I will never forget the first bass I caught. My mother and I were fishing the creek just below the Usury’s pond dam, catching bream and small cats on earthworms. When my cork went under I expected a fight from a fish that stayed underwater and pulled in small circles. Instead, when I raised my cane pole the fish took off sideways then jumped out of the water! The eleven inch bass hooked me on more exciting fishing.
I soon graduated to a Zebco spin cast reel on a limber rod. I used it to cast plugs like Lazy Ikes, Hula Poppers and Rapala minnows to try to catch bass. I also used Mepps spinners and the new fangled rubber worms from Creme. Fishing in ponds around my house, I learned to cast to stumps and other cover where they lived.
Fishing ponds was always a quiet, contemplative activity. There were few unnatural sounds. In fact, back in the late 1950s and early 1960s, there were so few cars on nearby roads we usually looked to see who was going by – we always knew them. And if an airplane went overhead, we would stop and watch it until it was out of sight they were so rare.
Although I usually fished from the bank or waded the shallows while fishing, sometimes I got the chance to fish from a wooden jon boat. We sculled the boat with a paddle, easing silently around the pond looking for places I could never reach from the bank. One of my uncles got an electric motor, a huge, heavy thing that was fairly quiet but made moving around on the water much easier. We kept it turned off most of the time to stay quiet.
We also sometimes used a small gas motor to push us around. They were loud, smoky things that we seldom cranked since they were often hard to start with the pull rope and we just knew the noise and commotion they caused scared the bass.
I got to go to Clark’s Hill, the new reservoir about 20 miles from my house, a few times a year. It was huge but my fishing was usually limited to casting from the bank or wading the shallows, just like in ponds. My bus driver had a moving around on the water much easier. We kept it turned off most of the time to stay quiet.
We also sometimes used a small gas motor to push us around. They were loud, smoky things that we seldom cranked since they were often hard to start with the pull rope and we just knew the noise and commotion they caused scared the bass.
I got to go to Clark’s Hill, the new reservoir about 20 miles from my house, a few times a year. It was huge but my fishing was usually limited to casting from the bank or wading the shallows, just like in ponds. My bus driver had a slightly larger boat with a bigger motor and he took me to the lake a few times. It was thrilling to putter along at about five miles per hour, slow, but it opened up a lot of new fishing water. We still sculled it around to fish.
On the big lake we saw few other boats and they were like ours. It was normally very quiet even there.
By the time I got out of college and moved to Griffin in 1972 bass fishing had changed. Bass boats were getting popular and I bought my first in 1974, a 16 foot boat with a huge, for the time, 70 horsepower motor. When I joined the Spalding County Sportsman Club that year I had the second biggest motor in the club!
Bass fishing had gotten nosier, with bigger motors on fishing and pleasure boats. And more and more people were on the bigger lakes since they were
On the big lake we saw few other boats and they were like ours. It was normally very quiet even there.
By the time I got out of college and moved to Griffin in 1972 bass fishing had changed. Bass boats were getting popular and I bought my first in 1974, a 16 foot boat with a huge, for the time, 70 horsepower motor. When I joined the Spalding County Sportsman Club that year I had the second biggest motor in the club!
Bass fishing had gotten nosier, with bigger motors on fishing and pleasure boats. And more and more people were on the bigger lakes since they were accessible to all. Much of the peace and quiet disappeared.
Tournaments got bigger and bigger, too. The first Bassmasters Classic was a fairly small affair where the qualifying fishermen were flown to a mystery lake. Now tournament sites are announced months in advance and hyped by the tournament organization and local businesses.
Weigh-ins have become a circus, with blasting music, flashing lights and fireworks. Competitors are encouraged to put on a show, yelling and dancing. Some have even done break dances on the stage and in their boats. All if filmed for TV and draws millions of viewers.
Bass boats now look like NASCAR racers, wrapped with advertisements and costing more than many houses. They have huge motors with 250 horsepower being standard. Electronics will show you exactly where you are with the GPS and every detail under, and even out to the sides of the boat, with the “fishfinder.” Many even incorporate radar so you can run in the fog and see other boats.
Competitors blast off from the starting point and race at 70 plus miles per hour to fishing holes. It is not unusual, in a seven hour tournament, for anglers to use five or six of the hours running to a place far away where they think they can win. Running 150 miles each way to fish one spot for an hour sometimes pays off with winning stringers.
I love tournaments, but will never give up the peace, quiet and joy of fishing smaller waters, without all the hype!