Catch of a Lifetime

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He was eleven years old and went fishing every chance he got from the
dock at his family's cabin on an island in the middle of a New Hampshire
lake.

On the day before the bass season opened, he and his father were fishing
early in the evening, catching sunfish and perch with worms. Then he tied
a small silver lure and practiced casting. The lure struck the water and
caused colored ripples in the sunset, then silver ripples as the moon rose
over the lake.

When his pole doubled over, he knew something huge was on the other end.
His father watched with admiration as the boy skillfully worked the fish
alongside the dock.

Finally, he very gingerly lifted the exhausted fish from the water. It
was the largest one he had ever seen, but it was a bass.

The boy and his father looked at the handsome fish, gills playing back
and forth in the moonlight. The father lit a match and looked at his
watch. It was 10 P.M. - two hours before the season opened. He looked at
the fish, then at the boy.

"You'll have to put it back, son," he said.

"Dad!" cried the boy.

"There will be other fish," said his father.

"Not as big as this one," cried the boy.

He looked around the lake. No other fishermen or boats were anywhere
around in the moonlight. He looked again at his father.

Even though no one had seen them, nor could anyone ever know what time
he caught the fish, the boy could tell by the clarity of his father's
voice that the decision was not negotiable. He slowly worked the hook
out of the lip of the huge bass and lowered it into the black water.

The creature swished its powerful body and disappeared. The boy suspected
that he would never again see such a great fish.

That was 34 years ago. Today, the boy is a successful architect in New
York City. His father's cabin is still there on the island in the middle
of the lake. He takes his own son and daughters fishing from the same
dock.

And he was right. He has never again caught such a magnificent fish as
the one he landed that night long ago. But he does see that same fish -
again and again - every time he comes up against a question of ethics.

For, as his father taught him, ethics are simple matters of right and
wrong. It is only the practice of ethics that is difficult. Do we do
right when no one is looking? Do we refuse to cut corners to get the
design in on time? Or refuse to trade stocks based on information that
we know we aren't supposed to have?

We would if we were taught to put the fish back when we were young. For
we would have learned the truth.

The decision to do right lives fresh and fragrant in our memory. It is a
story we will proudly tell our friends and grandchildren. Not about how
we had a chance to beat the system and took it, but about how we did the
right thing and were forever strengthened.

James P. Lenfestey
Journalist, Poet and Environmental Activist