Be careful what you find floating in the lake; it might be makings of a nightmare

Several years ago I wrote about a special fishing trip to Don Pedro I had with my dad and my grandpa Louis when I was about 15 years old. For Father’s Day, I thought I would once again share it.

The three of us were on an overnight bass fishing trip. We were casting along the shoreline to trees and brush when I noticed a small piece of what appeared to be floating wood. Something weird on top of that little flotsam caught my eye.

As we got closer, the “something” began to look like a giant nasty hairy brown spider about 4 inches-plus in diameter. It wasn’t a tarantula, but I could see it had giant fangs and huge eyes. Its back didn’t look right – sort of like it was moving all around. As we drew even nearer it became apparent that it was covered with a mat of little hairy baby spiders all moving like a wave. Horror movie stuff!

Dad put the tip of his pole over by the spider – and it grabbed hold! He lifted the heavy spider right by the side of our boat, and just as he was about to move it back out to its wood vessel, the spider let go. Thud! It landed in the bottom of the boat. For a split-second it sat there with baby spiders all over it before it took off for the gear stored along the starboard side. We tore everything apart trying to find it.

Several hours later, we beached the boat and began setting up camp. That’s when Dad informed me I’d be sleeping in the boat while they went ashore. Yikes! I tried to stay calm, but that spider was pretty nasty looking and it was somewhere in the boat.

I checked every cranny for my nightmare. Nothing. In the moonlight, I rolled out my sleeping bag when it hit me: I had looked everywhere except inside the bag. The chilling possibility of sliding into the bag with that spider in there made me go to our camp and get a flashlight. I was going to check every inch of my bag before I got in.

Back in the boat, I was reminded of that classic horror movie scene where they decide to go up into the attic and find out what’s up there. Meanwhile, you’re screaming, “Don’t do it!”

I grabbed the edge of my bag and pulled it open while I trained my flashlight on the exposed interior. Sitting there in the very middle of my bag (waiting for me!) was my worst nightmare frozen in place. There were well over another hundred eyes of the babies sparkling and reflecting the flashlight’s beam back at me.

I don’t remember screaming, or for that matter, much else. The spider didn’t make it and I still don’t know if it was poisonous.

My wife tells me I save bugs and good spiders all the time. Maybe it’s penance. My dad and grandpa thought it was the funniest thing they ever saw. I didn’t. I still remember all those sparkling little spider eyes looking up at me, and the huge fangs .... Brrr!

Happy Father’s Day! Never give up!