The Adventures of Walley in the Ohio River Part 1

[FONT=Monotype Corsiva, cursive][SIZE=4][B]The Adventures of Walley in the Ohio River”[/B][/SIZE][/FONT]




[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][SIZE=3]The McAlpine Locks and Dam recording plays aloud: Good evening this is McAlpine Locks and Dam two pm update on Thursday April the tenth two thousand and fourteen. The upper Gage is thirteen point five, the lower Gage is sixteen point three. Were running twenty seven feet of dam twenty three on the upper dam four on the lower dam. The Hydro plant has 6 units running. The National Weather three day Forcast for McAlpine for Friday Saturday and Sunday the eleventh, twelth and thirteenth the upper gage will remain in pool all three days. The lower Gage for Friday the eleveth point five, Saturday the twelth twelve point five and for Sunday the thirteenth twelve point four. This recording will be updated at six pm.[/SIZE][/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][SIZE=3]I am spending the day with my parents as usual, it is just my mom, my dad and me. We live in Barge #3 at Twelve Mile Island, in the Ohio River. We live in an underwater community where man has sunk several barges in one spot. We are looking forward to the annual fireworks show they have down by Tow Head Island that's coming up tomorrow. I'm bored and hungry mom is taking to long to prepare dinner, so I sneak out and start skimming the top of the water for schools of Blue Gizzard Shads. Yummy what a great snack that would be before dinner. If the Asian Carp haven't ran them all off, they eat plankton, which is what the Blue Gizzards eat, since they are eating most of the plankton, the Blue Gizzards, are moving out of this area. I decide to go over to the shore and look for some eggs because I can't find the schools on top, so I’ll ambush the eggs along the bank that lie on the rocks and branches along the bank in the shallow water, I’m skimming the shores, I should turn around and go back, but I don't I just keep telling my self a little further, the water is nice and calm today I’ll be fine. Suddenly I'm wondering how far I've gone is that Six Mile Island over there? I cant tell from here I think it is, well while I’m here I might as well look for the Shad eggs. As long as I don't get to close to the spillway mom and dad warned me about I should be okay. So I turn my attention back to the shad egg hunting, then wait a minute who is that? That's an Asian Carp, we can't allow him around here, you get out of here Walley proclaims! Walley gives chase, he runs the Asian Carp away, all the sudden he is seeing things he doesn’t normally see, like machines and he is hearing loud noises he doesn’t hear from his house when suddenly he realizes a change in the water, he brushes it off as man working or a barge. He's not sure what the men are doing, but they have a machine underwater and whats this a new concrete pillar, oh my goodness I’m turned around. I need to turn around, wait a minute what's that i hear, louder than the machines, it sounds like a horn, off in the distance, I've never been close enough to the spillway to hear that before, I feel a stronger then usual current pulling me, it's pulling me toward the spillway, the direction my parents always told me to never go around or else I could be lost forever to them. maybe even dead. I am swimming the hardest I have ever swam I am losing my battle I was pulled against my will into the unknown being twisted, pulled, feeling bewildered. About that time Walleye notices he's not alone, there goes three Spoonbill Catfish, they seem to know where their going, and don't mind, and there, he sees a school of Drum, an entire school, what are they on a field trip? and look those shad I’ve been looking for, maybe I will be okay. I don't know what will happen to me where will I end up, oh no the feeling of horrible dread and fear came over me, the river is a dangerous place, will I survive this? I didn't even get to tell my parents I was going shad hunting I hadn't planned on going this far, stupid, stupid ( walley told himself as he was being tossed around going through the spillway). That must of been Tow Head Island, will I survive he wondered? Where will I end up? I didn't get to say goodbye to my mom and dad. I can hear my dad saying now, "always stay with another fish, so some fish can always know what happened to you in case of an emergency", but there was no one else, I was all alone. I had ignored my mom and dad advice.