"Alipio's story truly is "the craziest fishing tale on the bayou" I've ever heard. It has embedded how fishing can impact family relationships, the process of growing up, goal setting, and the value of persistence and hard work in the face of failure . if you want to revisit your early observations of fishing or just plain entertainment, cast your lure at this one!" --Don Dubuc, Outdoors radio and TV host Hatcher Hampton is turning twelve. Per family tradition, he'll be entering his first fishing rodeo, hoping to prove he's better than his older brother. First prize wins $500--money that could save his family from being evicted from their home--and the winner gets his picture in the paper!Reality soon intervenes in Hatcher's heroic fantasy as he faces pestering insects, a one-armed man, angry seas, boat blunders, and an old swamp legend. Getting stuck in a mosquito-infested swamp with Grampa Grump and no extra underwear isn't what he had in mind!Gary Alipio is an advertising writer, a marketer, and an amateur fisherman. He grew up just outside of New Orleans and spent many years on the bayou waters of Louisiana with his family. Over the years, his love for fishing with his Grampa turned to fishing with friends and now fishing with his daughter.

You can find his other tall and creepy tales in Bayou Bogeyman Presents Hoodoo and Voodoo.