603 INFORMER / FIRST PERSON
Preserved by a taxidermist from Center Barnstead, this remarkable fish, now on display at Camp Restaurant in Meredith, welcomes all challengers to the title bestowed upon it by Uncle Jim.
BIGGEST Fish EVER
Caught in Merrymeeting Lake BY ELIZABETH HOWARD
M
errymeeting, quietly tucked away in New Durham, is unique among New Hampshire’s many lakes. It was created when someone put a stopper in the sink, turned on the water, and forgot to turn it off. Our beloved Uncle Jim and Aunt Barbie spent the summer months there at their camp “Whitmere.” Although they didn’t have children, they did have “Freddie,” an invisible frog that occasionally made an appearance as a green cotton beanbag or was pulled, gently, from Uncle Jim’s pocket and held in his hand.
40 New Hampshire Magazine | September 2022
Uncle Jim and Aunt Barbie’s many nieces and nephews were welcomed throughout the summer months for what were magical visits that included swimming, rowing, balancing on the rocks catching crayfish, gathering around the fireplace in the evening listening to Uncle Jim’s enchanting stories, and, of course, fishing. We fished off the floating white dock that was reached by walking down a creaky wooden ramp that had been built in sections and swayed with each step along the way. The girls took the fishing less seriously
than the boys. I fished with my cousin Sally. Standing just at the edge of the dock, our small toes hanging over the edge, we stared into the crystal water and then waited until there was a slight tug. Then another, as our lines dangled from poles, usually light and certainly not spinning rods. Eventually, one of us would pull the line up as high as we could to discover a squirming sunfish about four inches long, its gray, scaly skin sparkling in the sun. “Aunt Barbie!” one of us would call out, “We have a fish! Will you come and help
