Why I love fishing.
I started fishing at a young age because both of my grandfathers were more than avid fisherman.
My first fishing trips were to the Guadalupe, Brazos and Navidad rivers. These rivers were close to where my grandfathers lived. They both lived in southern Texas. I can remember spending many a day on the riverbanks with my grandfathers there. Some days we caught fish and some days we didn't, but we always had a great time.
My Grandpa Turner also had a place in Nebraska. One thing I loved about going to Nebraska to fish was the "Fishin’ wagon". The Fishin’ wagon was a 1960 Ford station wagon, it was a perfect fishing excursion vehicle. One of the great things about the Fishin’ wagon was that it didn't matter if you got your clothes all muddy when you were "fishin’", nobody got mad if you accidentally spilled your coke. You really couldn't hurt it, it had been plowed on one side by the snowplow already. It was the greatest! When you got done fishing for the day, you just put everything in the back and were ready to go again the next time. It was a station wagon, so there was plenty of room for everything in the back and lots of room for the fishing poles. Doesn't it make you wish you had a Fishin’ wagon today?
My first big fishing trip to Nebraska. We arrived at the lake and Grandpa got me a pole set up to fish. He found me a nice place near where a stream fed into the lake. The stream was neat as it gurgled past me into the lake. I saw a minnow racing back and forth in it, then another. I kept a constant watch on the stream banks for snakes. One thing I learned from my fishing trips in Texas was to always watch where you step and sit when fishing on the riverbanks because there are lots of rattlesnakes along the rivers in Texas. I didn't know it, but they aren't quite as big a threat in Nebraska. Grandpa was working his way up the bank testing some other spots as he went. I was waiting as patiently as any 5 year old boy with excessive energy (we had never heard of ADD or ADHD in those days) could. I looked, my bobber was just sitting there, all alone. It had been five whole minutes, and nothing had taken my bait. Just then I noticed a big green grasshopper. I thought to myself this would make some great bait. Grandpa would be impressed if I caught us some great bait. I had to catch this grasshopper, I thought, it's okay. Nothing is going on at all my bobber anyway. I knelt down so I could sneak up on the grasshopper with all the stealth I had, but somehow he saw me coming and jumped, and I jumped right behind him. It was on! I missed a few more times and then I had him. As I parted the grass, where I had pinned him down, there he was moving kinda slowly. Maybe I had pinned him a little too hard. I picked him up, and I was smiling from ear to ear. I looked to see where Grandpa was, and he was reeling in a fish. A little bell went off in my head, Grandpa had caught a fish. I had got so busy chasing the grasshopper I forgot to keep an eye on my bobber. I was looking now, but I couldn't remember where it was. I didn't see it anywhere. Where was it? My bobber was missing and that little bell was getting louder. Just as I was looking everywhere for my bobber, my fishing pole started to move. There I was, I had the catch of the day grasshopper in my hand and a fish was pulling my pole in the lake. I was only a couple of steps and a jump from my pole as it started sliding into the lake (that’s where the muddy part comes in). I picked up the pole and I was reeling. I looked down the bank, and Grandpa was still reeling in his fish.
I hollered Grandpa, Grandpa, I got a fish. He hollered back to keep reeling and keep your tip up. I was reeling and reeling. It wasn't working, no line was coming into my reel. It looked like it was going out, and I was afraid my fish was getting away. I grabbed the line between the reel and the first eye of the pole and started pulling it with my hands. I was making progress now. All of a sudden I could see the fish, and he was a big one. By this time Grandpa was on his way down the bank toward me. He also could see the big fish, and he was excited too. The big walleye was now within a few feet of the bank where the water was shallow, and he was putting up a big fight. Grandpa was saying something about using the reel when all of a sudden my line snapped. The big fish sloshed around and swam away. Grandpa was just standing there with his hands out going up and down. He asked me why I didn't use the fishing pole to reel in the fish. I told him I had tried but it wasn't working. He just kept looking at the lake where that big walleye had swam away.
So there was my first big fishing trip to Nebraska and my first big story about the giant fish that got away. On the way home Grandpa explained a lot about keeping the rod tip up and reeling. All in all it was still a great day. When we got home, Grandpa told everybody about the fish I almost caught, and how we had seen it and everything.
I learned two really big lessons that day. One was when you get a fish on the line, keep the rod tip up and keep reeling, and the other lesson is when you got bait in the water don't go off chasing after grasshoppers.
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Happy Fishin' and Tight-----Lines Gary W. Turner