Fish I May, Fish I Might

Chapter Eight Young men go through a lot of changes in their mid-teens and I was no exception. Always loved spending my time fishing but things inside my head and body were changing. Most of the time I was on the water it was in search of “Big’uns”. Anybody can catch little fish but catching big ones is an art. Still fishing with dad or Randy most every weekend, I start taking days off. The excuses were always similar, had to go to “Katies” birthday party, told “Nancy” I would study with her, “Mary” asked me to go the movies with her. That’s when I realize girls have “Big’uns” too. As my adventures and pursuits change, I find myself fishing less and less. Got my driver license on my sixteenth birthday. I was now a free man. I quit working at the Park and got a real job in town. School, girls and working took every spare minute, not much time was left for fishing. When he wasn’t using it, dads’ boat was always available to me. It was a light boat and pulled well with my 1964 Chevy II. Fishing those years was quite different than any of the previous. My goals had changed and taking ladies fishing had become the “in thing”. My main concern became getting my hands on the “Big’uns” in boat making the ones in the water secondary. Eventually I took the bait and hooked-up with “Mrs. Right”. Those years were terribly busy. Having a new wife, and soon a son, changed my world and it took awhile to get fishing worked back into it. The real re-start happened when dad sold me his current boat and financed it. A 1969 Tidecraft, 14 foot, dug-out type bass boat. A 50hp Johnson powered it and, on the bow, sat the very first trolling motor I ever owned. Compared to todays trolling motor those were junk, but they beat the hell out of rowing. The boat was narrow and had two pedestal seats with a live-well that sat between them. The driver would sit at the bow and maneuvered the via “Stick Steering” which was attached to the outboard with cables. You had to sit in this boat, there was no deck to stand and fish. It’s hard seeing that boat in the carport all alone and soon I’m back to spending all my free time on the water to the dismay of “Mrs. Right”.