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][SIZE=3]I am starting to wake up, looking up as I’m coming to I see an eagle gliding, how beautiful I thought, wait a minute, where am I? I made it. oh no! I’m stuck on a rock in a tiny puddle out of the water "Where am I? Walley exclaimed!" I must of made it through the spillway alive, I think I hear the water that way, and that way, it sounds like its everywhere. Which way should I go? Walley goes under and takes a deep breath, jumps from the puddle and begins flopping across the rocks to get back to the water, finally he sees the water, it's still a little way off he'll have to stop in another puddle, Walley takes another look around while he's in his puddle, he see's a fisherman! He is collecting fish off the rocks that were in the shallows when the water went down and they got stranded on the rocks too far out of the water to get back. He sees Great Blue Herrins sitting and hunting looking for fish to catch and swallow. Walley flips up out of the puddle and flips as fast as he can toward the water, with one last large flip, he sails through the air and lands in the water at last. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][SIZE=3]These are uncharted waters for Walley, a place he's never been before, waters in an area in which he has never swam before. What is this place? He wondered. How will I ever make it back home? I may never see my mom and dad again, they are going to be mad at me & I’m gonna miss the fire works show. Every year him and his family go to see the fireworks show together up by tow head island. If I don't make it home soon my parents will begin to worry.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][SIZE=3]Walley begins to swim around reluctantly “Who are all these fish?”, I don't know any of them. Where is my house from here? How do I get home? Oh why did I have to swim so close to the spillway? What was I thinking? Walley just starts swimming down stream as it seems to be the only way to go. He proceeds down a narrow passage surrounded by rocks on one side and sand on the other, whats this? A sign for a rest stop, it reads "Eddies". So Walley decides to go into Eddies rest stop. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][SIZE=3]Hello says this strange looking fellow from behind the rock bar. Whats your name? I haven't seen you around here before did you just come through the Spillway? How did you know? says Walley. Ah happens all the time, new fish coming through the spillway all the time, they come through in groves, some of them came through accidentally and some of them come through on purpose, looking for a new beginning, a better life. They come in here barely alive sometimes say you look pretty good to have come through the spillway. Walley says I guess I got lucky. He says my name is Walley, whats your name? He says I’m Eddie, this is my place come on in and rest a spell, tell me everything. So Walley tells him of how he wasn't supposed to be blue gizzard shad hunting alone, and how he wandered off to far, and got sucked through the spillway, and about how he woke up on a rock and narrowly escaped the land fisherman and the birds of prey. Eddie said I see, and Walley said he really needed to get back home, before his parents go into worry overload, and that he didn't want to miss the fireworks show he spent every year with his family since he was a fry. Eddie said there are some old tales of fish that have made it back up steam to the other side of the dam, back to the upper pool, which must be where your from. Walley says oh no I will never make it back, it sounds impossible. Eddie says well if anyone can help you figure this out its Cat, he knows everything about this place and he is going to be leaving here to go to Pleasure Ridge Casino and Resort looking for warmer water this week anyway, I'll call Cat, and maybe he can help his path for Pleasure Ridge Casino and Resort leads right down past the Under Water Locks. The Under Water Locks? what's that, Eddie said that's the system you'll have to use to get back to the upper pool. Its a man made water way controlled by man for man so they can get their barges to and from the upper pool. Perhaps Cat can get you as far as to the Fairy Fish that runs the Under Water Locks. Hey that's exactly what I want to do says Walley, go from the lower pool to the upper pool. Where can I find Cat and see if he can take me there? He isn't gonna wanna mess with me, he is going to be on his way to this Resort, why would he want to fuss with me, someone he has never met before. Ah Cat's a great Fish, he might seem tough on the outside, but on the inside he's got a heart the size of the Fossil Beds. Walley says “Whats the Fossil Beds?” Eddie says the Fossil Beds are that giant slab of rocks you passed by to get here after you came through the Dam. Walley says yeah, that must be what I landed on. Let me call him says Eddie, so Eddie goes to the corner, picks up the shell phone and starts making vibrating noises into it, he then listens to vibrating noises back. He returns to Walley and says Cat will meet us at the feeding grounds in the morning at sunrise sharp. So where is this feeding ground? says Walley. Eddie says it's about half a mile down river