© Albert CutlerThe dropped bass lodged in the grill of Albert Cutler's trick
Often times when an angler reels in a fish, there's a story attached to it. Fishermen have to have plenty of "it was this big" and "the thing jumped this high out of the water" stories to tell to their friends, because isn't that what fishing is all about? You've got to have some sort of memorable anecdote to recount to one up your other fishing friend's story.
This Lake Country, Wisconsin, man will forever have an easy one-upper story in his back pocket thanks to a wild incident that took place this past weekend. Albert Cutler was driving back from from church with his family on July 27 when they all witnessed something that will be story-worthy for years to come. What story will the Cutlers be able to cue up whenever they are in need of a fishing story?
The sky was falling.
Rather, something was falling out of the sky, and it just so happened to perfectly line up with the route that Albert Cutler was on. He and his family - who were in a different car just ahead of him - were driving near Okauchee Lake just before 11 a.m. when they took notice of a bald eagle flying over the roadway. The predatory bird just so happened to have a slippery fish in tow, and evidently didn't have the best grasp on it.
Seconds after Cutler spotted the fish in talons of the bald eagle, the bird lost it's grip on the bass, and the fish started to free fall (cue up Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'"). Sure enough, the Wisconsin man heard a "bump" on the front of his car, and suspected he had hit the poor fish as it was falling. After that though, he didn't think much of the weird incident.
That is until Cutler pulled into his home, and his daughter spotted something strange sticking out his vehicle's grill. That's when the Wisconsin man quickly remembered what he had seen - and heard - on his drive home. As crazy as it might sound, Albert Cutler accidently hit a flying largemouth bass, and the proof was wedged right into the front of his car.
The good news is that his truck didn't sustain any damage from the fish impact. The bad news? Cutler sadly admitted that he fishes from time to time, and that this bass was the biggest one he's ever caught. And he "caught" it with the front of his truck. Maybe that's a sign that he should ever fish again?
Speaking of signs, Albert Cutler added that the sermon he had heard at his church not too long before he struck a flying fish with his car was based around "things you have never seen before." I simply can't imagine hearing my preacher discuss being prepared for the unexpected, then effectively "catching" a fish with my car on the way home.
But hey... they say the Lord works in mysterious ways, right? If that's not confirmation from the "Man Upstairs," I don't know what is.
Reader Comments
@kimster:
from previous posts, you've indicated a minnesota connection. i have lived in minnesota for 56 years straight. i was born in minnesota, in 1956 and after accompanying my parents on their wayward 'missions' (to make a profound and lingering societal impact) i returned , with them, to minnesota, in '69. i will die in minnesota, god willing. and, unlike my parents, i hope to have as little a 'societal impact' as possible....lol.
one of the many, many, many adventures i've had in my life (in minnesota), was when i was 15 and made a solo canoe trip down the crow wing river (in central minnesota) when i was 15. i wasn't fishing (though i saw many fish and deer and ducks and muskrats and herons and hawks and turtles and frogs, a lot of bugs, and--even a few people--the world to me then was more virgin than it is now and stupid people were fewer and not as sickening as they are now. so they even when i saw them didn't really bother me), i was just having fun, and i was fortunate, indeed. it was a wonderful experience....i remember and always will, always, those virgin days of youth....15 years old! i lived on trust, i guess.
my sisters were always jealous of me because, whereas, my parents always seemed (to them--my sisters) to let me 'go my own way' and 'do my own thing', wherever they (my three sisters) went, they always required a chaperone, because, they were girls and required protection, boys could be beat on and then set 'free'...to join the army and go to war, or kill themselves making enough money or whatever....yeay!
so my sisters were sent to disneyland and to florida and to europe, and i went to the wildest, freest (albeit loneliest) places i could imagine or conjure or escape to (because i didn't like war and i didn't like money) . i guess this is true, my sisters went that way and i went this way....
in retrospect, the only thing that would have made my crow wing river trip better was if i would have had a girl with me, one that knew how to fish, correctly.
btw: can you canoe?
your friend,
ned
Now also consider this - when you were 15 and your sister's were at Disneyland - do you really think there would have been a "girl" for you to bring along on this journey upon the Crow Wing River in Minnesota - on the waters soon to be the Mississippi River glorious!
Moved to Prairie du Chien, WI in Dec. 1988, live now in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.......so Mid-west girl.
Though traveled the world for 20 years making wildlife films.
As an aside......the first gift I bought my Ex was a 17' lightweight Grumman canoe.
We would go canoeing a lot, though since he wanted to fish......I had to paddle. He would shout orders......put me 15 ' off that dead snag, put me 10' off the blah-blah-blah and on & on. One night we were camping and he caught nothing , so we both put poles in the water and I eneded up catching dinner. His fishing ego was bruised, instead of being happy for the dinner!