One Cod Fish Day Joe West was permitted to tell us about a fishing trip he had taken with his wife Louise. They had gone out on the lake hoping to hook on to some bass. They weren�t having much luck at all and that is unusual. Most days Maine lakes are so loaded with fish you can get out of your boat and walk on them, or if you aren�t exceedingly careful they might  jump into your boat in such quantities they could cause the boat to capsize and sink. They fished for over an hour and never had a nibble. Suddenly they noticed some movement on the shoreline so they rowed over to investigate.

The biggest squirrel either one of them had ever seen was sitting on the bank eating something. As they watched the squirrel started running back and forth like someone had set his rear end on fire. Sitting on a stump about twelve feet from shore was the best looking acorn anyone could imagine and it was driving the big squirrel crazy. As Mr. and Mrs. West watched the huge squirrel backed up, took a running start, and jumped onto the stump. The two fishers knew the squirrel had made a mistake and was stranded there for the rest of his natural life. They were about to turn away when the squirrel took the acorn in his mouth, jumped into the water, and started swimming toward shore.

What happened next startled the fishers so much they were both speechless. A bass with a mouth the size of a china plate opened it up and swallowed the squirrel, acorn and all. Mr. West sprang into action and was about ready to cast for the bass when his wife yelled for him to stop. As they watched the bass swam back and spit the acorn back on the stump. Now Mr. West was really excited. That bass was wall hanging size and beyond doubt the biggest fresh water bass in the state of Maine. He stood in his boat ready to cast and catch this monster of the lake when his wife yelled for him to stop. �You�ll never catch that bass, Joe.� she said to her mate, �he�s way too smart. Somehow he found or picked that acorn and now he�s using it for bait to catch squirrels."