Posted 10 months ago
MishMasher
(46 items)
My mother was born and raised in Webster Massachusetts and we went there often as children to visit. My uncle Jack would take me to this lake and he tried to teach me how to swim and float. I did not learn how to do either of those but I did learn how to pronounce the name of the lake and the meaning of the name. You fish on your side, I'll fish on my side, no one fishes in the middle.
MishMasher, Wow.
How to Pronounce Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22d_HzU4Erg&t=22s
You can't even float, huh?
Some people can't float because of their body composition:
https://www.swimnow.co.uk/learn-to-swim/4-secrets-to-floating-in-the-water/
My BiL was like that when he was young. He could swim fine; he just couldn't float. He demonstrated it for a skeptical friend by jumping into a diving pool, lying flat, and sinking twelve feet to the bottom.
I didn't like it when Uncle Jack floated because he did so for a very long time. He would fall asleep & in a deep sleep at that. It scared me because I thought he might drown. It occurs to me now that Uncle Jack wasn't napping he was full of drink & was passed out.!!
MishMasher. >8-0
I can see where that would not have been confidence-inspiring.
On the other hand, he never did drown, did he? What's that old saying about fools and drunkards?
Anyway, as a female, you probably have a natural advantage in floating, because women usually have less muscle mass and more body fat than men.
I never did learn to float expect for on a raft. I'm having flashbacks of all the fish that bit me while I was in that lake. Hmmmm
MishMasher, Freshwater fish bit you? >8-0
The closest I've ever gotten to being bitten by a fish was minnows nibbling on my legs (which just tickles), but apparently there are indeed freshwater fish that will bite humans.
Here are the species in Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg:
*snip*
Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Chain Pickerel, Yellow Perch, White
Perch, Black Crappie, Bluegill, Pumpkinseed, Redbreast Sunfish, Brown
Bullhead, Yellow Bullhead, White Sucker, and landlocked Alewife. Trout are
also stocked annually in the spring and fall.
*snip*
https://www.mass.gov/doc/webster-lake/download
Apparently Bluegills can nip you:
*snip*
They're attracted to the sweat on swimmers' bodies, and also tend to attack when the swimmers stop moving and stand still.
*snip*
https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=90021
This poor kid got bit by either a pike or a muskellunge:
https://www.wired2fish.com/news/boy-injured-after-rare-freshwater-fish-bite/
It's probably just as well that I didn't know stuff like this when I was a kid. :-(
MishMasher, No guarantees, but it sounds like the Bluegills were the biting culprits.
Because you didn't swim, you probably spent a fair amount of time standing still in the water, and unfortunately, that would have made you an attractive target to Bluegills.