Nobody Fishes There Anymore---It’s Too Crowded ! V 2.0

(From Orvis Web Site)

Nobody Fishes There Anymore---It’s Too Crowded !

                         (Paraphrased apologies to Yogi Berra)

Fifty five years ago, I was 16, I was an oblivious eye witness to the future. What I saw was a primitive Hoosier version of the increasingly popular Japanese fly fishing art form called Tenkara (Google has hundreds of pages).

It was a Sunday afternoon and I was taking some large strides as I approached my favorite fishing spot on the Graham Creek in Southern Indiana. My pace slowed to a halt as I saw about six anglers some in the water and some on the far bank chunking an assortment of hardware into a hundred foot run that was no more than three feet deep and less than thirty feet wide. The rock bass, aka goggle eye, decent size smallmouth bass, large and bright sunfish, and an occasional bluegill called the large rock covered , crawfish-rich bottom home.

The hardware fishermen were using the Johnson Century 21, Langley, and Shakespeare reels and tossing a Mepps-like spinner called a Shyster, or a Crème Plastic Worm with a red bead and front propeller and an occasional bobber/earthworm hopeful. They caught a few small fish.

It was a loud talking, overall-wearing senior adult using a long cane pole with about twenty feet of trotline attached, tipped with a couple of feet of monofilament, aka cat gut, and a small green sponge spider that was the center of attention. Mr. Smith, not his real name, was catching fish almost every cast. The others, including me, watched in amazement. His sweeping side arm cast was interrupted only long enough to put his latest catch on a stringer.

I watched another half hour and discovered the loud talking of Mr. Smith was a result of his poor hearing. On I went to my next favorite spot. At Site B I was skunked using night crawlers caught in our front yard.

A couple of Sundays later I went back to my favorite spot and hoped to see Mr. Smith. I asked where he was and was told he was visiting relatives in Texas. One of his friends said, “ If we be real quiet we might just hear Smithy in Texas!” 

 

A TRUE STORY