# How about a story from last century?



## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

Does anyone recognize this bearded bass slayer from years long past?

That is Sunbeam back in the early days of Lake Livingston. Ten fish limits like that were an everyday occurrence in the early 70's.

In those days we had a Lake Livingston Guide and Marina Association. Most of the guided bass trips were booked through the marinas. The guides worked for a set rate to the marina. The client paid the marina before leaving the dock. The guide might be tipped by the client after the trip.
Some guides cleaned fish for a fee but some did not. No body cleaned white bass.
Trips were normal from daylight to noon or 2:30 PM until near sun down. Morning trips were nearly always LMB trips. Afternoon trips in the summer might include schooling white bass then LMB afterwards. But large mouth bass were the main target. 
The guides made every effort to get the client to buy their daily supplies, special lures and to be back to the starting marina for lunch. In other words we patted each other on the financial back.
I remember this photo because that stringer was caught fishing solo in about 30 minutes from a huge school of bass suspended over the flooded channel of Little Rocky Creek just south of Indian Creek and Cape Royal.


It was almost dark as I was running my state of the art 16' Skeeter w/ 80 Merc and the front stick steering back to the old 190 launch at Point Blank. I had chosen to launch there since I had a party from Bridgeport KOA that morning and the other party farther south that afternoon. It was about half way and much quicker that a long trip back up Kickapoo.

I had just dropped a party at the marina now known as Browderâ€™s after an evening of really good LMB fishing. Limits of two plus pound fish were easy in those days.

I was hugging the west shoreline running north. As I crossed Little Rocky Creek I was watching the flasher indicating the bottom at 16'. As I hit the creek the light started moving clock wise indicating the deeper water. But the bottom signal stayed a solid light at 16'.
It took me about 50 yards to register that something was not right.
I chopped the throttle and turned back. As I crossed the creek again the bottom signal stayed a 16â€™ as the flasher indicated the falling creek bank. I u-turned again and crossed the creek again about 50 yards farther west. Still the same signal.


Ah ha I said. Is this shad or is this where the white bass hide when they are not schooling on top. I just had to see a few of them to be sure.


I moved just up wind and put my new mighty 18 pound thrust trolling motor in the water and eased out over the creek channel. I dropped a cheap chrome wobble spoon down and started stripping line. Three feetâ€¦Six Feetâ€¦Nine feet when a heavy fish hit the spoon. I set the hook as the line rocketed to the surface. A very nice LMB did a couple of cart wheel and finally came to the boat.
I quickly unhooked it and dropped it in the bottom of the boat. I was stripping off line again when I felt another solid jerk. Same result. Another nice LMB.
Now being of the old school where it was considered sporting to play a fish until it was exhausted beside the boat it took a couple of minutes to get each fish in and unhooked. During that time the breeze would blow me north of the creek channel.
I would use the trolling motor to get back over the suspended fish. About the third fish it dawned on me that I might have found the mother lode of big bass. The layer of fish seemed to be the fifty yard width of the channel and extended for one hundred yards of itâ€™s length.
All I had to do was get back over the creek and drop that three for a dollar spoon down to get a solid strike.
Also let me mention that in those days nearly all fishermen learned catch and release from an alligator. We did not need to keep small fish but if it weighed two pounds it went in the boat. Black bass was second only to crappie as table fish. Nobody ate gou or white bass.
I had a friend, Tommy T, from Bossier City Louisiana, who fish with me a lot. He was a fireman but also a fine amateur taxidermist. He and I were working on making up a mounting board of ten fish on a gold plated chain stringer for the Guide Association booth at the boat show. I had three five pounders in my freezer. This pack of big bass looked like a way of getting the remaining seven.
So I kept moving back against the wind and catching fish until that poor old battery that had been working all day finally died. So I let the boat drift away a few yards and restarted the big motor to move to the up wind side of the creek. I had one of those bow mounted anchors with the little hand crank winch beside the seat. When I could see the edge of the channel I released the anchor. I tried to hold the rope but it slipped through my fingers and the anchor hit the water with a laud splash.
I was watching the flasher and saw that beautiful line of fish just melt away. Gone! I tried up and down the creek and never saw or caught another one. That 80 Merc or the trolling motor did not phase them but when the anchor hit the water they spooked.

