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| http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/ |
Do you fish? What kind of fishing do you do? Fresh water?
Salt? Deep sea? My grandmother and my father taught me to fish in the lake my
grandmother lived on before I was five. I’ve fished on and off all of my life and
I love it. I don’t eat fish, but I love to catch 'em. The last four or five
years of my father’s life, my sister and I would go out to Oregon to fish for wild
salmon with our father and our three half siblings. It was the highlight of my Dad’s days. He
fished right up until about five months before he passed away, and even then,
during those last months, he’d talk about wishing he could "throw one more plug."
What does this have to do with the letter “X”?
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| Xiphias - Swordfish |
This is what. My grandmother was a fisherwoman all of her
life. Once, while deep sea fishing in the Gulf off the coast of St. Petersburg
Florida, she caught a Tarpon that was longer than she was tall. The other day
while thinking about deep sea fishing and how I could get it into my A to Z
posts, I found out that Swordfish, by their Latin name are called Xiphias, which put me in mind
of my grandmother’s huge catch and so, in the roundabout way that thoughts turn
sometimes, I decided to write about my grandmother and her deep sea fishing
experience. This photo of her and her Tarpon came from The St. Petersburg
Newspaper. I’m lucky to have a copy of it, and you’re lucky I get to share it
with you!
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| Ruth McDonald Buie and her Tarpon |
"Megalops is considered one of the great saltwater game fishes. They are prized not only because of their great size, but also because of the fight they put up and their spectacular leaping ability."
I'm sure that Swordfish, Xiphias, are just as much fun and dynamic to watch when they leap from the water on the end of a hook... Sounds like my kinda fish to catch!
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| I'd love to fish for Tarpon |
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| Just look at that sucker jump and fight! |
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| But one this size would probably break my wrists! |
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