Aunt Joyce
10-21-2004, 08:17 PM
He placed the can in my two hands and told me “steady” once again. This time he took the rifle, put the end partway into the turtles mouth and “crack!”. I didn’t enjoy this at all but he said “Little lady, that’s food for the table. The Lord filled the waters with food for mankind. It’s our responsibility to take good care of these creatures. But, we should never kill for the sport! And that’s why we must always thank the Lord for the food he puts on our table.”
I’m sure these were not his exact words.....but it’s the message I remember.
We took four turtles back to the cabin. I found out that my Uncle had taken the cans baited with frogs right after I fell asleep after supper.
(Continued)
Now I know I’ve left some things out because of memory. But some things I left out some things are private. This was very private. But I think it’s important to point out these things. They remind us that this was 70 yrs. ago.
When we first arrived at uncle Oscar’s camp in Oxford, NY I really needed to visit the Girl’s Room, fast. It has been quite a long drive from Binghamton. aunt Eva lifted me down to the ground and I asked “where?” She pointed to a little building took my hand and led me there.
The cabin had running cold water, a bathtub, a small sink, a big ice box and comfortable places to sleep. For when it was the middle of the night or weather bad, we each had our own “thing” to use. They each had pretty blue posies painted on them. aunt Eva told me that the name of this big china bowl was “Thunder Mug”.
That’s all I’m going to say about that.
While I was finishing my breakfast uncle Oscar had chores outside to do outside. He came in, picked up his gear and asked “Do you have all your things together little girl? Are you ready to fish for bullheads?” Was I ever!
We walked toward his boat on the lake. I was carrying as much as I could handle. I had to go back for the rest of it. But I noticed when uncle Oscar untied the rope to the dock....a few of my things were back on the shore.
The lake looked like a sheet of glass. I kept staring at it. My uncle took us quietly across the water until he got to a place he called his “sweet spot”. You could hear crickets, frogs and birds all at once. He lowered the anchor and we just sat for a few minutes until he reached down and picked up a hook that was already on a line. “This first time you’re going to use a hand line. Just pay attention to what I’m going to tell you......”
I learned right away how to lower the line over the edge of the boat. But what I didn’t learn right away was how to bait the hook. uncle Oscar was very patient with me. He showed me two times how to hook the worm. The stuff running down my fingers made me gag. But he wouldn’t let me give up. “Here, little girl, try one of these. You have more to work with.” He handed me a huge worm he told me was a “Nightcrawler”.
Somehow I was able to poke enough holes in the bigger worm to make it say on. I held it up and asked him if I had tucked the worm on OK. Even though a bunch of worm was hanging below the hook my uncle leaned over and gave me a big kiss on my cheek.
I sat holding onto the handle that was at my end of the hand line. The boat was fun to be in. My uncle didn’t talk at all. He was watching me and watching the two bobbers he had in the water. Once in awhile he’d tell me to lift the line, just a little, up and down ever so often and to yank if I felt a fish grabbing it.
My uncle caught some Perch and there were two bigger fish I didn’t learn their names. After we had been out there quite awhile I started to get hungry. We were going to go in for lunch soon. Suddenly I felt something grabbing at my bait real hard! I was so excited I was grabbing at the line to bring it up. I could see flashing white in the water.
Before I knew it, one of my uncle’s big hands closed over my two hands holding the frantic line. With his other hand he lifted the fish I caught over my head, into the boat. It was almost all white with some yellow on its fins. “That, young lady, is an albino bullhead. Good job! But he’s so small we’ll give him back and let him grow some more.” He took the hook from the bullhead’s mouth telling me how I must never let one of the bullhead’s barbs touch me. Then he lowered it into the water and told that fish that I might come back and catch him again.
We went on in for lunch. uncle Oscar hung back and hosed everything down. When we both stood at the sink to wash up my uncle told aunt Eva how magical my first fishing trip turned out to be. All because I caught an albino Bullhead!