I final gave up and managed to get back to the ramp and loaded out in the dark. I strung the fish for a photo when I got back to Triple Creek. I selected a few fish for Tommy and cleaned the rest.
I must have crossed that creek channel a thousand times after that but never saw those big bass again. Not until I spent all those months in Lake Guerrero Mexico did I ever see so many bass holding in one place like that magical thirty minutes on Little Rocky Creek.


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## CFKBig57 (Apr 18, 2013)

Great read sunbeam! I honestly wouldnt think LMB tastes good. Really the only fish we eat is catfish, but i wanna try crappie and bream, and i guess someone could pull my chain hard enough to where i ate a LMB xD


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## creeker (Feb 14, 2005)

Wow, great story Sunbeam!!!!! If you have some more of those, I'd love to read them.


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## Git$um (Feb 11, 2008)

Great story, I wish I had been able to fish with you back then, I will bet it was a hoot.


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

That looks like a man I talked with back in 1970 or so at Hanks. A couple years later someone there gave us tickets to see Willie. You sure do look like that guy.

Matt


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

I bet I had run into you somewhere on Livingston. I was fishing Livingston a lot back in the very early days. I fished a lot over on the East side at a boat ramp out of Carlisle. Your drove down a road and it dead in at the boat ramp. There was nothing but standing corn rows all over the big pasture just this side of the river. Later on there was a store and other buildings there. Across the river from this ramp was a big creek that went in to the right, made a sharp turn and want all the way back across the slue. At the entrance one day, an old tv host named John Fox was sitting there catching big bass. The funny thing was a diver was putting the bass on his line every time out of camera sight.
We fished Palmetto creek a lot and the next big creek up the lake, I canâ€™t remember the name, but you went in and the marina was out of the wind on the West side. When you came out of the marina and headed North we would fish behind the â€œjungleâ€ with a brand new lure called A man there named Randy Dearman, his wife and son had a trailer house there. Everywhere I would go people would say hello Randy, and everywhere he would go, they would say hello Doyle. They got us mixed up all the time. He was just staring to guide at that time. 
I met a lady angler from Houston named Sugar Farris I believe who was just starting a Bass club, called Basin Gals I believe. I was wrapping rods at that time, and she and her lady friend asked if I would build several rods for them in pink and white.
Most of of my first days on Livingston were out of Big Johns Marina. In order to get out to Kickapoo Creek you had to go thru all the trees. One morning we got there very early and headed out to Kickapoo and saw a bass boat up in the fork of a big tree. That made me slow down a whole lot and be a lot more careful. I had a lot of good days on Livingston.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

baytownboy said:


> ...Most of of my first days on Livingston were out of Big Johns Marina. In order to get out to Kickapoo Creek you had to go thru all the trees. ...


Good story baytownboy...and just like you I started fishing Livingston out of Big John's marina right after the lake filled...back when the timber was real and the bass were thick....but I never saw them like in Sunbeam's story.

That must have really been something.


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

I did not see them on the fish finder, but one morning behind the jungle I had approx 12 that were anywhere from 4 to 6 lbs all on a white Lunker Lure. Keep 10 and let the rest go, and missed a lot more than that. Best day I have ever had fishing.
The best I can remember about the boat in the tree, the two men were killed.
I was fishing most of the time from a 60's gray Super Skeeter with a 50hp Mercury on the back.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

baytownboy said:


> I did not see them on the fish finder, but one morning behind the jungle I had approx 12 that were anywhere from 4 to 6 lbs all on a white Lunker Lure. Keep 10 and let the rest go, and missed a lot more than that. Best day I have ever had fishing.
> The best I can remember about the boat in the tree, the two men were killed.
> I was fishing most of the time from a 60's gray Super Skeeter with a 50hp Mercury on the back.