from here, toward where the channel begins. It's not that far, but it is a bit dangerous to get to. Not only is it dangerous to get to but when you get there you have to always be aware of fisherman, you are trying to catch food to eat, and to fisherman we are food or sometimes we are caught and used as bait to catch other fish, it's a vicious cycle. Walley just cringed. Walley says well we have to wait till morning to met Cat where am I gonna stay in the meantime, oh my parents will be so worried when I don't come home tonight. Eddie says you can stay here with me, this is where I live and sleep. Walley is saddened that he won't be returning home tonight, but he agrees to stay with Eddie. When morning comes Eddie wakes Walley and tells him to prepare for their short journey down river to the feeding grounds. As Eddie and Walley start their journey to the feeding grounds, the make their way down river using the current they are making pretty good timing. They swim along side some yellow tail shad and skip jack as they get closer they see more and more fish, they are staying close to the bank to avoid the main current, Eddie warns Walley that if you get in the main current you will ware your self out quicker and you will need your energy, he also warns him of the Big Striper and Hybrid bass that swim along the currents every monring to get to the feeding grounds and if one of them sets their eye on one of these yellow tailed shads they won't stop till they get them.[/SIZE][/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][SIZE=3]Eddie tells Walley not to get to close to the bank around the rocks cause he sees some fishing boats near by, as Walley is saying why? All the sudden a casting net comes over him and is gathered faster than he can believe. Eddie sees the whole thing and says oh no! Walley has been captured, what am I going to do? He swims over to Walley before he is hoisted out of the water in the net with the rest of the yellow tail shad and a couple of skip jack. He was able to tell Walley not to give up, that he would go to Cat without him and tell him the story and Cat would know what to do. Eddie also took note that it was a green boat that took Walley and the others. Walley flipping and crying oh no! Oh no! I'll never see you again, I'll never get back home as the net was hoisted from the water into the boat. When Walley went to the surface the fisherman opened up a live well and placed all the fish from the net into the live well and turned it on. Walley said good this is not so bad, I’m in a live well full of water from the River, only it was close quarters and with so many others, others much smaller than him except for one big Skip Jack almost his size. They were all getting acquainted when they hear the fisherman say, "now we can fish for some Catfish, and maybe well catch enough for a fish fry". All the fish in the Live Well became nervous, they began discussing rather or not they we're going to be used for bait and began swimming around in circles anxiously. They fill the boat motor start and they began swishing around in the live well and they can tell they are traveling the river a ways, until they stop, they hear some beating around in the boat and such, and suddenly a hand reaches into the live well and pulls out one of the Yellow Tailed Shad. He goes kicking and screaming out of the top of the well, and the man closes the lid behind him. On the outside on the boat one of the fisherman hooks the Yellow Tailed Shad through his lip, making a little hole, with a fishing hook. He rared his pole back, placed his finger on the button and cast Yellow Tail Shad out into the depths of their new location. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][SIZE=3]Meanwhile, back where Walley was captured, Eddie continues on his way to met Cat and tell him of Walleys story he figures that the least he can do since Walley was in fact his new friend and he had told him he would do what he could to help him get back home. So Eddie swims on to the feeding grounds also known as the Wickets, as he makes his way the water is getting deeper, but Eddies no stranger to the feeding grounds, after all he goes here frequently. