Monthly Archives: September 2014

Sounds of Summer

A recent article in the Griffin Daily News about the sounds of summer while growing up, written by a guy that grew up in a suburb, brought back many memories. Although he had some of the same memories as me, there were many unfamiliar to this country boy, and he did not mention many that were important to me.

He told of the different ways parents had of getting their kids home in time for supper. My parents blew the car horn three times. From our house on top of a hill I could hear that distinctive sound for a very long way. And I knew I better high-tail it home since my parents insisted the whole family sit down together every night for dinner.

I was too far from any neighbors to ever here them talking, or even yelling inside their houses no matter if the windows were open or not. But at night I did hear crickets, spring peepers, the sound of distance thunder that seemed to be present every summer night, and the clucking of chickens. Since we had 11,000 laying hens and kept lights on all night to encourage laying more eggs, that sound lasted all night.

Car sounds were very unusual after dark, and not very common during the day. Before I was school age the main road that ran in front of my house was dirt. Sometime around the time I started school the county put down tar and gravel. That made for a better road, but not much. The gravel was put down in a thick layer and gravel sprayed on it. The tar kinda kept the rocks in place.

The sounds of passing cars changed from a soft grinding in the sand to a crunching as the tires ran over the rocks, and an occasional clank when a piece of gravel was thrown up into the fender well.

It was not unusual for me to come in during the summer with tar on my feet. I wore shoes only on Sunday during summer vacation from school, and walking on the road after the sun heated the tar was guaranteed to get it on my bare feet. So the sounds of me fussing about mom scrubbing my feet with turpentine to get it off was pretty common, too.

We had something else in common, that city boy and me. Apparently he lived on the edge of the suburbs since he talked about damming creeks, building tree houses and camping out. I did all that, so the sounds of hammering and sawing were pretty common, as were the sounds a shovel of sand makes hitting the pile for the dam or being poured into croaker sacks.

I will never forget the sound a butcher knife makes slicing into a cold watermelon, then the crack as it is split apart. We ate watermelon at least once a week during the summer. Since we had a walk in cooler for the eggs we always had six or eight in there ready to eat.

The sound of bacon sizzling, eggs frying and the toaster popping up were daily indoor sounds. But the bacon and eggs cooking outside while we camped out sounded different, and better, somehow.

Another sound of the summer was the whoosh of daddy’s fish fryer under the carport. It was sometimes frying fish, but much more often it was boiling water to blanch corn, string beans, okra and other vegetables from our garden that mom was freezing. His fish cooker was home made out of an old wheel rim, with a pipe in the middle that the gas line hooked to. It put out a flame thrower like column of fire that heated things up fast.

One of the most important sounds of summer to me was the plop of a cork hitting the water, or the gurgle of a Jitterbug wobbling its way across the surface of a pond. Fishing was one of my favorite activities, even back then, and I went several times each week. It didn’t matter if we were fishing red wigglers dug behind the chicken house for bream or casting plugs for bass. I love it all, as I do now.

The sounds our bicycles made on the gravel and dirt roads, and the change to a whine when hitting asphalt ones, will always remind me of the fishing trips we made. My friends and I would ride our bicycles for several miles to farm ponds and spend a cool afternoon wading and catching supper.

I hope kids made some good memories of the sounds of summer this year.

Who Was At ICast?

Who Were Those Guys at ICast?
from The Fishing Wire

Although it seems like ICAST was six months ago, it’s barely been three weeks ago the sportfishing industry gathered in Orlando for their annual event. And chatter may have been dissipated by distances, but one question remains that had absolutely nothing to do with the constant hassles of government regulation, access to public waters and the usual regulatory baloney that comes along with doing business in today’s climate.

ICast Booth

ICast Booth

The Huk booth featured performance fishing attire (top). The obvious presence of the Spanish Fly boat and logos of the legendary saltwater angler Jose Wejebe (below) generated buzz, too, as did signing KVD. But the presence of other big names -like Skeet Reese (bottom) had ICAST attendees wondering if the new clothing company was out to move into fresh and saltwater fishing in a big way. Jim Shepherd/OWDN photos.

Boat At ICast

Boat At ICast

The question? “Who are those guys?” And like the iconic line from the classic Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, everyone agreed with the follow up, too: “they’re very good.”

