Nostalgia ....

[Thumper]

I got out of Uncle Sam's Army in '75, screwed around in L.A. for a while, then moved back to Orlando in very early '77. I really wasn't quite sure what to do with myself, but took a job at the local Pontiac/GMC dealer in town. I think I was pulling in about $100/week at the time. We had moved into my grandmother's old place as it was starting to fall apart while unoccupied. I had no rent to pay, but every spare penny went into trying to patch the house up to make it livable ... anything I could do myself in whatever spare time I had. Anyway, I went down to the local hardware store and purchased a couple of 14-foot (3-piece) cane poles so the (now ex) wife and I could supplement our meager grocery supply. I'd get off work, stop by the house to pick her up and we'd drive about a mile to my favorite fishing hole for a bit of bank fishing for bream. (Brim as far as I'm concerned and I'm in the same camp as Cappy, ALL those panfish are brim!) We didn't need a license to fish from the bank with a cane pole in those days, so it fit into our budget. I'd dig worms out of the back yard, or we'd simply use dough balls or something similar. We had a great time and ... thinking back, those simpler times were actually low stress comparatively, I just didn't realize it at the time.

We packed the poles in the U-Haul when we moved to Memphis in early '78 and they have never been used since. I hauled 'em to Memphis, then took them to L.A (moved 4-5 times while there), then eventually back to Florida. They've always been relegated to a junk closet, shed or garage. Years ago, I was having some trees trimmed and one of the workers (a really cool, older black guy) spotted those poles hanging on the wall in my garage and was REALLY admiring them! I ended up telling him to help himself to one of them and you'd have thought I'd just handed him a $1000 bill!

Fast forward to today. Lynn and I are loading up the motorhome to take a little 5-day getaway, leaving tomorrow morning. We have a beautiful site on a large lake and we're right on the water. I can almost fish from under our canopy! There is also a small dock about 50-60 feet from our site, so I have options. Lynn said if I catch 'em, she'll clean 'em and cook 'em, so I decided to take a pole. Crap, I probably haven't fished since my last trip up to Canuckia with the Dubber, Johnboy and a group of other degenerates from this site. I'm pretty busy and just didn't feel like screwing around with loading new line on my reel and organizing my tackle box. Then I spotted that lone cane pole hanging on the wall and a lightbulb went off in my head. I grabbed a few small hooks, a pack of split shot and a few plastic bobbers and I'm ready to go. I have an old spool of line here that I have no problem dragging along with me. It all fit in a very small box and I'm not even taking my tackle box. I plan on some laid back, easy going bank fishing with my 45 year old cane pole this week. I don't even care if I catch anything or not, we have plenty of food in the fridge if I get skunked.

The weird part? It's a Lew's and the dang things are selling for $100-$130 on eBay these days. Maybe that's why that tree trimmer was so frigging happy! I have no clue what I paid for them, but I seriously doubt it was over $5 apiece.

[BarryBobPosthole]

It was pretty common sight when I was a kid to see a car with kids hanging out of every window and cane poles tied over the top and fastened fore and aft.
My Uncle Huck introduced me to fishing and made me a shorter model made from river cane. The boat we fished out of was made of oak planks that my Uncle Buster built on his front porch. I remember my Uncle Huck chuckling that you had to hit about five strokes with the paddle on both sides before it’d even start to move.

Nostalgia is fun! I can still smell the river today and go back to those days.

BKB

[Thumper]

I remember those days well as a kid. I remember there was an old black guy who would walk around our neighborhood with a rake and he'd rake leaves in people's yards for a buck. I remember he came by one day in his old beat up car (can't even remember what it was) and he must have had 20 dang (1-piece) cane poles strapped on the side of his car! He was going fishing and needed cricket money. He was by himself! It was a pretty common sight in those days actually.

[BarryBobPosthole]

My Dad got his prescriptions in the green glass bottles. My Uncle Huck would stuff them full of catalpa worms and keep them in their freezer. He’d throw a couple of bottles in his old tackle box and we’d fish with them year round. The fish didn’t seem to know they were there when they weren’t supposed to be! I’ve even seen some of those worms come back to life when they thawed out. Made for a sometimes mushy concoction when they were left out too long though. Another smell I can remember!

BKb