Something funny occurs when fishermen get together and I suppose when people with the same interests get together the same thing happens. Tales of extraordinary things get shared and constantly improved upon.

One of my really good fishing friends is successful in his profession and has a great family. He always helps out with his local church. Is very active in community activities and most of the time is someone that strikes you as being what use to be called, with great respect, a fundamentally good person. That is until the subject of fishing comes up.

Then all of a sudden a monster is born and rushes out as if willing to consume anything and anyone that stands in its way. Or to put it another way, he hogs the conversation and always has a better story, a bigger trout, a riskier escape from sudden death as he managed in the nick of time to jump aside and avoid a huge boulder that came tumbling down a hill.

This last one is his most recent story and it did make for very good telling and even listening - that is until the third time round when it was no longer a boulder but half a cliff that chased an avalanche of mud, trees and even cattle. It is a bit strange that such an earth shattering catastrophe didn't make the news, but you never know.

Others fit in exactly with that old fisherman's cliche, known as "the one that got away". When you come to think of it these always make for better stories as the trout grows on and on an on until it resembles some primeval being. A being that takes on evil and wicked ways which are only surpassed by its fiery intelligence seen through an unblinking eye. Still I suppose stranger things have happened.

Finally there is that group of friends who talk about fishing but end up fishing much more than they talk. When they do talk it is about their tackle, their flies or the fascinating life of the trout. And somehow they always quietly end up with a better catch.

They are our heros in that we want to be like them when we grow up - maybe the rest of us will someday.