OLD MEN AND OLD GEAR

[DAVID L EITUTIS]

BACK IN THE DAY when I was a kid and my older brother got the bug for fishing I think I know were he got it from.
  We lived on 3rd. street in La Salle Illinois and across the street from us was an old man. He was a fisherman and of course back in those days it was all about bass.

  I believe the gentlemans name was Bill Mc Fadden if memory serves. Bill lived in an old one story house and it had a front porch , NO SCREENS IN THOSE DAYS, too expensive. He was retired and looked to me to be in his 60's then when I was a kid growing up in the early 1960's . He would sit on his front porch in the evenings and watch cars go by on the main drag , which was also US ROUTE 6. Lots of traffic in those days because route 80 hadn't been built yet, but was under construction as I recall.

  Of course my brother struck up a friendship with Bill and they would sit for hours talking about fishing and so forth. I remember Bill hauling out an old Metal tackle box full of lures and old bait caster rods etc. Bug had bit my brother by then and the game was on.

  Every week my brother and I ,  would visit the local Ace Hardware store were all the treasures of fishing and hunting world could be found.

  ALL THE OLD TACKLE WAS BEYOND DESCRIPTION. All the major brands were represented there. Shakespeare, Garcia, Heddon, Daredevil, Cisco Kid, L&S, Creek Chub, Weber Flies and poppers, Wright & Mcgill, Johnson reels, Mitchell reels, and guns like Browning , Remington, and finally Stevens.
    Above the fishing lure display counters was a rack overhead. On it was always at least a half dozen fish heads on display . They were all Northerns Mr. Stein the owner of the store, had caught in Minnesota were he went fishing every year.

   HE had dried em out and then varnished them and to a kid they looked intimidating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Behind them on the wall mounted high, WERE A KIDS PRYING HANDS CAN'T GET AT EM , was a pair of bluegill mounted . they looked like monsters to me . They were and were also caught in Minnesota .

   Once Mr. Stein got down one of the northern heads so I could look at it closer and I was amazed at how sharp the teeth were! THe old man said kid don't  put your hand in there cause you won't get it back!!!  There were even a couple crappie mounted somewere behind the counter as I recall.

  My brother of course read all the magazines of the day at our local library , TOO EXPENSIVE TO HAVE A SUBSCRIPTION TO THEM!!!!!!!
  WHEN THE FINISH MINNOW came out, NOW CALLED A RAPALA , my brother had to wait six months to get the very first one in our area. They had a list of folks waiting to get em because of all the hype that had been created about them.
   Since then he and I have used countless Rapala's and I still favor em when I do fish for bass, which is seldom now.

   TOO BUSY CHASING GILLS AND RED EARS!!!!!

   HOPE I never loose those memories of my youth and the stories the old man across the street from us and Mr. Stein told me .

   PRICELESS

[DAVID L EITUTIS]

HEY LEO,
 THANKS for the input here and of course you are raising em right in my opinion . It amazes me how much my grandson asks questions and kind of questions he asks. I try to explain the way things are and what they are going to be like in the future , but he's still too young I think, and doesn't absorb it all yet.

[jim cosgrove]

even my kids that do outdoor stuff i think take it for granted at times .i am rarely disapointed if i don't catch alot of fish or any at all.it is about the fishing and just being out there.i have caught 1000s of fish lots of different ways,but nothing beats that long rod with some feathers and fur and whatever else i come up with tied on a hook and trying for that perfect cast .then that plop of a fish sucking in that bug.

[DAVID L EITUTIS]

You are dead on the money here Jim and the satisfaction of making the bugs, rods or what have you is the ultimate treat. Makes it all worth while doesn't it!

[Vince Fusco]

We could ride downtown for 10 cents on the city bus, and fish the Mississippi River where we caught Sheephead and a occasional catfish. When it was time to come home, we would haul our fish on a stringer, along with our poles, and left over bait on the bus. Nobody seemed offended in the least ,and a lot of times people would congratulate us on our catches. This went on till we got in our early teens, and one of our cute classmates saw us, 'and told us she didn't like fishy smelling boys. Really we could have cared less back, but I guess we got embarrased  by her comment and rode our bikes downtown from then on.  

[DAVID L EITUTIS]

Yep Vince those pesky girls back then hey!!!!