"My First Fish" by Sigmund Alexander (Knox County Winner)
It was the year 2020, the month of September. All right, that was way too serious.
It was a dark and stormy night!
No, it was just a gray, foggy afternoon. I was at my grandmother’s house and I was baking cookies and all that jazz. When they were stirred, mixed, tested, baked, and cooled, I tasted one, obviously, and gave one to my siblings and grandmother.
Then I walked outside with 3 chocolate chip cookies on a paper plate and all of a sudden it got sunny out! [magic] I walked out of the threshold and onto the rain-soaked porch, down the steps and onto the sparkling dew-covered grass, past the walkway, past the boats, and into the yard. As I walked through the store, pebbles crunched under my feet and I heard the steady screech coming from the table saw. I murmured, “Hi, Linda,” and waved a warm friendly hello and kept walking, down the dock, past the gas pump, down the ramp and finally…
There, tied up to the float, were a dory, a rowboat, two skiffs, and the two shop outboards. Then I saw him, the man I was looking for, Adam Alexander, with his grim face, eyebrows scrunched up, and the distinct smell of gasoline coming from the motor of a Grady White. I walked down the float to him. When I got there I offered him the tray of delicious-smelling cookies. As I gave him the plate, I proclaimed, “They’re still warm!”
“Sig, go get your rod!” he exploded. “ Quickly!”
“Why?” I insisted.
“The fish have been boiling for the past hour!”
“What?!” I screamed, seeing the fish literally bubbling to the surface. I sprinted up the dock, across the yard, and to the shed on my grandmother’s shed. Hurriedly, I grabbed the rod and sprinted back down to the float. I quickly went down to the float, dropped my line in and waited. About 2 seconds later I felt a huge tug on the line and hurriedly reeled in the line. On the end of the line were 2 good sized mackerel! They were still thrashing around as I pinned them down and took the hooks out of their mouths.
That's basically it. I caught more fish the rest of the day and Cy gutted and fileted them and I brought them home to my grandmother's house and she made potted mackerel! They tasted so soft and buttery and flakey and mmmmm so so good!
Sigmund Alexander, of North Haven, is a fifth grade student at North Haven Community School and the proud author of “My First Fish.” Sig has been honing his craft as a storyteller at his family’s boatyard business, where people have been swapping stories for 135 years. Sigmund loves many things about living on an island, namely homemade cookies, working at the boatshop, and fishing for mackerel (or anything that will bite).