"Retro" fishin'

Sylvrfalcn

Sylvrfalcn

Joined
Jun 4, 2002
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Heading down to the Lampasas river tomorrow morning before the rooster crows. Going to do battle with the "Monster of Gravel Crossing" (whatever it was that mangled my treble hook a couple or so trips back) if he's game fer a fight. No glittery bass boat, no Lowrance depth finder, and no high tech graphite rods with reels that all got funny sounding Oriental names like Shimano (could have swore I had a racing bicycle many years back with Shimano gear shifters).
Nossir, my armament includes; a bone handled Barlow knife, a plug of terbakky, a can of worms, and a shiny new, twelve foot long, cane by golly pole. Just et a nice mess of bluegills last night, but somehow catching 'em on a fancy ultralight spinning rig just felt sterile and unnatural. So, let the tech heads scramble after the latest and greatest shiny fishin' gizmos. A simple cane pole is a product of nature, graceful and beautiful in it's slightly crooked imperfection. The figure I cut wielding that 12 foot length of bamboo will most likely elicit a chuckle from any modern "sportsmen" that happen by, but this old country boy will chuckle right back, and slip another fish on the stringer. ;)

Sarge
 
Hi Sarge:

You love knives and old fashioned ways, I'd say. Ever figure you are living a century or so too late? Earlier times do have a strong appeal. Go catch that big fish.

A fish story.
I used to scuba dive and teach in the delaware river between NY and PA. The river diving there was great with picturesque scenery to match. A wonderful area. Anyhow, a huge sturgeon (about 6') used to live in that part of the river. His nickname was the sturgeon general. The few times a fish that big would appear out of the hazy visibility it was enough to make you wet your wetsuit!
 
Hmmmm, divers and big scary fish. Once knew a guy that worked at the port, seems his job was to dive down and inspect the hulls of ships, or some crazy nonsense like that. He was on a job one day, down pretty deep, when a huge sea bass, or some dayumed thing with a mouth like a garage door, came up behind him, opened it's mouth, and just sucked his leg right in. After a brief, but fierce, struggle, he was able to extricate his leg, now sans swim fin, and sporting a fractured tibia. Shook him up bad, wouldn't go down no more, last I heard he was a car salesman in Miami. ;)

Sarge
 
Sounds great Sarge. What sort of reel do you use?

I will add tho, a good graphite rod with a funny name, coupled with a say, a Shimano reel with silky smooth drag can also deliver a certain amount of pleasure. Depends what rings ya bell:D
Never fished with bamboo, have used split cane years ago - still have it. Heavy, with little flex, but did the job.
 
You're supposed to climb into the mouth and gut him from the inside. Wow Sarge what a story. I've heard a few of stories about enormous catfish down deep near dams. I always thought those were urban ledgends. I'd tend to believe it diving in salt water. Could have been several things. Hory junk you really need a diving partner in that job.
 
These boys got a date with an iron skillet. :D That one up top is a great big old, slab sided crappie (aka croppie, aka speckled perch), and boy did he put up a tussle on that limber cane pole. :thumbup:

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Beautiful morning, saw a nice little herd of whitetail deer within bowshot of me on the opposite bank of the river. They weren't the least bit scared of my cane pole, and frolicked about like a bunch of kids playing. I couldn't stand it no more and busted out laughing at 'em. They gave me a dirty look for my rude behavior and melted away into the forest as quietly as they had come. Ah well, enough of the bliss and beauty for now, time for some scaling and guttin'. ;)

Sarge
 

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BrentH said:
Sounds great Sarge. What sort of reel do you use?

I will add tho, a good graphite rod with a funny name, coupled with a say, a Shimano reel with silky smooth drag can also deliver a certain amount of pleasure. Depends what rings ya bell:D
Never fished with bamboo, have used split cane years ago - still have it. Heavy, with little flex, but did the job.
Click to expand...

No reel on these Brent, just a line tied to the end of the long cane pole.


Steve:)
 
Nice catch Sarge. That's gonna make a hell of a dinner. I love panfish. Are they spawning now? Cane pole is the best when they're spawning. There was a pond behind my Uncle Rays that was brimming with bream. On the shallow end you could see the pits they'd dug to lay their eggs in during spring. They defend those holes. I'd stick a worm on a hook with no weight. They scattered if there was a disturbance, so I went easy and light. Sometimes I think they were bumping the hook to defend those holes. I cought a big old stringerfull one day while dad and grandad were fishing the deep end. They kept motioning me to their side indicating the "small" size of my shallow water fish. Their jaws dropped when they saw the fish I'd cought. I remember being all smiles on the way home. My grandad still tells that story. Great pond. No bad days to fish there. Catfish, bream, and bass to your hearts delight. No crappie though. Thems grandads favorite.
 
Thanks Sarge for the vicarious fishing fix:thumbup:

That sounds like fun--cane pole on a lazy river with deer on the bank:) You don't need anything more do you?
 
I saw footage of a grouper that bit a diver's arm- the diver was being cheeky- it was on Animal Planet. It sucked his whole arm in and he was lucky to get it back in one piece.
Biggest freshwater fish I've seen was a 49" muskie we pulled out of Greenwood lake on the NJ/NY border. A fellow with a lake house saw us haul her up, a mouth full of teeth and eyes like silver dollars. He said he wasn't swimming in the lake anymore. :D

Going with a cane pole for crappies sounds like a day well spent to me.
 
No reel on these Brent, just a line tied to the end of the long cane pole.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Steve:eek: :foot:
That put a lot more meaning in the word 'supple'

Forgive my ignorance, my dad & older brothers were fanatical fly fishermen. One of my earliest memorys in the late '40s, is of the old man flogging mountain rivers for the trout you could see.

Did not enjoy it much - had to keep quiet:D
 
I fished with a cane pole a few times when I was pretty young (guessing 7 or 8). Since then its mainly been trusty low cost Zebcos and a Shakespeare (no funny Oriental names for me). :p

A day spent down at a creek pool with a cane pole sounds pretty good about now.

Bob (in the middle of a four day midnight shift stretch)
 
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