Cat Fishin'

Cat Fishin' is a 1947 American one-reel animated cartoon and is the 27th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, produced by Fred Quimby and animated by Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, Michael Lah, Pete Burness and Ray Patterson. It was released to theatres on February 22, 1947 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer.

Plot
The camera pans across a lake fence, where signs are posted that say "no fishing", "keep out", "private property", "no trespassing", and "beware of dog". Spike is shown guarding the fence asleep. Tom shows up with his fishing gear and he passes through the gate, but Spike just happens to yawn and recline on Tom's leg. Tom tries to get away, but Spike thinks Tom’s leg is a bone and grabs at it a second time. Spike licks the leg and takes a bite into it; it causes the cat to scream. Spike wakes up and looks around, but does not see anyone, as Tom hides behind Spike as the bulldog moves around. When he turns around again, Tom sits on top of his fishing pole. Spike still does not see him and goes back to sleep. Tom then walks towards the lake, but as he walks, the hook on his pole hooks Spike’s collar and drags him along. As the line tugs, Tom looks back and sees Spike about to fall off a small cliff of dirt. Frantic, the cat catches Spike and props him up with a stick. Tom then goes to the lake and starts to fish.

In his tackle box are plugs, lures, wigglers, flies, and live bait who was Jerry, sleeping. Tom wakes up Jerry, and the annoyed mouse takes off his robe with a look of disgust on his face. Tom then ties Jerry to his line and casts. Jerry is about to hit the water when he suddenly stops and dips his toe in the water to test the temperature. The water is ice cold, and Jerry races back to the tackle box with his blanket, shivering. A bunch of fish start making noise and Tom lowers Jerry over the water to feed them. The fish leap at him and Jerry fights them off, kicking and punching. Having failed, Tom casts again and a big blue and green pike with pointy teeth emerges. Jerry is cast into, and propelled out of, the fish's mouth. The pike chases Jerry, chomping all of Tom’s fishing pole in the process. The fish swats Tom with his tail and returns to the water, where he spits out Tom’s reel and throws it at Tom.

Tom then cuts a finger off a rubber glove and puts Jerry inside, making him look like a worm. Tom casts again and the pike prepares for dinner. Jerry, however, is on the ball and avoids the fork. As the pike leans in closer, Jerry squeezes the lemon into the pike’s face, beginning another chase. Tom grabs an oar and swats at the fish as the chase reaches the pier where he stands. It turns out that Jerry was the one who was hit and he emerges from the water, angry, with a lump on his head. To get back at the cat, Jerry smacks him with an oar, sending him into the water. The incensed cat emerges, but Jerry responds by tying a lure around Tom's tail. The pike bites Tom's tail, causing him to scream in pain and hold on to the dock as the pike pulls his tail. The impact slingshot throws the pike into Spike's mouth as he is waking up. After the pike hits Spike's head, the dog looks around to see Tom on the dock, and begins chasing him.

Tom dives in to escape, while Spike looks into the water. Tom emerges through a loose plank and swats Spike with it, and the dog falls. Tom then grabs Jerry and his pole and runs away until Spike emerges from another loose plank and chases Tom back to the end of the pier. Tom sidesteps Spike and Spike falls in, helped by a kick from the cat. Safe for now, Tom runs over to a rock and sees the pike again, so he casts again. Jerry then swims underwater toward Spike who is lying on the pier. Seeing a good chance to frame the cat, Jerry unties the line from himself and ties it to Spike’s foot, then tugs on the line to alert the cat of a bite. Tom yanks the line and gets the dog to fall off the pier and through the water. Spike grabs onto the pier, but the continued backward force causes all the boards to stack up and then come loose. The dog, followed by the boards, falls into the water.

Tom does not give up the fight, and Spike is squeezed through a pair of rocks on the way back to the cat. Jerry then hands Tom a club to knock out the "fish," and the oblivious cat, believing he has caught the fish and not noticing his bait next to him, wades into the water and hits Spike in the head multiple times. Eventually, Tom sees who he is attacking and yelps with fear. A lump forms on the dog's head, and the cat tries to remove it by pushing and lightly hammering it down. When it returns a third time, Tom just bashes Spike in the head and legs it, with the furious dog right behind him. Jerry lowers a fishing line to Tom to help him escape from the dog as the chase passes under the tree where the mouse is, but he also teaches Tom a lesson by dangling him within the dog's range and pulling him repeatedly out of the way as Spike continues to bite at him.

Availability
DVD
 * Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases, Vol. 2
 * Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 1, Disc One
 * Tom and Jerry Golden Collection Volume One, Disc Two