Daniel had stood by and watched all weekend as the men fished. He wanted to be able to catch fish like they did. They told him he was too young.

They gave him a net and asked him to catch some little crayfish in the creek so they could use them for bait.

Daniel was real excited. He was only eight but he knew jsut where to catch crayfish. He seen them all the time hiding under the rocks. With the net the men gave him he was sure he could catch some for them.

He tried for almost an hour with no luck. They were really fast and could run just as fast forward as backward. He was getting ready to give up when a couple bigger kids came walking by. They were bare foot and walking thru the water.

"Hey, what ya doin?" the oldest boy asked.

"Tryin' to catch crayfish" said Daniel.

"You can't catch crayfish with shoes on and standing on the shore. Watch this." He stood there for a second very still then gently moved a rock. Slowly he moved in behind the crayfish. Sure enough he had caught one in his bare hand. "You have to sneek up behind em and catch em behind the pinching arms like this" He held out the crayfish for Daniel to see. "Here, you can have this one"

The two older boys stayed for a few mintues catching about five more crayfish for him. Daniel kept trying but they were too fast for him..

"Well, we gotta get going", the younger of the two said. He put his final catch in Daniel's bucket.

"Good Luck" the older boy called back and waved as they started on their way up the creek.

Daniel sighed. He was getting kind of upset that he couldn't catch those silly crayfish. He decided to follow what the older boys said and he took off his shoes. The water was not deep so he just rolled his pants up one time and stepped in the water. The sandy bottom felt good on his feet.

He kept trying to do it like the older boys showed him but he still could not catch any.

"Ouch!" he yelled out. He jumped back but as he stepped down he stepped on a slippery spot and fell into the water with a big splash. He examined his big toe while he was still sitting in the water. There was a little cut on it but didn't look much more than a paper cut like the one had gotten at school.

Daniel stood up. He had enough crayfish hunting for today. He walked up onto the shore and when he un-cuffed his pants, much to his surprise there was two small crayfish holding on for dear life.

Daniel was very happy with his catch. He was even happier when he added them to his collection that the other boys had given him. He couldn't wait to take his catch back to the fishermen.

********

Just goes to show ya', sometimes when you quit looking you will find what you were looking for was there the whole time.