Gone Fishing

I can hardly blame Stomper for his latest obsession: "River Monsters," a t.v. show in which this very tough, leathery old guy by the name of Jeremy Wade goes fishing. Not just regular fishing, mind you.  He's after fish you wouldn't believe - absolute monsters which are often surrounded by tales of having eaten people and/or their various body parts.  It's a recipe for perfection as far as Stomper is concerned - there's a little blood and carnage (mild reenactment only...wait, I take that back. Jeremy has been chomped a time or two), lots and lots of big teeth, plus the fish are always set free after being wrestled in. Keep in mind, it was Stomper who sobbed at the end of the movie "Godzilla" when the people win the fight against the mighty beast.

As Stomper has been spending time watching Mr. Wade, I've seen an increase in this type of art work:

 

The first drawing shows a shark eating a fish that's already been caught - apparently bull sharks swim up rivers and wait for fishermen to catch things for them.  You can see how confusing this is for the fishermen.  And in the second shot you can see the amount of exertion it takes to snag a shark out of a river.  Also miraculous was the day I walked into Stomper's room and found him reading. Folks, mine is not the child who has developed an undying love of reading.  Yet.  But there he was, sitting down with a book and reading it out loud in fascination.  Of course, it was the River Monsters book that he picked out from the last book order.  Thank you, Jeremy Wade.  

I actually found a piece of paper in the living room the other day that was a letter.  "Dear Jeremy," it read, "I love River Monsters...." etc.  It turns out that Stomper is planning on inviting Mr. Wade to dinner the next time he comes fishing in North America.  I'm encouraging him to finish his letter and send it to the angler in the hopes of at least getting a signed photo if not an actual dinner guest.  The question is, if I ever did end up with a celebrity fisherman at my table, do I dare to serve anything other than fish?