I have always liked to fish. My family went fishing together when I was growing up and my husband and I have always liked to fish together along with our daughter and now with our grandchildren.
I remember when I was around 5 years old, Daddy took us all to the beach fishing. He carried an outboard motor along and then rented a boat so we could go out fishing in the inland waterway.
When we got out to what looked like a good fishing spot, he handed Mama a rod and reel, Richard and Mike (my brothers) a rod and reel and then he handed me a little fishing pole that I could drop over the side of the boat to fish with.
I’ll admit it made me a little bit mad because I didn’t get a rod and reel like my brothers. Daddy tried to explain to me that there were just too many people in the boat for all of us to have a rod and reel and since I was the youngest, I was the one who had to get the little fishing pole.
He then proceeded to show me how to bait my hook and told me to drop it over the side of the boat. Mama said to spit on the bait before I dropped it over the side and that way I would be sure to catch a fish.
I know I was still sulking because even my brothers tried to give me a little pep talk, but neither one of them would go so far as to swap their rod and reel for my little fishing pole like I asked them. I finally stopped pouting and went ahead and spit on my bait and then dropped it over the side, because everybody else was already fishing.
I didn’t have to wait long until I got a bite and I pulled out a nice spot. I took it off the hook like Daddy showed me and then I baited up my hook and dropped it over the side again. It didn’t even hit the water good before I pulled in another fish. Nobody else had caught anything so far but me!
I kept this up for a few more times and caught a fish each time and I was still the only person in the boat who had caught anything. Of course, I had to rub it in just a little each time I caught a fish and my brothers didn’t.
It wasn’t long before Mike asked if I wanted to use his rod and reel and he would take a turn using the little fishing pole. I pretended I was thinking about trading with him but then I told him I would just keep on using my own fishing pole since that was what Daddy gave me to use.
About that time, everybody else in the boat finally started catching fish too. We ended up having a good mess of spot to take home and cook.
When I was 10 years old, I can remember one particular time that my family went fishing over at the boat landing on the Pee Dee River. We didn’t take a boat, we just fished off of the bank. Mama didn’t take a rod and reel for herself because she intended to just help us kids — especially my younger brother Charles, who was only 3 or 4 years old at that time.
Daddy and Richard walked on around from the boat landing toward the dam to try to catch a bass. The rest of us were scattered out along the bank trying to catch whatever would bite. Mama had just baited up for Charles and threw his line out into the water when, from out of nowhere, a man walked up. He had on a uniform and I realized it was the game warden.
He first asked if we were catching anything and then he asked Mama to show him her fishing license. She told him: “I’m not really fishing. I just came along to help the kids fish.”
He told her: “It sure did look like you were fishing as I walked up. You threw that line out all by yourself. I didn’t see you showing any kid how to do it.” Then he told her again that he needed to see her license.
Mama said: “I really did not come along to fish. I was only helping Charles by throwing his line out for him. I don’t have my license with me since I didn’t plan to fish. I guess they must be in my pocketbook in the car.”
The game warden then said: “So you left your license in the car.”
Before Mama could even say anything I spoke up and said: “Mama, I’ll go get your pocketbook for you.” She looked like she didn’t know what to say, but finally told me to go ahead.
I went to the car and brought back her pocketbook and she looked all through it and couldn’t find her fishing license anywhere. The game warden then proceeded to write her a ticket for fishing without a license.
About the time the game warden handed Mama her ticket, Daddy came up and wanted to know what was going on. When the game warden told him he had written Mama a ticket, Daddy told him Mama wasn’t fishing. She was just helping the kids.
The game warden then informed him he saw Mama fishing, so he wrote her a ticket. Daddy tried again to explain that his wife was just helping the kids, but the officer just would not change his mind. Finally, Daddy and Mama saw it was useless to argue with him, so the game warden walked away.
After he left, Mama told Daddy: “I almost had him talked out of giving me a ticket. When he asked to see my fishing license, I told him I must have left it in my pocketbook in the car.”
Daddy asked what happened then and she told him that I volunteered to go get her pocketbook out of the car for her. Daddy looked at me and I said: “I didn’t know she didn’t have any fishing license. I thought they were in the car!”
My brother Charles tells the story of our dad having a meeting with that same game warden while fishing at Naked Creek. It seems the warden came by and told Dad he had a bass that was below the legal limit. Dad argued that the fish was not a bass and said he could prove it was a yellow perch.
Dad took the fish and said, “see these marks right here?” and then he squeezed the fish and it squirted right out of his hand and back down into the creek. I guess Dad sorta won that argument since there was then no fish — no evidence, so no ticket.
I have a lot of happy memories of our family fishing together. You see, whether we caught fish or not, there was never a dull moment!
Azalea Bolton is a resident of Richmond County and a member of The Story Spinners of Scotland County and the Richmond County Historical Society.
