Shut Up and Fish

Shut Up and Fish

Old Pete had a knack for catching fish. Every weekend Old Pete went fishing and returned with dozens of fish. Nobody knew how he did it. When other fishermen were unable to land more than three or four, Old Pete always came back with stringer after stringer of freshly caught fish. Curious, the fish and game warden decided to investigate. He fol­lowed Old Pete out to the lake, and when he launched his boat at the dock, the warden asked if he could ride along and observe. “Sure,” said Old Pete. “Hop in.”

Old Pete started up his outboard motor. When they arrived at an obscure reach of the lake, Pete stopped the boat. The warden sat back and watched. Reaching into a box, Pete pulled out a stick of dynamite, lit it, and tossed it into the water. After the explosion dead fish soon started rising to the surface. Old Pete took out a net and started scooping them up.

“Wait a minute!” said the warden. “What do you think you're doing? You can't do that! I'll put you in jail, buddy! You'll be paying every fine in the book! You'll never fish again!”

Old Pete calmly put down his net, picked up a second stick of dyna­mite, lit it, and tossed it in the warden's lap. “So are you gonna’ sit there criticizing me all day,” He asked the pan­icked warden, “or are you gonna fish?”