literature

Fishing Rodeo and Jamboree

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   "Hello everyone and welcome to this year's annual Fishing Rodeo and Jamboree!" Geoff stood with his arms outstretched, a toothy grin on his face as he welcomed everyone.
   It was a tradition. Every year Geoff made all of his crew gather together and come out to the lake to go fishing. He rented out the same space every year, set up camp and brought along the animals to join in on the fun.
   A reused banner from last year (and every year before that) was strung over the entrance to the dock. The small camping area that Geoff had reserved for their fishing trip had been set up with various tents and the picnic tables were crowded with food and drinks. It was early in the morning when they arrived at their camp, but now now as they day approached noon, the sun overhead was glinting off the uneven surface of the water. It had taken two mid-sized trailers to get the 5 pups here today, but as Geoff said, the Fishing Rodeo and Jamboree meant EVERYONE had to be there.
   "Now unfortunately!" Geoff continued, his smile turning mischievous, "Last year SOMEONE-" he gave Gavin a pointed look, "decided not to listen to me and didn't store the rods properly!" Gavin made to rebuttal but Geoff started again before he could get a word out. "So what that means that if you want to get your rod out you are going to have to untangle it from the rest." He finished his speech by gesturing to the mess of a pile of rods all caught together and laying on another picnic table.
   There was a groan from everyone as people began smacking Gavin in the shoulder and cursing him for his listening skills.
   Geoff grinned and turned towards the dock, holding his own rod in his hand. He turned back and added "Oh and remember! Whoever catches the most fish wins a nice little prize, ooh and this year its a good one. Have fun getting your gear untangled!" he looked over his shoulder, "and I do mean untangle Ryan, put that knife away."
   Ryan didn't look at Geoff, but did reply with, "Oh no, this isn't for the fishing rods." He dove for Gavin who squaked and sprinted off with Ryan in pursuit.
   "Wait!" Gavin yelled, though it was unsure if he meant Ryan or Geoff they both stopped to see what he wanted. "What about the dogs?" he asked, looking to where the five pups were curled up into the sun, watching the excitement sleepily.
   Geoff looked over to them, "Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me!" He started to pat his leg with an open hand to get their attention, "Come 'ere!" he called for the dogs.
   Bear jumped up eagerly, running to Geoff's side and looking up at him with his tongue lolling out. When Bear got up, the large pile of dogs he had previously been laying under were all disrupted. Baby was the second to join Geoff by his side, wagging her tail slightly, but still acting like a tired puppy, leaning her head against his chest to try to get her head scratched. The other three girls left grumbling, walking over were Kara, Kirima and Ten, who all yawned almost in unison. Ten shaked dirt from her fur, as she was at the bottom of the sleeping pile. Kirima bumped her shoulder grumpily into Bear as she passed him, not looking in his direction as she headed towards the dock. Kara was growling slightly, following behind Kirima towards the dock. Once they all had joined Geoff by his side or had passed him, he joined them in walking towards the dock.
   While the rest of the crew took up seats around the picnic table to get started untangling them from each other, Geoff strode out onto the dock, three dogs trailing him and two leading the way. The dock was large and meant to hold many boats, with smaller wooden paths stretching out on either side. The rule was in order to keep the dogs from getting caught in any hooks or lines, they took up one side of lake to themselves and the other half was for humans. A set of interconnected buoy split the massive but highly trafficked lake into separate sections, providing the boundaries for other fishing parties, tokos or other hunting animals and even a section for purely swimming.
   Before he went to chose a spot, Geoff pointed off the edge of the dock and gave all the dogs a well-known order. "Seak!"
   Bear was the first to hit the water. Always eager to please, his overly-large paws slapped against the water, making a huge amount of sound as he paddled around. Despite having more experience than his female counterparts, Bear was never a nimble or fast toko, relying on his heavy muscles rather than his grace. Never was this more apparent than when he was swimming. As he scared the fish away with his loud noise making, he dove in at them quickly, snapping large jaws quickly in an attempt to catch any slower or stunned fish. Unfortunately pure muscle power was not really what you wanted for a fishing competition. In previous years, Bear was always a low performer, never getting more than 3 or 4 fish a trip. It seemed that this trip would go no differently, as he splashed and paddled further into the water, dredging up sticks to play fetch with rather than trying to get a fish. It would be a while before his excitement would lower and he would be able to focus. But Bear was always a happy toko, and the fact that he never performed well never upset him, he was just having a fun time in the water and that was all that mattered to him.
