“Forget it!” his buddies told Fred.
“Not till I get one!” he said.
After hours of fishing
And hoping and wishing
All he caught was a cold in his head.
Congratulations to Joyce Petrichek of Finleyville, Pennsylvania! For her fishy limerick describing this August 31, 1946, cover illustration by Constantin Alajálov, she wins $25.
If you’d like to enter the Limerick Laughs Contest for our upcoming issue, submit your limerick via our online entry form.
Here are some of our other favorite entries from this contest, in no particular order:
The weather grew chilly and wetter,
But that fisherman was a go-getter.
His friends, I was told,
Said it got cold:
The fish he hooked had on a sweater.
—Al Cross, Sacramento, California
Four friends in a boat made a bet
To catch a big fish in a net.
But after some hours
Of afternoon showers
All any of them did was get wet.
—Dara Linn, Cary, North Carolina
Despite the conditions, this die-hard
Holds tight and continues to try hard
While others, inclined
To a shove from behind,
Find the effort to merely stand by hard.
—Jeff Foster, San Francisco, California
He’s certain that he’s hooked a whale.
He’s stubborn; he’ll fight through a gale.
He digs in his heels,
He spins and he reels,
But all that he’ll catch is a tale.
—Rebekah Hoeft, Redford, Michigan
He had hoped for a most tasty dish,
The logical fisherman’s wish.
But ’twas something untoward
When he fell overboard.
You guessed right: He now sleeps with the fish.
—Brian Federico, Clyde, New York
Jim’s friends cried, “The way the wind’s blowin’ ya,
And we’ve got no umbrella to loan ya,
It might be your wish
To catch a nice fish
But we’re worried you’ll just catch pneumonia!”
—George Gillson, Brooklyn, NY
A group of old guys liked to boast
’Bout their annual trip to the coast.
But despite all their wishin’
They just bombed the fishin’.
’Twas the bar on the land they caught most!
—Dan Mitchum, Fishers, Indiana
A codger who’d earned recreation
Paid plenty to fish on vacation,
But downpour and night
Came with nary a bite
And a crew craving land and libation.
—Jen Stahl, Valparaiso, Indiana
I thought for a sec I heard thunder,
But he’s huge and it leads me to wonder
If they’ll think that I fibbed
Or grossly ad-libbed
How he doggone near dragged me down under.
—Skip Russell, Minnetonka, Minnesota
Featured image by Constantin Alajálov, ©SEPS
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