Earl and Sue Lamb of Ledyard were surprised the morning after they returned from a May vacation when they spotted someone fishing from a canoe in their pond on Lambtown Road.

When they investigated further, the boater turned out to be a scarecrow-like figure, wearing a plaid shirt and suspenders in a boat that bore Earl’s name. According to the couple, they got a kick out of it.

“I said, ‘Who’s fishing in the pond?’ I thought somebody was fishing there,” Earl said during an interview at his home at 105 Lambtown Road. “We didn’t even have to guess who did it.”

The canoe, which Sue said was so small that it would “probably sink if you got in it,” was adorned with an American flag on one end and another on its makeshift anchor, partially hidden in tall grass on the mainland. The figure was equipped with a fishing pole, fishing trap, a few beer cans and a smiling face. The vessel was named the “U.S.S. Earl Lamb.”

Pedestrians, drivers, bicyclists, and a senior citizen bus have all slowed to look at the boat as they drive down the winding and hilly Lambtown Road, Earl Lamb said. The spectacle was also mentioned and posted about in a community discussion on Facebook. One recent Saturday, during a townwide yard sale, many stopped by to chat.

One wanted to know if the character in the boat had a fishing license, according to Sue Lamb.

After they spoke to family friends John and JoAnna Majcher and Bruce and Rosemarie Gartska, the Lambs found out they were right about the who instigated the prank. The Majchers and Gartskas had left the canoe and its passenger in their pond.

“We don’t play practical jokes all of the time but it’s nice to see people laugh, and Earl did,” Bruce said.

The group said that it was “just something silly to do” while the Lambs were away on vacation. The canoe belonged to the Majchers before the prank, and the figure, according to the Gartskas, is a scarecrow made in Earl’s image, right down to his “nightly beer, bald head” and American patriotism.

Earl served nearly 30 years in the Submarine Service branch of the Navy. He achieved the rank of master chief petty officer, the highest enlisted rank in the Navy and the Coast Guard, before retiring.

“I remember that John said he had this old canoe and he wanted to get rid of it,” Earl said. “So they got rid of the canoe and played a joke at the same time.”

“Yeah, and now we’re stuck with it,” Sue laughed.

In response to the curiosity, the Lambs decided to keep the canoe through the summer.