An old man was out fishing one day and was doing quite well for himself.

He’d been keeping all of his catch in a 5-gallon bucket at the edge of the water, by his feet.

A young state game warden, fresh out of the academy, walked up and asked to see the old man’s fishing license and inspect his fish.

The young warden knew he’d hit a jackpot when he saw the contents of the bucket.

Not bad for his first week on the job!

The old man said,

“No sir, I can already imagine what you must be thinking- but I didn’t catch these fish. These here fish are my pets. It’s taken me some time, but I’ve trained my fish to swim out to the middle of the pond, splash around some and then, on my whistle, they come back here and jump back in the bucket!

Of course, the game warden thought he was lying, but thought he’d have a little laugh at the old man’s expense.

He agreed to let the old man “prove his innocence”.

So the old man leaned down and carefully tipped over the bucket and poured all the fish out into the water, talking softly to them as they swam off towards the middle of the pond.

He stood back up and stared intently into the distance for a few minutes with a look of concentration.

After a while, the game warden jeered,

“Well- c’mon now- ain’t you going to whistle for them fish?!?!”

The old man turned his eyes from the horizon, looked at the young game warden and said,

“Whistle for what?”