I'll bet I'm the only person on here who is still fishing out of the same boat they were fishing out of back when the lake was formed...the original Mako ( called a Jupiter 15) with a 50hp Johnson(engine replaced a couple of times since then but the boat is still as good as it was over 40 years ago.) Still a great boat for creeks, shallows, rivers, and rough spots.


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## Zereaux (Jul 18, 2006)

Any of y'all remember Zella's & Lilla Andrews? They owned the liquor store at the county line at Oakhurst, I think. They were my great-aunt & uncle. When the lake was filling up, me & my grandpa would go up there, stay w/ Uncle Zell and fish every day.
We'd catch crappie off the bank w/ cane poles till we had every cooler full, head back to Uncle Zell's, clean 'em, and get up the next day and do it again. No telling how many fish we caught. 
We used to deer hunt in the river bottom before it was dammed up. Killed my first deer on Brushy Creek...everyone ran dogs back then.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


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## chucktx (Sep 12, 2011)

wow, this is one of the best threads i have seen on 2cool!!!!!!! i hope the elders can provide more stories and insights for us younguns, and those of us that werent fortunate enough to fish these lakes when they were new........thanks!!!!!!!


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## Get the Net (Nov 11, 2011)

Great story thanks for shareing!


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Best flasher story I have heard. I remember some of my dad's fishing cohorts who had flashers, we did not have one. They got very good at reading them and after the new fangled LED display units came out most went back to their flasher in a short while.
The picture brings to mind the wild man of Borneo!


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

*Roasting Vienna sausages and eating saltine crackers*

Every time I see a fire in the woods it reminds me of a time back in the 80â€™s
with 2 friends and my ex step-son on lake Livingston, Texas. We were all fishing in two different boats, my step-son and a friend named Bill in his boat and my other friend and I were in his boat. It was about 30 degrees or so, a slight mist and sorta foggy all at the same time. Not a fish was caught after about 4 hours. We had stayed with in sight of each others boat so when we decided to go in we could all load up at the same time. I started looking for their boat and could not see it. My friend starts looking around and sniffing the air and said, I smell smoke and something else burning. At this time however, we could not see them. He also said, I guarantee that is Billâ€™s fire somewhere!
We started looking around and saw a fire on a point on White Rock Creek and headed over there. Sure enough, they were there sitting by the fire and roasting â€œVienna sausagesâ€ and eating saltine crackers because Bill said that is all he had. We sat down and eat and all had a good laugh and warmed up and came back and loaded up. 
Neither boat had a strike the whole time. 
I will never forget that day!! LOL


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## MrTroutsnot (Dec 6, 2012)

Great story Sunbeam, thanks for sharing.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

Mattsfishin said:


> That looks like a man I talked with back in 1970 or so at Hanks. A couple years later someone there gave us tickets to see Willie. You sure do look like that guy.
> 
> Matt


Matt, when Univac bought out the Spectra computer division of RCA I left Houston for good. I was the site manager at the Texaco center in Sharpstown.
I came to Trinity and leased Hank's Marina from Hank Anglin. That was mid summer of 1969 if memory serves me right.
Unfortunately Ol' Hank turned out to be as bad a business man (crook) as everybody warned me.
While trying to run Hank's and keeping him for stealing me blind I made the deal with Nolan to get into Triple Creek. So there was a time when I actually had two marinas as the lake was filling.
Forty five years ago Polk, Trinity and San Jac counties were the wild west of outdoor activities. They were the last three counties in Texas not under TP&W general law.
The county commissioners made all of the laws that dis not deal with migratory game and fish. The hunters legally used dogs. 
We could snag fish below the dam. We ran gill nets and hoop nets fr rough fish and cat fish.
We caught and sold alligator gar the Mrs. Paul's fish stick company.