Just before I took my afternoon nap my uncle told me “You really had fun catching the itty-bitty fish? Just wait until we go fishing for bullhead after dark tonight. There’s a granddaddy bullhead out there that I’ve almost caught three times over the years. Maybe you’ll see him tonight. Have a good nap!
NEXT: Catching Bullheads in the Pitch Black Night
I’m sure these were not his exact words.....but it’s the message I remember.
We took four turtles back to the cabin. I found out that my Uncle had taken the cans baited with frogs right after I fell asleep after supper.
(Continued)
Now I know I’ve left some things out because of memory. But some things I left out some things are private. This was very private. But I think it’s important to point out these things. They remind us that this was 70 yrs. ago.
When we first arrived at uncle Oscar’s camp in Oxford, NY I really needed to visit the Girl’s Room, fast. It has been quite a long drive from Binghamton. aunt Eva lifted me down to the ground and I asked “where?” She pointed to a little building took my hand and led me there.
The cabin had running cold water, a bathtub, a small sink, a big ice box and comfortable places to sleep. For when it was the middle of the night or weather bad, we each had our own “thing” to use. They each had pretty blue posies painted on them. aunt Eva told me that the name of this big china bowl was “Thunder Mug”.
That’s all I’m going to say about that.
While I was finishing my breakfast uncle Oscar had chores outside to do outside. He came in, picked up his gear and asked “Do you have all your things together little girl? Are you ready to fish for bullheads?” Was I ever!
We walked toward his boat on the lake. I was carrying as much as I could handle. I had to go back for the rest of it. But I noticed when uncle Oscar untied the rope to the dock....a few of my things were back on the shore.
The lake looked like a sheet of glass. I kept staring at it. My uncle took us quietly across the water until he got to a place he called his “sweet spot”. You could hear crickets, frogs and birds all at once. He lowered the anchor and we just sat for a few minutes until he reached down and picked up a hook that was already on a line. “This first time you’re going to use a hand line. Just pay attention to what I’m going to tell you......”
I learned right away how to lower the line over the edge of the boat. But what I didn’t learn right away was how to bait the hook. uncle Oscar was very patient with me. He showed me two times how to hook the worm. The stuff running down my fingers made me gag. But he wouldn’t let me give up. “Here, little girl, try one of these. You have more to work with.” He handed me a huge worm he told me was a “Nightcrawler”.
Somehow I was able to poke enough holes in the bigger worm to make it say on. I held it up and asked him if I had tucked the worm on OK. Even though a bunch of worm was hanging below the hook my uncle leaned over and gave me a big kiss on my cheek.
I sat holding onto the handle that was at my end of the hand line. The boat was fun to be in. My uncle didn’t talk at all. He was watching me and watching the two bobbers he had in the water. Once in awhile he’d tell me to lift the line, just a little, up and down ever so often and to yank if I felt a fish grabbing it.
My uncle caught some Perch and there were two bigger fish I didn’t learn their names. After we had been out there quite awhile I started to get hungry. We were going to go in for lunch soon. Suddenly I felt something grabbing at my bait real hard! I was so excited I was grabbing at the line to bring it up. I could see flashing white in the water.
Before I knew it, one of my uncle’s big hands closed over my two hands holding the frantic line. With his other hand he lifted the fish I caught over my head, into the boat. It was almost all white with some yellow on its fins. “That, young lady, is an albino bullhead. Good job! But he’s so small we’ll give him back and let him grow some more.” He took the hook from the bullhead’s mouth telling me how I must never let one of the bullhead’s barbs touch me. Then he lowered it into the water and told that fish that I might come back and catch him again.
We went on in for lunch. uncle Oscar hung back and hosed everything down. When we both stood at the sink to wash up my uncle told aunt Eva how magical my first fishing trip turned out to be. All because I caught an albino Bullhead!
Just before I took my afternoon nap my uncle told me “You really had fun catching the itty-bitty fish? Just wait until we go fishing for bullhead after dark tonight. There’s a granddaddy bullhead out there that I’ve almost caught three times over the years. Maybe you’ll see him tonight. Have a good nap!
NEXT: Catching Bullheads in the Pitch Black Night