ICast Kevin VanDam

ICast Kevin VanDam

In this case, “those guys” were the guys from Huk Performance Fishing. They showed up at their first ICAST with a slick-looking booth that seemed to be a lure custom made for “name” anglers from professional bass fishing. And their announcement -made during ICAST – of signing Kevin VanDam to an apparel contract had more than a few attendees watching their booth to spot other “name” anglers looking at their very contemporary looking technical clothing.

At the start of ICAST, I was one of those people unable to tell you what the heck a “Huk” was. But tipster told me this “new” company was anything but new to the industry. Turns out, the company founders’ experience in sports and technical clothing was considered crucial to the success of another apparel company now a very major player in virtually all sports, including “the outdoor space”.

Yup, the same loosey-goosey guys joking about being friends since college were telling the truth- mostly. They just weren’t sharing was info that while they’re longtime friends, they’re proven corporate business veterans who left a company they felt was walking away from a great opportunity- fishing.

Another reason they seemed to be operating sub-rosa was the fact that Huk isn’t the company. That’s Marolina Outdoor, Inc. – a partnership of Ben Verner, Josh Reed and Jason Hart. They’re the longtime troika of friends with that “deep-seated expertise in technical apparel and intimate knowledge of the outdoor industry”.

Spending a few (disjointed) minutes talking with them at their booth, it quickly became obvious they’re playful in their demeanor, but when it comes to business, “they ain’t playin'”.

That’s the reason we’ll see KVD (and others) sporting a camo pattern on his fishing jerseys. It’s also why other names were checking out their goods. Marolina wasn’t started on a whim- or a shoestring. Seems the three founders are guided by a single position: if you’re going to play, be number one.

So, they came to ICAST with a full line of technical and casual clothing and a few surprises up their sleeves- like the KVD announcement. But they also had a business partner present in their booth whose name is iconic with saltwater anglers: Wejebe.

Krissy Wejebe, daughter of legendary saltwater angler and longtime “Spanish Fly” TV host Jose Wejebe was there, talking up a new Spanish Fly/Marolina partnership that will bring out a new line of “coastal lifestyle apparel” offering a fresh take on the classic.

A blend Krissy says is “truly unique, as was Jose.” Marolina’s Ben Verner calls the partnership a “dream come true” for the new company.

But there’s a deep-seated appreciation for the man who made “Spanish Fly” an angling standard, and that’s coming into play as well. Wejebe’s iconic -and re-outfitted- Spanish Fly boats were unmistakable at ICAST. But their presence wasn’t just to conjure up a nostalgic memory of Wejebe. They were there to foreshadow something I learned about during my visit with the Marolina crew: a resurrection and revamping of Wejebe’s now classic fishing shows.

No specific details on when we’ll be seeing the “new” Spanish Fly TV shows, but as always, we’ll keep you posted.

Writing A Fishing Book

During the summer of 2003 I was working with a literary agent in Iowa and Adams Media about writing a book on fishing. The agent had seen my web site and contacted me about a proposed book, The Everything Fishing Book. I agreed to write it and signed a contract.

I started on the book on Memorial day and from then until August 18 I spend many hours each week researching and writing. My deadline for 85,000 words was August 18th and I met it. There were days that I did not want to look at a computer screen and keyboard ever again, I just wanted to go fishing. But I finished the book on time.

Adams Media publishes a series of books with the Everything title. There are over 100 different books in this series and they have very specific guidelines on what they want. That really helped me and guided me as I wrote the chapters of the book.

It was quite a thrill to see the book listed at all the big internet book stores like Amazon and Borders. I received some copies and have given them to folks that helped me with the book. Jim Berry has a few copies at his store for sale.

One of the nice things about the contract with Adams is that I was paid up front. I get no more money whether the book sells zero copies or a bunch. So I have no vested interest in it as far as money goes, just my pride.

The book is a guide for adult beginning fishermen. I was told to write it for someone who never fished but decides to start fishing as an adult. It has a lot of basics, like explanations of the different kinds of reels, how to find a place to fish, different kinds of bait and even a glossary of different kinds of fish.

One chapter of the book is on tying good knots, another chapter discusses different kinds of line and which work better in different situations and another chapter is on cleaning and cooking your catch. Most of the information in the book comes from personal experience. All the mistakes I have made gave me good ideas of what to warn people not to do!

Looking back the writing does not seem so bad, now that it is over. And contrary to what some people told me, I do know that many words! Someday I may try it again, when the memory of those long days sitting at a computer when I could be fishing fade a little more.