A long, long time ago, Paul and Babe were vacationing near Pequot Lakes after sending their last load of logs down the Mississippi. Paul thought he’d try his luck at catching Notorious Nate – O’ One-Eyed Jakes’ cousin, a forty-foot northern so mean that he was expelled from every school of fish in the five-state area. Nate had only one weakness – his love for Sunfish Sally – the sassiest, sexiest, fantail sunfish you ever did see!
Paul’s plan was simple: Ole the Big Swede, Paul’s blacksmith, forged a huge deadly iron hook with barbs as sharp as Paul’s axe! He attached it to a 90-foot pole and baited it with a six-foot juicy worm. But, to complete this fantastic rug – Ole made the largest bobber ever known – 60 feet in circumference.
Armed with his pole – Paul and Babe headed for Whitefish Lake and cast it in off Pickerel Point, just where Sunfish Sally was sunning herself. Nate was nearby as usual, admiring Sally’s spectacular silhouette. Sally took one look at that bait and darted after Paul’s murderous hook. Nate, sensing the danger, headed Sally off. But, alas, the zinging hook caught Nate instead! Paul gave one mighty tug and with a last desperate flip, Nate flew so high in the air, that he landed seven miles away in downtown Pequot Lakes.
And, the bobber caught in the tower scaffolding under construction for the new water tower and there it sits today – but a memory of Paul’s battle with the ill-fated Nate.
All the townspeople filled two freezers full of fish that spring. But, the hole left by Nate puzzled them. It was decided by the Pequotians to bake beans in it every July and that’s how Bean Hole Days started.
Oh, Yes, and when Paul and Babe were battling Ol’ Nate, they left a few footprints and created the Whitefish Chain. Paul named one, Lake Bertha, after his aunt. And Babe named one lake Hay after his favorite fodder!
People have speculated on the fate of the beautiful Sunfish Sally. It has been said that pool Sally was so blue and brokenhearted over her beau’s demise, that ever after, each of her descendents carried the mark of her lover’s remembrance and hence was born a new species – the Blue Gill!
So goes the Tale of Paul Bunyan’s Bobber.
©Copyrighted
