When we talked about your yearbook write-up, didn’t it say you liked fishing?
Yeah. When I was in my teens, Dad and I went to some fishing spots. Want to hear about it?
Sure.
The funny part was that we lived near the ocean, but I liked fresh-water fishing in lakes. We would go to upstate New York and meet people who planned to go down to the ocean for salt-water fishing.
What did you do? Spin-casting?
No. That was before spinning equipment came along. I liked bait-casting for bass. I used a Shakespeare reel something like this.
Here’s how I looked casting. I was 15 then.
But we didn’t normally fish from a boat. We liked to go out early and fish at one of New York City’s reservoirs. Needed a special permit in addition to the state license. Here I am at a favorite site.
And here’s a 15-inch, 2-pound small-mouth bass I caught there.
What kind of bait did you use?
Well, I preferred casting artificial lures. Like this one., a Creek Chub plug with rainbow colors.
Do fish really see colors?
That’s a subject for debate. Maybe some colors. Maybe only shades of gray. There used to be a cynical comment going around that the colors on these plugs are intended to attract fishermen, not fish.
I believe it. Anything else you want to say?
Just one thing more. Dad and I found a small pond several miles from home that contained pickerel. For them, we fished with minnows. And we did pretty well. My best catch was 21 1/2 inches long.
Sounds like a good fishing spot.
It was good while it lasted. Trouble was the fresh-water pond was separated from ocean water by only a narrow strip of land,. A dirt retaining wall. One day a really heavy storm washed away some of the soil and let salt water in. That killed all the fish in the pond. Goodbye, fishing pond.
Too bad.
Well, anyway, two months later I went off to college and I developed other interests. End of my fishing career. On to other things.