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][SIZE=3]Also back at Walleys house his mom and dad have noticed him missing and become increasingly worried, they decide to go out looking for him, they go about as far as Tow Head Island, and realize maybe they should of warned Walley about the spillway in more detail and maybe shouldn't have kept him so sheltered. Who knows if Walley went through the spillway, if he did I’m not sure he could survive it said his mom. His dad said if he went through, of course he survived it. It will take a miracle for him to find his way back home though. We have to prepare ourselves he may never return, we need to make a decision as to weather we are going to leave our home behind for now and go looking for him, or if we are going to wait here and see if he returns. Walleys mother and father knew they had a grim decision to make. For now they would go back home and ponder their sons disappearance, and where they would go from here. They are asking every fish along the way if they had seen their son walley and no fish had. They run into the Asian Carp Walley had chased out of the area earlier, of course he had returned to eat more plankton. Mr. Walley asks him if he had seen Walley and he said yeah he tried to run me out of here earlier, and you can tell him I have as much right to be here as any other fish, that just because his parents wasn't from here didn't mean jack, he was born here and this is his home. Mr. Walley asked if he knew what had happened to him and he said no the last time I seen him he was chasing me around down by the spillway entrance. Mrs. Walley just knew the worst had happened. Walley had went through the spillway defending his home.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][SIZE=3]Finally, Eddie arrives at the feeding grounds, he chases down and chomps down on a crab, while waiting to see Cat. Sunrise is here, and there is Cat, right on time. Eddie couldn't wait to tell Cat the rest of Walley's story and what had happen to Walley and how he believes the boat that took Walley is over there over the channel, fishing for Catfish and that it was a green boat. Cat said well there’s only one thing we can do about that, we can't let young Walley be taken by fisherman, away from his family forever. So Cat swims out to the boat, it is anchored. He sees the Yellow Tail Shad in the water at the end of a fishing line on the bottom, still alive, so Cat swims over to the Yellow Tail Shad and engulfs him, pulling the line tight, the fisherman give it a tug, cat is hooked, he fights a little and lets the fisherman pull him in, they cheer and say awe what a nice fish, maybe he could of been a little bit bigger, but toss him into the live well anyway, making it more crowded then before. Walley says hello, I guess you got yourself caught. Cat upchucks the still alive and un chewed, Yellow Tail Shad, who is happy to be back, and the others are glad to have him back, unharmed, except of course for the tiny hook hole in his lip and lucky for him and Cat the fisherman was using a barb less hook which didn't damage Cat's lip when they pulled it out. Cat says to Walley, I'm not just any catfish, I'm Cat, Eddie's friend. He met me at the feeding grounds and told me all about you and what happened to you, and I just couldn't let you get taken away from your family like that, we have to try to get you back into the water, you'll have a better chance if we work together. Walley couldn't believe it, that Cat had came to try to help him, but he was sad in thinking that perhaps neither one of them will never return home and Cat would have risk it all for him and for nothing. Cat told Walley and the other fish in the live well to cheer up, that they would figure something out. They heard the fisherman say "we ain't gonna catch anymore here after all that ruckus lets go down stream and see what we can catch". The other fisherman agreed so they pulled up their anchor and started the engine, and took off down stream, the fish all knew they were in trouble, and they could tell they were riding for a long time, and then some. The fish all became acquainted during the ride, it was quite the ride, they must be riding into night time by now or at least it seemed like an all day trip to them. The journey continues on the boat carries them off into the early evening, down river, further then any of them had ever been before, they just knew it. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][SIZE=3]Eventually, the boat stops, the engine cuts of the swishing around in a live well after what felt like half a day had stopped, the water was barely swishing now, but it was still rough in there due to the choppy water, the river was big here you could tell it was wide open the wind had picked up a bit and was rocking the boat more than at the other fishing location they had traveled from. The fisherman were beating around again, Cat was sure they had sat the anchor again. All the Yellow Tail Shad were swimming around nervously, as were the Skip Jacks and Walley. No one knew what was going to happen next. