THING: GIVE A MAN A FISH AND HE WILL EAT FOR A DAY, TEACH A MAN TO FISH AND HE WILL EAT FOREVER (CHINESE PROVERB)

Please take four minutes of your time and Google Brad Paisley’s country western video, ” I’m Going To Miss Her “, it is hilarious. And it does express one man’s love of fishing. ( side note: Paisley married the actress Kimberly Williams that appears in the video).

Being raised in my ” neck of the woods ” in Eastern N.C. we were blessed with numerous rivers, lakes, and large fishing ponds. Many dates and marriages were predicated on the question, ” Son, do you fish and hunt”? If you wanted to squire the daughter ( for the young folks that means date), the answer better be “yes”.

In my small town there was one luxury most of the mill villagers possessed, a plywood fishing boat. A person could have a two man boat, but that required a trailer. Your only method of control with the boat was two wooden paddles. You needed two in case you lost one in the river current. For the one man boat, you could wedge that sucker in the trunk of your car, put a red flag on it and off you go.

My fishing buddies were Richard and James. Richard could almost catch fish from a dry lake and then there was James. James was one of the most intelligent people I ever knew. He finished with honors in Industrial Engineering at NC State. However James never did grasp paddling a one man boat with one hand and holding a fishing pole with the other. He did have a boat trailer, so his fishing skills were more humorous than productive. In fishing vernacular, he stayed tangled up with fishing line and tree tops more than fishing”. On many occasions his antics would have made ” America’s Funniest Video’s”.

Fancy fishing gear was not required. A two day fishing trip consisted of the following: one man boats of course, three cane fishing poles ( which every general store kept in stock), small tackle box, worms for bottom fishing, crickets for top fishing, frying pan, cooking grease, cornmeal, salt, pepper, jug of fresh water, roll of toilet paper, and Pepsi. One quilt or sleeping bag for spending the night on a sandbar.

When it became to dark to fish, we headed to the sandbar to fry our catch of the day. James handled the fire, Richard cleaned the fish, and I handled the cooking. Cornbread fritters were first, then the battered fish. Dessert was Jonny cakes with hoop cheese. After talking about the ones that got away, it was bedtime. There was an old wives tale if you dug a small trench around your campsite it would keep the varmints out. ( black bears could care less about a trench if they got the smell of cooking grease in the air). Never the less, we always bunked out as close to the fire embers as possible.

Day two, we hit the river at daybreak. If we caught a mess of fish ( mess means lots ) they were taken home and divided among the neighbors. Life was simple back then. You did ” unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Hmmm!!! food for thought in today’s world.

Be safe.