  Baby was a gentle soul, but she all but sprinted off the dock when the command was given. She lept into the water with far more energy than she had shown earlier, hitting the water with a mighty splash. Despite being a clumsy pup on land, Baby was surprisingly good at swimming. Her quiet and obedient nature made her ideal for quiet morning fishing trips, and she often would accompany Geoff on these small little excursions, usually accompanied by Bear or another female. All this practice had proven useful in making her an expert swimmer and diver. While Bear was an excitable guy, Baby was more focused on her task, trying to duck into the deep water in order to pull up her scaled quarry. Unfortunately, Baby was a gentle soul, and most of the silvery fish managed to speed between her jaws as she went to catch them. This wasn't unusual either, the seal toko rarely killed her own prey, but rather relied on her master to finish off her hunt with a bow or club. Usually her tenacity though, it was only a matter of time before something was pulled from the depths, even if someone would have to take time to help her kill it.
  Kirima was always a princess, and while diving into murky lake water wasn't her idea of a good time, she still would not stand to lose to her packmates-turned-competitors. Kirima was always a competitive girl, and knowing that a warm bath was waiting at home for her, she dove as deep into the water as her legs would drive her, trying to dredge up as many fish as she could muster. As deep as she went, Kirima refused to touch the bottom, hating the way the mud down there felt between the toes and how it clung thick to her fur. The tawny lady was usually able to catch a lot of fish at the beginning of the trip, but once the day went on she quickly tired out and turned instead to begging for snacks from her trainers who were usually quick to surrender their food to her. Kirima was never the one to go after small prey either, sometimes even ignoring the smaller fish in order to find more opposing prey to sink her teeth into. But in the strong overhead sun and in the cool water, Kirima was panting happily. It turned out that despite her protests at being woken, the usually grumpy lady was enjoying her time fishing.
  Kara was another story altogether. When she was angry, it took a while for it to wear off, and she needed to be left alone to simmer down. Once she had hit the water, she swam out far into the lake, trying to find her own secluded spot to find fish. It wasn't uncommon for the big girl to throw fits like this, but once she had had time to calm herself, she usually would join back in on the fun like nothing had ever happened. She kept in shallow water, only going after smaller fish as she was intimidated by large movements. No one had a problem with the fact that she brought up smaller fish, because she tended to bring up a lot of them in a small amount of time. Luckily they counted how many fish they caught by weight, so her crazy amounts of small fish didn't count against the other tokos (who all competed for their own steak dinner prize, along with the many fish dinners they usually got after the jamboree anyways). Kara was one of those girls with a ton of endurance, and she would probably spend most of the day fishing right alongside Geoff.  But the festivities would have to end sometime, and she would be back to cuddling with her family by the fire by the end of the night.
  Ten was a big fan of nature, but tended to stay close to those she knew when it was possible. Going to unknown places wasn't her favorite thing, but having her whole family around her made her more at ease. They had all come here together before as well so unlike the usual camping trips her family went on, this one wasn't much of a problem. It took some prompting to get in the water, and when she did finally jump, the splash she made was far from impressive. despite her lack of confidence in the initial leap, Ten was the smoothest swimmer out of the whole pack. Her movements made almost no influence on the water, and her paws cut through the water silently and skillfully. She dove beneath the water and plunged to the depths, preferring to catch her prey by surprize in the darker murky lake water near the bottom. She was stealthy and quiet, so when an unexpecting fish swam past, she lunged and grasped it quickly between her jaws before quickly resurfacing, using her legs to propel upwards from the murky depths of the lake. The murk at the bottom squished between giant toes, and before long she resurfaced near the dock, quickly depositing her catch before going back under for another, but not before dirtying the dock with lake muck.
   By the time everyone had finished untying their rods, almost an hour had passed, and already three fish had been pulled up by those on the dock. The sun was still high though, and the other competitors were going to have to make up for the lead the dogs and Geoff had gotten. For the rest of the day, everyone had a great time drinking, fishing and later barbequing under the stars. Hopefully next year they wouldn't have to untangle the wire and they could all fish together the whole day, but regardless of their setbacks in the beginning, everyone had had a great day, and Jack had even won himself a new custom controller for his impressive 18 lbs of fish. This year it was Ten who had brought in the most weight, and she sat by the fire with pride with her new chewing bone. Next year they would be back, and maybe they would bring more friends along to join in on the fishing fun.
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kyraltre3's avatar
Really nicely written! I love the little touches you add to make it like the real AH crew!