Friday, June 05, 2009

It's Fishin' Time

Fishin': the thing American from my youth that still holds up.
We'd catch channel and river cat with dough balls or blood or stinkbait and put 'em on a string.
"Nice string."
"Nice catch."
People would comment.
Then we'd have to scale them and de-gut them. Actually, I don't remember which fish you scaled and which you did not.
The catfish had a "float" inside them that was interesting. Carp was something you threw back, except for black people. They liked them for some reason. Adults always had a garage full of fish stuff you never needed -- seiners, hip boots, rubber aprons, three-speed reels, reels of all description, 800 different types of hooks, and 9,000 lead ball weights.
All you needed was a slim pole, 10-foot line, a bobber, a sinker, a sharp hook, a fishin' worm, a river bank to stand on and a creek or river with some fish.

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