned that he is quite a special fellow. Expert fisherman and holder of numerous state and world records for various species of fresh and saltwater fish. But the MOST amazing thing about the man was the magic in his hands. And when he built a fishing rod, the magic in his hands was transferred into the rod.
When we got to the fishin' hole he killed the engine and tossed out the anchor and reached up and took one of the rods out of the rocket launcher and handed it to me. "Check this out", he said. He then explained the spiral wrap and how it worked. I was dumbfounded and speechless at how beautiful it was.
We started to fish and we were both catching fish and I was having the time of my life. This BillyStiX rod was awesome!! I had never experienced anything like it in my life. Billy was complimenting me on how well I was doing and all of a sudden the drag on my reel began to scream and line was flyin' off the spool like I had hooked onto a freight train. The rod began to work it's magic and slowly I began to get control of my fish and that awesome spiral wrapped rod just did all the work for me. All I had to do was to try to keep the fish from pulling it out of my hands.
After a long and terrible battle, with Billy encouraging me all the way, I landed my fish. When Billy saw it he began to dance around the boat and yell, "Record...Record...A NEW WORLD RECORD!!" On the trip back in he called the marina and told the operator to have state and federal fish/game authorities on hand when we pulled in cause we had an new world record that would never be beat.
When we pulled in the fish was measured and weighed and sure enough it was a new world record. Not only were the authorities there but sports wirters for local news papers, Sports Illustrated, Time magazine (they made me Man Of The Year), and hundreds of reporters from various fishing magazines. Representatives from the Jay Leno and David Letterman shows were there and a TV Producer was there and offered me my own fishing show on TV!
Well the next few months was very hectic and very busy and now I live in Gainesville Florida, right next door to my best friend Billy McDaniel, aka BIllyStiX. I'm a mult-millionaire with 3 nationally televised fishing shows and a line of fishing clothing and accessories. I have a huge office with a dozen custom designed and built rod racks, designed and built by a good friend of mine from Texas. All of these rod racks are full of BillyStix custom, spiral wrapped rods...every thing from ultra light for pan fish to ultra heavy for the large, off shore species. I also am the holder of numerous state and world records for several different species of fresh and saltwater species of fish. BIlly and I seem to have a little competition going as to who can accumulate the most record fish.
I stay pretty busy these days and once again, but for much different reasons, I don't get to fish much any more. Two things you can count on though, when I do get to go, I'm with my pal Billy and you can bet your last trophy that I'm fishing with my favorite fishing rod in the EN-TIRE world...my faithful and dependable BillyStiX Spiral Wrapped Rod.
To be continued........
I really got into it and wound up winning the contest and the frist place prize of the custom rod. I have been thinking about posting that story here. But it is kinda long. It isn't a full blown novel but it might pass for a novella or maybe a short story. I dunno.
It is 6 chapters long and these chapters get longer as the story develops. I thought what I'd do is post up a chapter every day or so and maybe have to split a couple of 'em into two days worth. I'll start it off today but I have to tell y'all a few things first.
First of all I need to explain what a spiral wrapped rod is. Billy MacDaniel makes them all by hand and the feature about them that makes them so special is that the eyes or line guide wrap around the rod as the progress down to the end so that they start out on the top of the rod and by the time you get to the end they are on the bottom. You would not believe the control it gives you when fighting a strong fish. I have won a total of 4 of them from writing contest from Billy and he finally started using other criteria to give away his rods.
Oh well, I'm all set by now eh? I also want to mention that Billy and everyone in the story are real people and my friends on the fishing website. All except for poor Josh/Wayne are pretty much in real life as the roles they play in the story. Josh is a great kid and we have a lot of fun with him at beach gathering and what have you. I had to dig him a little for this story but he took it well.
And remember that part of the rules stated that I had to sing the high praises of these great rods and paint the good and generous Mr. MacDaniel as a good guy, which he is. We flew him from Gainesville Fla to be with us here for a gathering and he stayed with Miss Pam and me. He has a heat big as Texas and he has given away many of his rods to under priviledged children and disabled vet etc.
I know I harp on these rods a lot but well...it paid off eh? What can I say? Call me an apple polisher if you must.
So here we go with Chapter one. Don't expect too much now we're all ametures right? Give it a chapter or so to get going and I hope y'all enjoy it.
POOR BOY MAKES OUT
Chapter one
6:15 AM. Dawn was breaking on the day that would change my life forever. A fact which I was totally unaware of as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and sat there on the edge of my cot and gazed around the room at my humble surroundings. See, I was born poor. No...I mean REAL poor! I was born and raised in a shabby little cluster of hovels just out side of Gainesville Florida. Did I mention that we were poor? When I was 7 years old there was so little to eat around our house that the rats and cockroaches all moved out and left no forwarding address. I had 4 brothers and 5 sisters and we all chipped in and did what we could to help the family. Sometimes we'd hitch a ride with a neighbor in his hay waggon, into Gainesville and sing gospel music on street corners. Daddy would do a little preachin' and Moma would pass out little religious bookmarkers she made out of scraps of ribbon and other material.