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][SIZE=3]Meanwhile, back at Walleys house his mom and dad had become extremely worried, they knew for sure Walley had disappeared, he would of been located around the house by now if he was just out hunting alone, or playing with a friend, where ever he had gone, the one thing his mother knew for sure was that he didn't get permission from her or his father to go anywhere. Like any good mother she knew Walley was in danger. She swam the floors at home worried sick, "Oh where has Walley gone?" She proclaimed. Has he indeed gone through the spillway? This is all my fault, I should have kept a better eye on him, if I had been watching him or keeping up with him better this would never of happened. Walleys dad said, it's not your fault, dear, Walley has wondered off against our better advice, sometimes that what young fish do, you can't control their every move, or help them make their every decision, they have to start making decisions for them self as they grow up, that's how they learn. There, there, now don't be crying, Walley will return home, you'll see. I'm sure what ever trouble he has gotten himself into, he will be able to get out of it with the teaching we have gave him, now have a little faith in your own work. Walleys mom and dad hold each other as they worry over if Walley has gone through the spillway and if he will be coming home. As they had both went out looking for him earlier and couldn't find scale nor tale of him. They are pretty sure he was washed down the spillway, and ended up somewhere near Shipping Port Island. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][SIZE=3]Back at the boat, where Walley, Cat and the others where being held captive, the time drags on, they assume the fisherman were going to eat them or use them for bait eventually, the minutes turn into hours, until the lid opens on the live well again, this time they lower a net into the live well and scoop out a bunch of fish, the get Walley into the net with the Skip Jack and some Shad, this time they take out the small Skip Jack and return everybody else to the live well. Walley narrowly escaped being used for bait as far as they were concerned. They place the hook through little Skips lip, rare the fishing pole back, place their thumb on the button and cast him out into the deep, when the lid opened they could see for sure that it was night time now. Even though Walley was returned to the well, he became sad because he knew by this time that his parents knew he was missing and it broke his heart to think of hurting them, the two fish that had always taken such good care of him, that had given him life. Cat said cheer up Walley we'll get out of here you'll see, but Walley was also sad because Cat had risked so much to help him. So for Cat he smiled and cheered up. He secretly hoped that if ever called upon that he too could be so brave as Cat was today for him. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][SIZE=3]At Walleys house his parents decided to try to lay down and sleep away the time that Walley would be gone, he had never been away from home overnight before. They had worried most of the day and evening away, but there was only darkness left, so they laid down on their beds of moss and went to sleep for the night, the best they could.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][SIZE=3]Time passed by, a lot of time passed by since the fishermen had taken little Skip out of the well. They heard the fisherman laughing and carrying on as if they were the happiest people in the world, meanwhile they were stuck in live well with an uncertain future. Things seemed grim to Walley, until, then they heard the fishermen say, "Lets go we aren't catching much" The live well lid opened and the net came back in and scooped up Walley and the Shads and Skip Jack, as Walley was panicking they lifted them out of the live well and lowered them into the river again, Walley couldn't believe it, he had been returned to the river, but what about his friend Cat? Would he be returned as well, back on the boat, the fisherman lowers his hands into the live well, Cat has an uncertain feeling, he doesn’t know his future, will he be taken by the fishermen or will they return him to the water? He just knew that was a chance he was willing to take to comfort and be their for this new guy that came into his life named Walley. He doesn’t even know what happened to Walley and the others for sure. They put their hands around him and pick him up. They tell him it's his lucky day, and that he's lucky they didn't catch enough for a whole meal and they lower him back into the water as well. Walley who is swimming around the area policing it for Cats return, sees him and rushes over to him. Walley tells him thank you so much for all you have done for me, you could of been killed, you just met me. Why did you do it he ask him? How did you know we would make it? Did you know all along we would be released? Cat says slow down, one question at a time now. First of all he says, I have been in these waters for a lot of years and I have seen a lot of things and had a lot of experiences and heard about a lot of other fishes journeys. A wise fish listens and learns along the way. Walley just looked at Cat with much admiration. Cat said now come on i feel the stronger current is