Who is the fall guy you ask, well it's not that "stunt guy" on TV that's for sure. The "fall guy" that I'm talking about is a great fisherman and a good friend of mine. His name is Mike Reist and we fish together quite a bit, well that is whenever he gets the chance to get out of the house from tending to all his fatherly duties. I must say that it's always a show when Mike goes fishing with me. I mean, it's an "E-ticket ride" every single time! Let me explain how he earned this nickname.

I'll start off with the time that Mike and I went fishing at the Lake Worth, Florida (spillway). A great area for snook fishing, because it is where the fresh water "spills" over into the saltwater. When the spillway gates are open, all the freshwater bait (shad, shiners, bream, etc.) is spewed over into the saltwater side. This in turn causes the snook to congregate there in droves. And believe me when I tell you, there have been some "slobs" pulled out of that spillway! Several forty plus pounders.

There I go getting off the subject at hand. Sorry, but I get side tracked sometimes, now on with the story about how Mike got his nickname "The Fall-Guy". Well, like I was saying before I went on that tangent, Mike and I drove to the Lake Worth Spillway late one week night. It was extremely dark at the spot where we always fish. We have to walk down this narrow path on the bank of a step hill. We are both carrying our fishing rods, bait bucket with live shad in it, and Mike has the flashlight and is leading the way.

All of a sudden Mike trips over something and down he goes! Everything fades to slow motion. The thud of Mike falling is in itself scary cause he's a big boy! He weighs in around 320 lbs. and has short but strong legs, with giant calf's. Well, now that you have his physical attributes embedded in your minds I'll continue.

Now I can see Mike's fishing rod hit the sand and the bait bucket holding the water and the live shad is turned over, thus spilling down the steep embankment with Mike following the bouncing and now flopping live shad. Mike rolls and tumbles down the hill like a snowball out of control. He finally comes to rest at the bottom of the nine-foot hill, with his flashlight still on and in his hand. He shined the light towards his right calf and we both could see that a sharp stick was now lodged in his upper calf.

Mike pulled out the spear-like stick and we both could see a gapping bloody hole. Mike shunned off the wound, picked up his fishing tackle and the sand covered (half dead) shad, and we started to fish. We ended up fishing for several hours and each caught our limit on snook.

Then there was the time at the same spillway when Mike tried to land a friend's snook by grabbing it and pulling it up on the rocks. The snook came off as Mike grasped the leader, and the guy's free-swinging hook flew up and caught Mike right in the hand! Mike slipped off the rocks and fell into the water as the hook and line from the kids fishing rod came tight and set up in his hand! Mike crawled out of the water up onto the rocks, cut the line, and was off to the hospital to have the hook surgically removed.

And I can't forget the time Big Mike was cast-netting mullet off of a local marina dock. He stepped off of a moored boat and onto the dock and the old boards gave way and Mike fell into the water between the boat and the dock! He fell along the barnacle-covered pilings and cut himself on both arms and legs and received numerous stitches once again.

Yes, Mike Reist is a great fisherman and a great friend! And I think that you all will agree that Mike, better known as the "Fall-Guy", definitely keeps us all in "stitches"...as well as himself.