Crouching Catfish – Hidden Scorpion

My summer at Camp Strake included several up-close adventures with the local fauna in addition to the armadillos mentioned yesterday.

There is a naturally occurring phenomenon in lakes and ponds known as inversion, in which the oxygen-rich top water switches places with the cooler water on the bottom.  This is normally a good thing,  but in ponds with little fresh water flow it can lead to fish kills due to oxygen starvation.  We saw this on Grand Lake at Camp Strake in the summer of 1956.  Outboard motors were normally prohibited on the lake, but as the dead fish lined the shallows, authorities ran outboards up and down the lake in an attempt to aerate the water.

As we were watching the boats run one morning, we saw a huge catfish in about four-inch-deep water.  He was just fine, thank you; he’d just come up out of the lake to dine on the dead fish lining the shore.  Another scout and I splashed out and, hooking an arm in each of his gills, hauled the big cat up on dry land. 

The fish in this picture was caught last July by 11-year-old Mike Webb in Union Grove, Texas.  Ours was considerably bigger than that. 

The catfish we “caught” was longer than me – I was about four foot eight at the time – and standing side-by-side, three of us were able to get both of our feet in his mouth at once.  Camp management called the Game Warden who hauled the fish away.

The summer’s other incident wasn’t nearly as much fun, but much more memorable in its way.

Swimming was about the only sport in which I excelled. I was a member of  the Hamilton Junior High Swim Team, and I spent a lot of my free time that summer at the camp pool.  Although my final exam required me to “save” an instructor over twice my size, I earned my Scout Lifeguard certification that summer.

The pool’s changing area was an open-air affair with walls but no roof.  There were benches along the walls and pegs to hang our clothes.  Those of us on the camp staff normally left our swimsuits hanging on pegs when we were not in the water. 

One hot night a scorpion decided my cool, damp bathing suit was an ideal place to set up shop, and when I pulled my suit on the next morning he immediately expressed his displeasure.

This was years before the movies of Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee – the novels had not been written that would inspire the filming of Crouching Tiger  Hidden Dragon – but I am told that I performed a feat of amazing athleticism that would rival the best of the Kung-fu masters. 

While seemingly suspended in mid-air, I removed my suit and came down lightly on my left foot while my right stomped the scorpion into a greasy spot on the changing room floor!

At the same time, I emitted a scream that was heard at the camp headquarters office 3/4 of a mile away.

The camp doctor gave me some aspirin and told me to take the rest of the day off.  He also told me that the resultant swelling would make me the envy of every boy and practically every man in the camp.