When I first started fishing, I was a young boy of about six years old. Back then there were no big tournaments, bass boats with trolling motors and depth finders. The rods and reels were archaic by today's standards as were the lines and other paraphernalia. There wasn't even a big lake, Old Hickory Lake in Nashville hadn't been completed so the fishing holes were farm ponds, creeks and a few slow moving rivers. There were well worn dirt paths leading to the best spots, if you were lucky there would be a big rock or rotting log to sit on.
When I went fishing it was with Dad. Brother Pat and I were taxed with getting the bait, we would dig up red wriggler worms in the back yard or from around Grandpa's barn and put them in a tin can with dirt, sometimes we would catch grasshoppers and put them in a jar with holes punched in the lid. Dad's fishing equipment consisted of several cane poles and a small tin tackle box that held plastic bobbers, hooks and weights (we couldn't always afford lead weights so there was a supply of substitutes consisting of flat washers or rusty hex nuts). The cane poles would be as long as ten to twelve feet in length, they had fishing line tied to the end and then wrapped down the length of the pole. Dad must have had eight or nine poles and he fished with every one of them at the same time. Dad would stick the cane poles in the rear side window of the car and away we would go.
The line on the poles was longer than the poles, if a pole was ten feet long there might be fifteen or more feet tied to the pole, this was so you could get the bait far out into the water. After unwinding the line and checking that the hook was properly tied, you then put a worm on the hook hopefully without sticking the hook in your finger. Then you would set the bobber / cork to the desired depth and extend the pole far above your head and swing the bait out away from the bank, a long pole could get the bait a good eighteen feet out. Then it was set back and watch the bobber bounce up and down until eventually a fish would take the bait and pull the bobber under the surface.
We did a fair amount of "bank" fishing when I was a kid, but it always seemed to be rather boring watching that bobber bounce around. Then in 1960 we moved to Mt. Juliet and Dad had a carpenter friend build him a 12 foot john boat that he mounted a 12 h.p. outboard motor too. It allowed us to get into another world of fishing from a boat. We used shorter cane poles to work the banks for crappie and I learned about fishing with a spinning rod and lures. Dad traded the boat for a runabout with a 35h.p. motor, you couldn't work the banks for crappie from it but you could anchor down and catch them by the boat load.
In 1965 I went into the Navy, fishing was put on hold for four years, when I came home, I slowly got back into it. I bought an 18 foot runabout with a 125 h.p. motor, while I did some fishing from it mostly it was used for water skiing.
I hate to say it but life got in the way, fishing was hit or miss till just a few years ago. In 2005 I bought a 19 foot center console bay boat with 150 h.p. motor, that was two boats ago. I now have an older center console with 115 h.p. motor, it's equipped with two depth/fish finders with lake maps, a remotely operated trolling motor that has capabilities I will never use. I have three spinning rods and a whole grocery bag full of lures, plastic baits, hooks and sinkers and I go fishing a couple of times a week.
Sometimes I catch fish and sometimes I don't, I get aggravated and enthused, I come back frustrated or proud but love every minute of it. With all of the modern technology and equipment that I have, I sometimes think the best fishing was when I sat on a slick rock on a creek bank with my Dad, holding a cane pole and watching a bobber bounce up and down on the water.
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