I would like to share with you one of the most exciting and unusual fishing trips that I ever experienced while I was coaching and teaching at Clinton High School in Clinton, Miss.

One afternoon after school — if I recall correctly, it was a gorgeous afternoon on April 1 — I was invited to fish in a local lake owned by the family of one of my students. We arrived at the lake and loaded our boat for a good evening of fishing.

The lake was beautiful, with plenty of cover for fish. After fishing for approximately 30 minutes, I was retrieving my bait and I thought I was hung up on one of the many stumps in the lake.

All of a sudden I felt a strong pull on my line and it started gently pulling our boat. One hour and 40 minutes later, I landed the fish.

To my amazement, the fish was only approximately 3 inches long and resembled a female bluegill bream. I knew one of the local game wardens, so I contacted him and shared my story.

The game warden came to my house and picked up the fish. He took it to a Mississippi fish and game biologist.

The biologist did extensive research on the fish and called me several days later. He informed me that the fish was a “Tarponitist Dwarfitis” and that it came from Lake Victoria, Africa.

That was approximately 8,000 miles away from where I caught it in Clinton, Mississippi!

The biologist further stated that the fish was a very rare breed. It had 30 pounds of pull per inch of length.

I was amazed.

“How did the fish get to Clinton, Mississippi, from Lake Victoria, Africa, 8,000 miles away?” I asked in astonishment.

The biologist determined that a migrating duck must have picked up some eggs on the web of his foot and migrated from Africa to the lake in Clinton. It had then deposited the egg in my student’s lake, where it hatched and developed.

This was an amazing experience that I will remember the rest of my life.

Or, at least, I would if I hadn’t made the whole thing up as an elaborate fish tale. If you check the date, you’ll see that today is the anniversary of the day I caught Clinton’s one and only Tarponitist Dwarfitis.

Happy April Fool’s Day, everybody!

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George Cronia is a former Clinton High School basketball coach and a longtime resident of Vicksburg.