Fishing in the 50s Articles

" Remember When? "
by Fast Fred

Fishing in the 50's

It was 1958 and the Spring of the year. I always loved the Spring and Summer of the year, because it was the time of the year that always got the kids going in the neighborhood. We all had to get ready for another fishing season. Everyone was going after night crawlers. We just had to wait for it to rain nights. Then we got a flashlight and a coffee can ( with a string tied on it to go around our necks) to pick up the night crawlers . Back in those days, there wasn't much bait around, like there is today. And if we didn't go night crawling, we wouldn't have any bait for summer fishing.

We went for the warm water fish; perch, bluegills, crappie, sunfish and bullheads. And we became quite good at catching small mouth and large mouth bass. We also enjoyed salt water fishing. Flounder fishing was my favorite and I got really good with a hand line that summer.

Fishing gear then, wasn't the same as it is today. There were no spinning rods or fly fishing gear for us. We were just poor kids and never heard of such things. We would just cut down an old alder. You would be surprised at the action we would get out of one of them old alders. And of course, the line wasn't the see through line you get today. We just used the old black line or kite line; whatever was available at the time.

We didn't have a hundred different kinds of hooks. We just had the old plain long shaft hook. And if we didn't have hooks, we just had to use safety pins. You had to bend the safety pin just right so you could snag with it. To weight the line down, we didn't have split-shots or sinkers on our lines. We would just tie little rocks onto our lines and would be careful how we cast our lines. Bobbers took money to buy them, so we had to make our own. We would widdle bobbers out of dry wood and paint them with paint that was lying around. Might be house paint, lipstick, or fingernail polish; anything to give the bobbers color.

And Lures. What a joke. A lot of kids had hula poppers, jitterbugs, silver spoons, daredevils and spinners. I had wire and would make frog harnesses out of them. I would also cut the bottom fin off from a yellow perch and would jig it. I got really good at the art of using natural baits.

Well, isn't it about time we started to get ready to go fishing. First, we had to think of what we're going to do when we got hungry. We didn't have any money, so we took along a frying pan so we could pan fry some fish on the shore. That meant " We must catch fish to eat." Now that we were down at the pond, we might just as well stay a few days. That meant, we needed an old canvas for a tent and one blanket to keep us warm. And don't forget the boy scout misket. Now, we needed to take supplies along to keep us for a few days. We're pretty good in the woods, so we won't need much. Maybe, a can of beans in case it rains, a little flour to fry fish, salt and pepper to taste, sugar and coffee and of course a boy scout misket. Now, you take the fried fish and a few frog legs and you have a meal fit for a king.

If anybody likes what they just read and think they would like to go on a trip just like it, well it's easy enough to do. I think you'll have a good time with me and the gang and of course you don't have to worry how you look.

First, you have to go to the dump and get the worst bike you can find. And don't worry if it has a flat tire, because it will just go a little slower and be a little harder to peddle. Next, a pair of sneakers with holes in them, so holey they just about come off your feet and if they come off your feet don't worry. Just go bare footed. Next, a pair of old holey jeans, holes in the knees, holes in the legs and holes in the seat ( air-conditioned. ) Now, you need an old dirty, worn sweatshirt.

Now, when you make up your mind and your ready to leave, give me a call and I'll leave with you.

Remembering my youthful days. . .

December 1999