just down stream lets get up stream for safety and then we'll figure out where we are and how were going get home from here. These are already the deepest waters I have ever been in says Cat and i cannot even see the channel from here, so this part of the river is pretty wide as well. Cat guides them all over to the side of the waters edge where the current isn't as strong and the waters aren't as deep. He starts heading back up stream, they instinctively know that they came from upstream, since they know they didn't go through the next lock and dam, they would of heard it from inside the live well, but all they heard and felt was travel like sounds and feels, what seemed like quite a straight shot down river minus a couple of twists and turns along the way. Hopefully Cat could get them back to a place on the river that he recognized, as he had been a few miles or so downstream in his day and was heading about that far for warmer waters anyway, he just hadn't planned on making that journey with Walley, until he heard about Walley from Eddie and he certainly didn't plan on taking Walley past the Lock point out off the bottom of Shipping Port Island or moreover down stream this far. Now he was responsible for bringing Walley back to the Lock point from way down stream, he's not even sure how far. Cat is secretly and admittedly quiet very worried. Walley see's Cat thinking he says to him "what kind of Catfish are you anyway? Cat says "Channel Cat". How big can you get Walley says? Cat says "seventeen pounds" and live for about fifteen years. Walley says my mom and dad says I'll get about fifteen pounds too, but I think I'll get bigger than that. Cat says for now lets push forward until we find a place to hold up at tonight. I'm not sure because I’ve never traveled it but I’ve heard it's about twenty five miles from Shipping Port Island to the next dam down, with that calculation it should take us about one day swimming straight up stream plus resting at night to get back in the area in the Locks. You Yellow Tails need to decide if your coming with us or if your going on your own way. The big Skip Jack also had a decision to make. Ultimately they all decided to head back in the direction from which they had came. Back toward the lower pool by Shipping Port Island. This place had suddenly seemed like their home and they only wanted to get back to what they knew. They all decided to push forward and head upstream the first interesting characters they came up on were a school of Long Nose Gars, both Walley and Cat was familiar with Gars, they had them in the part of the river that they had came from, they knew Gars eat meat and take what ever they can get. So they better be aware at the least and maybe stay out of sight of the Long Nose Gars. So they hid behind an old tree laying on the side of the river bank half in and half out of the water. The Long Nose Gars come swimming by on top of the water, there must be about twelve of them. Walley is scared to death, he hunkers down quietly, Skip Jack is also worried, he is shaking and parked on bottom as far under the tree as he could get and the school of Yellow Tail Shads were also hunkered amongst the rest of us filling in the small places. We were all together, the school of Long Nose Gars swam on down stream seeming not to have a care in the world. Even though the Long Nose Gars had disappeared into the distance, Cat wanted to wait a little longer just to be sure. After a while Cat okay ed an exit from the downed tree. They all swam up and went on their way, Cat knew just because they were cleared for now that didn't mean safety through the night unless they could find somewhere to take shelter out of the way of danger. He knew that those Long Nose Gar could turn around when they reach the dam and make their way back up stream and he didn't know for sure how long they would be safe from them not to mention any other threats, as he hadn't ever been this far down river nor had he ever been near this deep of water. Cat knew he needed to make way up stream quick for the safety of himself as well as the others. Up stream they went, they must of traveled four miles when they seen a sign that said "Clover Creek". Oh finally a town said Cat, lets keep going until we get to this Clover Creek place and hopefully it will be a place where we can rest and take shelter. Cat, Walley, Skip Jack and the Shads pressed on. Finally, they arrived in Clover Creek. They approached cautiously Cat went first he went to the entry way which was along the bank on the same side they were on and he seen a Crappie, the Crappie said Hello, Please do come in, my name is Big Crappie, I don't recognize you from around here, you look tired, do you need a place to rest a spell, most of us are in bed, but I couldn't sleep, so I was up. Welcome to Clover Creek in Clover port past sight of coal mining many years ago. Cat