Some random notes, observations and questions

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

   I am sure Robert's fish stories are all true and verifiable. 

   I remember my dad telling some misplaced yankees  in Dixie County Fla one time when they commented on how low the Suwannee River was. They said they bet it had never been this low. Dad said "On this in nothing. I remember one time it got so low all the catfish we caught had ticks and fleas on them. We were catching half grown bluegills that did not know how to swim."

   I took then nearly 11 y/o son there on spring break in 1989 and we'd catch an #2 wash tub full of big catfish (although nothing like what I catch here) and go in a local cafe for breakfast. These misplaced yankees who had moved in/infested the area who come in and see the fish and ask all kinds of personal and highly private questions like "Who caught all those big catfish?   Where did they catch them?  What were they using for bait?" Dad would point to Sean and say "That boy caught them down in the ditch/canal by the road using a cane pole. He was using grasshoppers for bait." By the end of the week Sean was joining like Little Arliss on Old Yeller and saying "Yep, I had to quit cause that was all I could drag home. I only had one #8 hook and I lost it on a big one. I ran out of grasshoppers and had to stop." We'd finish our breakfast and go out to find mp yankees  chasing grasshoppers in the median of the 4 lane highway and fishing in the ditches and such.

   I always wanted to go catch a big string of big crappies or such then go fish in the ditches by the highway and when people would laugh and make fun just pull the stringer up and go back to fishing.

    I remember Mr. Tom's tale about dropping a 20 lb catfish in a small creek  where the kids fished and them telling about the monster tearing up all their tackle for months after that.