The field notes
How it got out of hand.
We went to the lake for a quiet afternoon. That lasted until the line pulled hard enough to turn a relaxing fishing trip into a full-team operation.
Sandy took the net. Robert took the heroic stance. The fish took the boat in a direction neither of us had planned, which is how a calm day on the water became a high-speed tug-of-war with fins.
Was it the biggest fish ever caught? The photographs will be studied by experts. Until then, the official record stands: it was absolutely that big, and the cooler deserves a medal.