On the day of the contest, Lake Largemouth was swarming with boats. Doc and Amelia Bedelia’s dad took off in the mayor’s speedboat to try their luck. Later, Amelia Bedelia’s mother and Mrs. Doc headed into town to shop. Before they left, Amelia Bedelia’s mother gave her daughter a hug.

“Have fun,” she said. “We’ll be rooting for you. Take this leftover pizza with you for lunch.”

Audrey was unusually grumpy when she picked up Amelia Bedelia in the boat. She banged into the dock and dropped her spare reel overboard.

“Is something wrong, Stinky?” asked Amelia Bedelia.

“I’m doomed,” said Audrey. “Grandma Doc accidentally washed my lucky fishing shirt. Now it isn’t lucky anymore.”

Amelia Bedelia inhaled deeply. Yes, that amazing aroma that had hung over Audrey in the boat was gone. “But you’re really good at fishing,” she said. “You don’t need luck.” She stepped into the boat and sat on her favorite perch.

“Fishing is mostly luck,” said Audrey.

They headed out full speed ahead, but they didn’t get very far.

BANG!

The engine conked out.

“Oh, no!” said Audrey. “Was that what I think it was?”

That’s when Amelia Bedelia remembered the stump that Doc had warned them about.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” said Audrey. She tried to start the engine, but it was dead. She was close to tears. “I planned for everything. Oh, why did Grandma Doc have to wash my shirt?”

“We have oars,” said Amelia Bedelia. “We can row.”

“But it’ll take so long,” said Audrey. “The contest will be over before we get to my spot.”

Amelia Bedelia felt terrible. She should have remembered about that stump. If she could have kicked herself, she would have kicked herself.

Amelia Bedelia thought for a minute. “I know,” she said. “Let’s fish right here.”

“There’s nothing here,” said Audrey.

“Unless you want to catch that stupid stump!”

“But Stinky,” Amelia Bedelia said, “didn’t you tell me that bass like to hang out by tree roots? A stump that big must have hundreds of roots. There could be a big bass waiting down there.”

Audrey wiped her eyes. “It’s worth a try, I guess,” she said.

She picked up her rod and cast her favorite lure near the underwater stump. But her lure got snagged so badly that she had to break it off. The same thing happened with her second-favorite lure. When she lost her third-favorite lure and got her reel tangled, Audrey quit.

Amelia Bedelia was out of ideas. Her stomach growled. She opened the pizza box. She offered a slice to Audrey, but Audrey was so angry that she took the slice of pizza and flung it as hard as she could. It skipped across the surface like a flat stone until it came to rest right above the stump.

That piece of pizza floated like an abandoned ship. Suddenly, a whirlpool opened beneath it and inhaled the pizza.

Amelia Bedelia and Audrey looked at each other. “What was that?” they both yelled.

“That,” said Audrey, “was a ginormous bigmouth bass.” Her eyes lit up, and she grabbed her rod. “Oh, no!” she said. “I’ll never untangle this reel in time!”

Amelia Bedelia picked up her cane pole. “Try this,” she said.

Amelia Bedelia sprinkled some water from the lake onto the last piece of pizza, to soften it. This slice had a crazy combination of toppings.

“I hope Mr. Bass likes anchovies,” said Audrey, as she carefully squished the pizza around the hook, forming a lump as big as a tennis ball. “You cast it, Soaky,” she said. “You’ve practiced it all week.”

“Okay,” said Amelia Bedelia. “But then I’m handing it to you.”

Amelia Bedelia looked at the lake. Ripples were still moving out across the water. She imagined a giant bull’s-eye. The center was where their pizza ball had to land. She leaned back, yelled,

and cast the bait dead center with a SPLASH! She handed the pole to Audrey.

Nothing happened. Seconds passed. Still nothing. More nothing.

And then . . . nothing at all.

When they looked at each other, then it happened. It was like a toilet had flushed in the lake. The pizza disappeared into the biggest mouth Amelia Bedelia had ever seen on a fish. Audrey let the fish take the dough ball to the bottom. Then she leaned back hard to set the hook and snag the fish.

“Did you get it?” asked Amelia Bedelia.

“I think so,” said Audrey.

She had, because just then the only thing that kept Audrey from being yanked overboard was Amelia Bedelia, holding her tightly around her waist. The fish circled their boat one way, then the other. The fish went right. The fish went left, then jumped in the air, walking across the surface on its tail. Luckily, that bass tired out before they did.

“Grab the cooler!” yelled Audrey.

“How can you be thirsty at a time like this?” asked Amelia Bedelia.

“Empty it and put it in the lake,” said Audrey. Amelia Bedelia held the cooler overboard and let it fill with lake water. Then Audrey steered the fish into the cooler to trap it. The cooler was big, but the fish was huge. It barely fit. “One, two, three, lift!” said Audrey. They heaved the cooler full of water and fish into the boat. Water sloshed and the fish flapped, but they did it, and then they collapsed into giggles.

Suddenly Amelia Bedelia remembered the symbols of the boat and the fish on their map. This fish was almost as big as the boat. Her fortune had come true!

“ZZZZRRRRR ENTRIES GZZZ PRIZE ZZ FISH ZZ TEN MINUTES!”

The staticky loudspeaker on the public dock told them that they were running out of time.

“Hurry, Soaky!” shouted Audrey.

They took turns rowing and holding the top on the cooler until they got to the public dock.

“We were getting worried about you two,” said Doc. “Hurry, it’s almost over!”

“Dad, help us!” shouted Amelia Bedelia as they struggled with the cooler.

Amelia Bedelia’s father and Doc each grabbed a handle and hoisted it onto the dock. “Whew!” said Doc. “What’s in here?”

“Five hundred dollars!” said Amelia Bedelia.