Late one fall I was fishing Pool creek when the largest buck I have ever seen came charging out of the woods and into the creek. As he swam by one of my fisherman said he was bleeding. We followed him until he nearly made the other bank but collapse and began to sink.
I got a hand on his antler and held him up as we came up on the bank.
By that time he was dead. He had what turned out to be a 12 ga. slug in the back side of one lung.
My party was having a fit. They wanted him so bad they offered me $100.00 dollar tip to keep him. So I tagged him and back to KOA we went. He was a pure 20 point with a few other stickers on some of the tines. His main beams looked like 2 X 4's.
I field dressed it in the parking lot of the Bridgeport marina with a crowd of at least one hundred snow birds.
BTW Paul Davis caught a 183 pound alligator snapping turtle that same day. But that is another story.
The client called the the next day from Baytown. He said it weighed 242 pounds at the processors.
Still the big buck I ever caught with my bare hands to date.


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## Danny O (Apr 14, 2010)

_Still the biggest buck I ever caught with my bare hands to date.
_
Holy sheeeet! This thread gets better and better!


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## redduck (Jul 26, 2006)

Wow talk about memories. I had a 16 foot falcon tiger bass boat with stick steering up front and a 60 hp evinrude on the back. Caught a ton of bass and like sunbeam said you did not throw them back. I recall one time a buddy and I were fishing near the highline between the 190 bridge and white rock creek. We got into a school of fish that were holding tight around two large trees. Pitch a brown or purple worm in a circle about 10 foot diameter and bam you got a strike. We were catching one after another. Another boat saw us and were staring and kept inching closer. I yelled for them to move on in and they did get close but not close enough to hit the sweet spot. They fished all around and did not catch a single fish. After about five minutes they cranked up and moved on while we were still catching fish. We got to the marina and a fellow that worked there asked if we caught anything. We showed him and igloo full of bass. He said, "you must be the guys those other guys were talking about catching fish hand over fists and they could not get a bite". I said that was us. Fond memories. Thanks for reminding me.


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## rc10j1 (Jul 15, 2010)

I grew up fishing toledo, never fished livingston. I see lots of threads here with hauls of white bass, but not many large mouth. What happened to all the large mouth? Sounds like there was some awesome fishing there in those days.


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## pYr8 (Apr 17, 2012)

Terrific stories! Love hearing about "the way it was", much like Paul Harvey's "The Rest Of The Story". Keep em coming!

The guy I've been fishing tourneys with this year used to fish Livingston in the early 70's with his dad. I guess his dad was a bass tourney fisherman back in the day, Norris is the family name.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

rc10j1 said:


> I grew up fishing toledo, never fished livingston. I see lots of threads here with hauls of white bass, but not many large mouth. What happened to all the large mouth? Sounds like there was some awesome fishing there in those days.


Too many miles of bulkheads that are not conducive to scale fish spawning grounds. During the flooding period on Livingston there were hundreds of old oxbow lakes that held big native bass. These were freed by the flooding to begin a great period of spawning. 
Also TP&W built net pens in some shallow ares in Kickapoo and White Rock where they stocked Florida hybrid LMB fingerlings. The babies were protected from predator for a complete summer before they were released.
There was one summer when the old concrete bridge railing were still four feet out of water that all you needed was a Zebco with a white Little George to be the worlds greatest fisherman.
There would be an acre of fish on the surface nearly all morning. One school would be whites and the next school was black bass. No giants but plenty in the 14 to 16 inch class. I would venture to say that there were more LMB than white along old 190 that year.
The Jungle area above new 190 was also teeming with LMB. That was where every one learned to fish with those newfangled "rubber" worms.
Too much timber to use an exposed hook lure.
We bought molds, plastic goop and dye and made our own worms. There was that new organization call BASS that put out a how to magazine every two months. Couldn't wait to get the new issue to see all those new lures like Devils Horse, Hot Spot, Mann's newest worms and the articles about a bass heaven call Lake Eufaula, Alabama.
Lake Livingston was a bass and crappie lake. Some commercial cat fishing and great bream in the spring. Now it is big blues, elusive stripers and croaker fishing.
I liked it in the old days.


