No one was catching fish. Luke wasn’t happy. “I told Billy to keep at it.” I left him with the bait and motioned Luke to follow. I grabbed Luke’s pole and began to hike out of the trees, and back towards the owners shack. “Come on Luke,” I said. “You and I are going to go catch some fish.”
“I don’t think so,” he said sadly. “I never catch a fish.”
I looked back at Luke. His head was down and he was looking at the ground. “Of course you will,” I answered. “I use to believe exactly the way you do. But, I have caught lots of fish and we will catch one today.” He didn’t believe me. I thought about myself at his age, another young boy who thought life was out to get him at times. I tried a few casts but nothing worked. I looked across the lake. The other group had not caught anything either. Then Billy started shouting, “I got one. I got a fish. I got a fish!” He was too unskilled to bring it in and get it off the hook. I watched it jump out of his hands and fall back into the lake. I wish I had been there to help him. I smiled and shrugged my shoulders simultaneously lifting my hands, signaling I was sorry. He looked at the lake and then sat down and rebaited his hook. “Good boy,” I thought. “He will be a fine fisherman someday."

I tried another cast, this time a little farther out from shore. Nothing happened. Then it hit me. If you don’t know what you are doing, or where you are, what is the first thing you should do? A young lady was passing us in a pick up. I flagged her down.
"Do you work here?" I asked.
"All my life," she answered.
“These boys and I can’t leave here without some fish,” I said.
She smiled and looked down at Luke. She looked at me. “Well,” she said. “The lake actually gets shallower where you guys were fishing earlier. It seems strange, but the best place to catch fish is out on that dock.”
I looked at the dock. It was empty. “If they aren’t biting worms go up and ask for some super food.”

I had no idea what super food was. But, I did everything she said. The woman in the shack looked at me. Then she went to a refrigerator and handed me something wrapped in silver foil. "Super food," she said. I remembered the most important thing a Delta Commander had said in his book. "If you don't know the terrain. Go find someone who does." At the end of the dock was something that gave me even more confidence, a large automatic fish feeder. "No wonder the fish come over here to eat," I said to myself. I rolled up some super food in a ball and then put it on the hook. I handed the pole to Luke. Luke looked at the pole and sighed. "One thing I know about you Luke," I said, "is that you are a good caster. Now, cast right over there.” I pointed straight out towards the middle of the lake about fifteen feet from the dock. Luke is a good caster. He put it exactly where I said. The float drifted with the current to the right.It didn’t happen immediately. We had to wait a little while longer. But, within thirty minutes Luke had his first fish ever. It actually was the first fish anyone caught that day. Billy came running up. He soon had his.