Every Sunday afternoon the men-folk of the small Alabama town would meet on the porch of the hardware store to compare and brag about who caught the most fish that morning. It was a ritual they had done for years while their wives were at the 1st Baptist Church teaching Sunday school. But there was one member of the group, an old man, some might call an old redneck, that everyone knew could never be out-fished. Every Sunday he always won. Over the years he had become a legend across that remote portion of Bama.
Well the state game warden that had been just another good 'ol boy for 30 years finally retired, and in his place they hired a new kid fresh out of college with degrees in environmental studies and cultural diversity. After a few months on the job he realizes that there must be something to all this grapevine gossip about some old man and his legendary fishing exploits. He decides this needs investigated, so he loads up his all electric GM SUV and rolls into the small town the next Sunday afternoon.
He tries to break the ice and chat it up with the locals, but soon after the introductions, he lets them know what he really wants is to inspect the "legend's" catch. The locals point him out, sitting on the tailgate of his rusty old Ford crushing a fourth can of Bud. The young warden walks over and asks "Care if I take a look in your coolers?" The old man beams with pride, says "sure" and opens them up.
The warden was shocked.
"Now I may be new, but something's not right here. No way you caught these all in one morning. You're going to show me how you are doing this, or I'm going to have to write you up and give you a fine. So tomorrow, we're going fishing."
The old man's face lit up and he smiled ear to ear.
"Hell yes, now there's a plan. My wife never goes and I'd enjoy some company. What kinda beer you drink?" The warden is taken aback, but he lets it pass.
Bright and early the next morning the warden pulls up at the ramp armed with his fishing poles and a laptop. He climbs into the old aluminum flat bottom, the redneck fires up the 8 horse Evinrude, and off they go leaving a trail of blue smoke and a rainbow colored oil slick.
When they get out to the middle of the lake and the young warden starts looking around, he realizes the old man forgot his poles; but just as he is about to say something, the old man reaches into a styrofoam cooler, pulls out a stick of dynamite, lights it, and throws it into the lake.
"BOOM!"
When the water calms and the smoke settles, the old smiles, fires up the Evinrude, and starts scooping up the fish as they float up to the surface.
"That's a good catch!"
The new warden is absolutely speechless. He can't believe what he just saw. He tries to composes himself, but he quickly breaks down and goes into a screaming rage covering everything from State and Federal Regulations to eco-terrorism.
The old man just sits there and looks at him puzzled. At the end of the rant the old man shrugs, reaches into his cooler, pulls out a beer with one hand, and another stick of dynamite with the other. He pops open the beer, takes a big gulp and says:
"Ya know, I think you're worse than my wife." He lights the dynamite and hands it to the warden. "Now are you gonna keep talking, or are we gonna start fishin'?"