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## RB II (Feb 26, 2009)

I had a good friend who ran Riverside Marine back in the early '70s. They also sold minnows. It was nothing to sell 10+ dozen minnows to a single crappie fisherman for the day. They also fixed many a broken lower unit from all of the wide open bass fishing in the Jungle and other stump filled spots. I fished in a BASS tourney a few times back then as a guest, caught a 8 lb grinnel and thought I had won the whole thing until it came up. I agree, those days were outstanding. Not to mention the duck hunting was among best anywhere.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

HydraSports said:


> I had a good friend who ran Riverside Marine back in the early '70s. They also sold minnows. It was nothing to sell 10+ dozen minnows to a single crappie fisherman for the day. They also fixed many a broken lower unit from all of the wide open bass fishing in the Jungle and other stump filled spots. I fished in a BASS tourney a few times back then as a guest, caught a 8 lb grinnel and thought I had won the whole thing until it came up. I agree, those days were outstanding. Not to mention the duck hunting was among best anywhere.


Yea verily! The best of times.
The first spring that we had Triple Creek open some of the best crappie fishing was from the camp ground bank under the newly flooded willows.
That was before I left and Nolan dug all of those canals and built a reproduction of the "Deliverance" movie set.
Bank fishing under the Sandy Creek and Brushy Creek bridges produced hundreds of limits of crappie.
There are approximately 13 dozen minnows in a pound. We sold them three dozen in a bag for a dollar and doubled our money.
I averaged a THOUSAND pounds of minnows a week in the spring of 1970.
One old commercial fisherman would park his pickup on the corner of US 59 and FM 1988 in Goodrich and sell a 100 pounds a morning just putting them in your bucket. He had a hose running from a house and filled your bucket with chlorinated water. No one complained.
Anderson Minnow Farms in Arkansas ran two semi loads of minnows a week to Livingston. One load to Oakhurst and one load to Jesse Smith in Livingston.
There is a Public Housing project where his house and wholesale minnow operation was back then.
Onalaska was dry as was the rest of the county. On 4th of July 4th 1971 Anderson Farms brought over 1000 pounds of crawfish from their ponds as a gift to Onalaska. We had the biggest and soberest crawfish boil in the state.
There had been two attempts to get the town limits voted wet. The dry side won both election by two votes each time.
On the third vote the Baptist preacher's mother died some where up country. He, his wife and a brother or two when to the funeral on election day. The wets won by 4 votes. Onalaska went wet for off premise beer sales only in about a month.
Six months later the drys tried to vote it dry again. They lost by near 40 votes. All of those hard shell baptist who owned businesses like the money beer brought to their town.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

rc10j1 said:


> I grew up fishing toledo, never fished livingston. I see lots of threads here with hauls of white bass, but not many large mouth. What happened to all the large mouth? Sounds like there was some awesome fishing there in those days.


A couple of other factors, in addition to what Sunbeam mentioned: 1) striped bass and 2) sediment

1) The first stocking of striped bass in Livingston was 1977 but it was the mid-80's when the program really took off. From what I understand the main reason they don't stock Toledo Bend anymore with stripers is because of the outcry from all the bass anglers....those stripers really outcompete the LMB and not only do they eat their forage, they eat them also. I can't remember the first striper I caught on the lake, but do remember the bass fishing really falling off in the mid-80's.

2) sediment: we get an unbelievable amount of sediment washed down the Trinity and it gets deposited in the lake. It is especially noticible in the upper part of the lake where its relatively shallow anyway...Harmon and Caney creeks for example are just about silted in. All that silt and sediment hurts the spawning beds of the LMB and the bluegills. I read a study once that estimated the year when Livingston would be virtually full of sediment...can't remember now the dates but it wasn't like way far off.


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## hopn (Jul 5, 2012)

Would love the opportunity to go fishing with you one day Sunbeam. Thanks for sharing.