As I stood up this particular morning, A full grown man with a family of my own, and got dressed I was careful to make as little noise as possible because it was Saturday and I wanted to get out of the house without being discovered. I now lived in the same old shack I was raised in. Mom and Dad had long since passed on and all the bothers and sisters were scattered to the four winds.
Now a family man and having no better luck at earning a living than my parents had, I never had much time for myself or any money with which to entertain myself. My wife suffered a broken back when she had stopped plowing one morning to adjust the harness on the mule. When she turned to walk back to her position behind the plow the mule kicked her in the back. The doctors said she would never walk again. Our two boys, twins, and the oldest of our 6 kids, were hard workers, once you got them going but not overly ambitious or clever. Two of the four girls were too young to do much and the other two were in their teens and too busy with their social lives to help the family out much.
But whenever possible I liked to hitchhike into Gainesville (we couldn't afford a car) and then on out to the coast. I just loved to hang out at the marina and watch the boats go out and come back in loaded with all those fish. I LOVED fishing but I rarely got a chance to go. One day I found an old discarded rod and reel in a dumpster out behind the marina. I fiddled with it some and it seemed to work alright. I scrounged around and scraped up a small piece of dead shrimp that someone had stepped on and put it on my hook. I stood on the boat dock and cast out as far as I could.
A few minutes later a boat came in and a friendly looking feller got out and saw me fishing and came over to me. Just at that moment a fish bit my hook. It was fighting very hard and I completely forgot about the guy watching me. I was busy fighting my fish and I was afraid the line would break. But that is not what happened. The ROD broke!, then the the fish got off and swam away.
I wanted to die! I looked over and the fellow looked really sympathetic. He could see how it hurt me to lose that fish because my rod broke and he could tell by my shabby clothes and appearance that I had nothing. Then I saw a smile of pity appear on his face. He stuck out his hand and said, "My friends call me BillyStiX". I introduced myself and we shook hands. He said, "I couldn't help notice that that was not much of a rod you have there. I truly admire your fishing skill but you need better equipment. Just so happens I know a little something about building rods and if you can meet me here next Saturday morning I'll take you out fishing and let you use one of my rods."
I thought the next week would never pass. I don't remember another week in my whole life that took that long to get through. But finally it was Saturday once again. I had laid awake on my cot all night tossing and turning and finally when I couldn't stand it any more I got up, ate a cold, dry biscuit and drank a cup of coffee made from yesterday's grounds and hit the road with my thumb held high in the air. When I got to the marina BillyStiX was waitin' for me. He gave me a warm handshake and a big smile and invited me aboard his boat. On the ride out to his favorite fishin' hole I learned that he is quite a special fellow. Expert fisherman and holder of numerous state and world records for various species of fresh and saltwater fish. But the MOST amazing thing about the man was the magic in his hands. And when he built a fishing rod, the magic in his hands was transferred into the rod.
When we got to the fishin' hole he killed the engine and tossed out the anchor and reached up and took one of the rods out of the rocket launcher and handed it to me. "Check this out", he said. He then explained the spiral wrap and how it worked. I was dumbfounded and speechless at how beautiful it was.
We started to fish and we were both catching fish and I was having the time of my life. This BillyStiX rod was awesome!! I had never experienced anything like it in my life. Billy was complimenting me on how well I was doing and all of a sudden the drag on my reel began to scream and line was flyin' off the spool like I had hooked onto a freight train. The rod began to work it's magic and slowly I began to get control of my fish and that awesome spiral wrapped rod just did all the work for me. All I had to do was to try to keep the fish from pulling it out of my hands.
After a long and terrible battle, with Billy encouraging me all the way, I landed my fish. When Billy saw it he began to dance around the boat and yell, "Record...Record...A NEW WORLD RECORD!!" On the trip back in he called the marina and told the operator to have state and federal fish/game authorities on hand when we pulled in cause we had an new world record that would never be beat.
When we pulled in the fish was measured and weighed and sure enough it was a new world record. Not only were the authorities there but sports wirters for local news papers, Sports Illustrated, Time magazine (they made me Man Of The Year), and hundreds of reporters from various fishing magazines. Representatives from the Jay Leno and David Letterman shows were there and a TV Producer was there and offered me my own fishing show on TV!
Well the next few months was very hectic and very busy and now I live in Gainesville Florida, right next door to my best friend Billy McDaniel, aka BIllyStiX. I'm a mult-millionaire with 3 nationally televised fishing shows and a line of fishing clothing and accessories. I have a huge office with a dozen custom designed and built rod racks, designed and built by a good friend of mine from Texas. All of these rod racks are full of BillyStix custom, spiral wrapped rods...every thing from ultra light for pan fish to ultra heavy for the large, off shore species. I also am the holder of numerous state and world records for several different species of fresh and saltwater species of fish. BIlly and I seem to have a little competition going as to who can accumulate the most record fish.
I stay pretty busy these days and once again, but for much different reasons, I don't get to fish much any more. Two things you can count on though, when I do get to go, I'm with my pal Billy and you can bet your last trophy that I'm fishing with my favorite fishing rod in the EN-TIRE world...my faithful and dependable BillyStiX Spiral Wrapped Rod.
To be continued........