explained to Mr. Crappie they were on a journey and had gotten taken by fisherman and were trying to find their way back to Pleasure Ridge Resort. You guys come in and we have plenty of empty beds, y’all can all sleep here tonight. It was nothing like they had ever seen before, you just whipped in off the side of the river and there was this spacious creek and it's occupant's were kind and welcoming, the place consisted of Crappies and Large mouth Bass according to Mr. Crappie. He led us all to a place where he gave us snacks consisting of minnows and then led us all to our own rooms. We were releaved, but of course we were sad to be turning in without being home. We all relaxed and went to bed, Mr. Crappie told us we would met the rest of the town in the morning. He understood that we had to be on our way as soon as we were rested enough and he offered us a dip in the healing Tar Pits in the morning if any of us were worn beyond what a nights sleep could fix. Walley curled up on his strange moss bed and tried to shut his eyes and go to sleep all he could think of was his worried parents and the fact that he had messed up so badly. He quickly reminded himself how lucky he was to have Cat and feeling safe and relieved he slowly quietly drifted off to sleep. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][SIZE=3]Morning came and Cat, Walley and the others were greeted by the other towns fish. They didn't seem to interested in them as they were just going about their daily routines there. Mr. Crappie offered them a tour of the place. Not wanting to be rude after all Mr. Crappie had done for them they agreed. So off they went. Mr. Crappie took them around the place. Mr Crappie told them it was the only place on the Ohio River who's town had less land than it did water and that the creek ruled around here. Walley couldn't believe all the other Crappie's there. He had never seen so many Crappie in all his life. It was like a Crappie breeding ground. Mr. Crappie said we have to go further back in the creek to get the full tour of the place, cat said “there’s more” Mr. Crappie said yes, as he lead them back further into the creek they came up on a split or fork in the creek, he told them that if we go this way it is where most of us live, so they decided to go that way and check this part of the fork In the creek out first, Walley couldn’t believe his eyes, there where stumps everywhere, half rotted and still connected to the bottom they made for perfect fish housing, there was a crappie family on every stump it would seem. Thump! Walley and the others heard a large thump. They became afraid. They said what was that? Mr. Crappie explained oh that's just a fisherman, they try to come in here and fish us out, but we always hear them coming because they always hit the stickups with their boats. Oh said Walley. Mr. Crappie said you get used to it. It is a nice security system. Once you hear the thumps you know not to eat anything in that area. Mr. Crappie explained that there was a man made boat launch near by where man put their boats in the water, so it happens frequently. Walley said okay and looked at the others who also looked amused. Over head goes the boat as it moves on trying to catch Crappie. Mr Big Crappie continued the tour of the place, they straigt for a while and then the creek split into two, you could go left or right, they couldn't believe how big this creek was, the place was bigger than they imagined. After meeting several crappie and new friends who were kind and dossel Mr. Crappie said now we should go show you the other creek back at the fork, it is called Tar Creek, Walley said why do they call it Tar Creek? Mr. Crappie said it is known for having tar springs coming out of the ground in beneath the water where we live and it is great for healing and relaxation, Cat said that sounds great right about now, and the others agreed, so Mr. Crappie led them back to the fork in the creek and up into Tar creek, where they seen tar springs coming up out of the ground. Mr crappie said help yourself go relax a while and kick up your fins before you have to continue your journey. They were okay with that of course, so Cat, Walley, skip and the others went and laid around in the tar springs. Ah relieved they were. After a while cat said as much fun and as safe as all this is we all know we have to be on our way back out into the dangerous body of the river. About that time Cat asked Walley and the other if they were ready to start making their way back up stream. They agreed they had to be going if they were going to make any leeway on their journey today. So Cat explained to Mr. Crappie they had to be going. Mr. Crappie and some of the others swam them to the exit where they said their thank you's and goodbye's to all of the towns fish they had met.[/SIZE][/FONT]


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