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

*TWO OL FISHING FARTS LOST IN THE FOG EXPERIENCE A HAPPENING WITH A GAME WARDEN ON LAKE LIVINGSTON, WOWWHAT A DAY!
*

*My only experience with a game warden was on Lake Livingston with a former friend of mine about 1992 or so. It was a very foggy early morning, but we decided to go ahead and put in at White Rock Creek because we had driven all the way from Baytown and wanted to fish badly. We had been there a thousand times and knew it well, RIGHT, BUT NOT IN THE FOG. Anyway we made it to the river and down the pipeline in the â€œJUNGLEâ€ and started fishing, but quit because the fog was so thick you could not see 20â€™ away and we were getting hung up on everything around us. We heard another boater, and decided to catch up with him by listening to his motor. We thought maybe he could lead us out. The problem was he keep starting and stopping!! We never caught up with him. The more we called to him, the further he moved away, SO VERY STRANGE, HMMM. So finally we found the river and low and behold in front of us not 20â€™ away was a big figure of a man in a big boat. Great, we found someone who could lead us back! HOLT ****, It was game warden standing with one foot on the side of his boat with his hand on his gun. Now you talking about almost losing it, to pop out of the fog, and the first thing you see is a man with a BIG gun looking at you! He pulls up to our boat and looks in and sees nothing but rods and reels and two scared ol farts. He looks at my friends boat, and says the sticker had expired two years ago! He asked for our license, and we both had left our billfolds in the truck! He says, where are your life jackets, and my friend says that he had taken them and cleaned them and forgot to put them back in the boat. *
*He said in a nice calm demeanor, boys I cant give yall a ticket for fishing because I did not see yall fishing so your off there. He did say he could give us a ticket for expired boat sticker and no life vest, but he said he would not. Boy, we were thinking maybe that are we going to the ol jailhouse or something else we might not like! He asked why we kept starting and stopping our boat, and we told him, because we were lost in the fog, and there was another boater doing the same and we were just trying to catch him so maybe he could tell us how we COULD GET THE HECK OUT OF DODGE and back to our truck. . The more we called to him, the further he moved away. 
*
*He said the other boat was a poacher and he was trying to catch them and we messed him up!. Now I know we are really in trouble. By now the other boat was long gone and I wish we were also. He finally took his hand off his gun in his holster, and said very nice and very polite but 
*
*in a very stern voice to us, GET THE HELL OFF â€œMY LAKE NOWâ€! He did lead us back to White Rock Creek boat ramp so we could load up and go home.*
*WOW, what a nice guy and we were very thankful for it. It could have been very bad, a day in the ol jailhouse for sure!*
* We had not caught any fish, so we decided to go on down the lake to Rocky Creek to my uncles house , rest relax and drink some coffee and gather our thoughts and change our underwear! There was a private boat ramp on the canal in my uncles subdivision. We figured what can happen now to us?? We will just stay in this little area and not bother anyone! RIGHT. We put the boat in and cruised down the canal out to an area that used to be an old farm house and very big fields where we could fish out of the wind, and hopefully not see another game warden! By then, the fog had cleared up. We were working the brush line and an old tree line when the boat got hung up on a old submerged stump. It was in the summer so the water was warm. My friend said its only about 2 feet deep here, so he grabbed the rope up and slid over the side of the boat to pull us off the stump, he had not gone approx 5â€™ when all of a sudden he disappeared with nothing but his hat floating on top of the water and a floating rope! In a few seconds, it looked like Moby Dick coming out of the water hollering like crazy, I fell into the dam creek, DUH! Needless to say we loaded up and came home before something else happened, and it was only 10:00 that morning!!! MAN WHAT A TRIP FROM HELL!!*
*This is a true story, and my only encounter with a game warden, and thank God, it was a good one, otherwise we still might be in the ol jailhouse. I just thought of something else not very pleasant to think about, that **** poacher could have shot us!!! thanx.*


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## hopn (Jul 5, 2012)

