Fishcoys
| Deere Jon invited his half brother, Catawba Cat, to join him on a "fish-hunt" in LA. Catawba Cat thought Los Angeles seemed like a strange place to fish and a" fish-hunt" didn't sound right either. What the heck, he would go for the fun of it. At the appointed time, Deere Jon's dirty red pickup rolled into the driveway. The truck's bed was loaded with fishing gear, ice chests, several big duffle bags, and John's favorite double barreled shotgun. A green and white polka dotted handkerchief was tied to the end of the pirogue that slanted skyward over the tailgate. Sitting in the passenger seat was a young Labrador retriever that Deere Jon called Doe. The dog's full pedigree name was Doe-a-Deere. Catawba Cat didn't quite know what to expect about a "fish hunt" with a dog named Doe and man named Deere. He threw his stuff in the back of the truck and jumped in the cab. The pickup bounced the threesome down the highway in a southwest direction. After several hours, Deere Jon stopped in front of an old, silver, rusty, double wide. The aging beauty sat on a muddy creek bank near a little town named, Foley. "This is it!" Brother Deere said, as his boots hit the Alabama dirt. A confused Catawba Cat suddenly found himself, not in Los Angeles, but in Lower Alabama for a weekend to "fish-hunt." The following morning, the half brothers threw fishcoys of all sizes and colors into the waters of a shallow marsh. The larger ones resembled largemouth bass, and the others looked a lot like bream and crappie. Doe-a-Deere supervised the positioning of the fishcoys from her vantage point in the bed of the pickup truck. The trio waited a very long time, but nothing happened. Brother Deere even tried using the fish caller that he had received as a Christmas present. Catawba Cat was leery. He thought he was being tricked and couldn't decide whether he was hunting or fishing. The last time he felt this way was when he was left holding the bag on a midnight snipe hunt. The fishcoys were left in the water overnight in hopes that they might attract a school in the dark. The next morning, Deere Jon was the first to reach the marsh. He found the fishcoys on the other side. One was bobbing up and down like something was holding it. He jumped into his pirogue and poled toward the wayward fishcoys. When he was almost there, he reached for the one that was bobbing. It went under water, only to resurface a few feet away. Jon whistled and the water exploded as Doe jumped to encounter an unknown creature. John was blinded by the water and the fury. When his eyes cleared enough to see, he began to swing his push pole at the creature. It leaped from the water and knocked him from the pirogue. The battle was wild. Finally, Jon heard Catawba Cat's voice screaming, "Stop, it's me, it's me!" It seems that Catawba Cat had awakened early, discovered that the fishcoys hadn't attracted anything, and he waded into the dark water to move them. He had moved all but one, when he became entangled in the line of one that resembled a big bass. That's when Deere Jon arrived and saw it bobbing across the marsh. But, that's not the end of the tale. The local game warden appeared while the exhausted brothers were collecting the fishcoys. Somehow, he could not be convinced that they were fishing, not hunting. The fishcoys looked too much like decoys to him. Not only that, but Doe-a-Deere appeared to be there for a reason and the shot gun in the truck certainly looked suspicious. He whisked away to the Foley, Alabama courthouse where the presiding judge found the brothers guilty of hunting out of season without a license. Be reminded that small fish..................have large tales! Captain Gus Gustafson of Lake Norman Ventures, Inc. is a member of the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association and a full time Professional Fishing Guide on Lake Norman, NC. Visit his web site, Fishin' with Gus! at http://www.fishingwithgus.com/ or call 704 617 6812. For additional information, e-mail him at Gus@LakeNorman.com. |
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| May 2006 |