First off, I'm glad you and your friend are ok. Second, love the suspense in your recollection. Third, game warden flagged me over three weeks ago, found nothing in my cooler. 



baytownboy said:


> *TWO OL FISHING FARTS LOST IN THE FOG EXPERIENCE A HAPPENING WITH A GAME WARDEN ON LAKE LIVINGSTON, WOWWHAT A DAY!*


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## TaterSalad (Sep 1, 2005)

Sunbeam said:


> Yea verily! The best of times.
> The first spring that we had Triple Creek open some of the best crappie fishing was from the camp ground bank under the newly flooded willows.
> That was before I left and Nolan dug all of those canals and built a reproduction of the "Deliverance" movie set.
> Bank fishing under the Sandy Creek and Brushy Creek bridges produced hundreds of limits of crappie.
> ...


Your great early Livingston stories make me think of one name in particular.

Myrtice Driskell.


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

TaterSalad said:


> Your great early Livingston stories make me think of one name in particular.
> 
> Myrtice Driskell.


He was one of the most friendly helpful gentleman I have ever met in my life. I met him fishing on Livingston one day back in the 60's. He was I believe, a member of the Houston Bass Club. I was the president of the Lure Masters Bass Club in Baytown and invited him down to do a seminar on bass fishing for one of our monthly meetings. He did a super presentasion. We fished several times together before he became a guide on Livingston. His name brings back a lot of memories, thanx.


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## Kenner Ben (Apr 23, 2013)

This has to be the most interesting thread I have read to date. Thanks for sharing! 

My earliest memory of fishing Lake Livingston was probably 1986. Dad took the family to pine island to camp. We launched at Beacon Bay and the main thing I remember was all of the people fishing with cane poles along Beacon Bay shoreline. We caught a few cats from the island and quite a few bass the next day.


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## wwind3 (Sep 30, 2009)

Myrtice was also a member of the League City Bass Chasers--fished a lot of tournaments with him. He and his wife started a his n her club also I think.. Biggest thing he ever caught was a nearly 100 pound snapping turtle on Livingston.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

TaterSalad said:


> Your great early Livingston stories make me think of one name in particular.
> 
> Myrtice Driskell.


That is a name from the past for sure. Have not heard his name or thought about him in many years.
There were lots of people who were pioneers on Livingston.
Big John Brightwell at Big Johns Marina
Sweet William Hendrix at Sweet Williams Marina. (now gone)
Billy Jack Jones who built Sandy Creek Marina.
J Sumerlin at Sumerlin's marina on 190 at Kickapoo. (Now gone)
Harry over at Penwaugh Marina
Jerry Smith who built the first general store, cafe and motel in New Onalaska.
Paul and his son Danny Davis who were the two best bass guides I ever met.

Other things I remember from those first years.

$0.21/9 for gas in 1970.

$2.15 for a resident Texas fishing license

$5.00 to register a boat for two years.

$0.49 for a box of red wiggler worms.

$2.00 for 100 gray crickets

Ice was $0.25 a 10 pound bag.

I had a machine that would scale a limit of crappie for two quarters.

Boat launches were free with bait purchase. If you did not buy some thing go else where.

In 1970 I bought ten 14 ft aluminum jon boats for $229.00 each
and six 7.5 hp Mercury engines for $410.00 each. I rented out a boat for $6.00 for 12 hours. A boat and motor was $14.00 for 12 hours, You buy the gas.

An one last thing I will remember for ever.....I had two toilet/bath houses in my camp ground. I quickly came to the conclusion that I was the only male in the world who did not p**s on the floor.


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## rc10j1 (Jul 15, 2010)

Great stories. Wish I could have been around in those days.


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## FISHROADIE (Apr 2, 2010)

Great story sunbeam those are some really heathy looking solid bigmouths bass. Tell us another good story with some vintage photos again soon.


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## kgobble (Aug 8, 2011)

I would love to heat any stories about Galloway Marina and Colby Marina. Any north side stories?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

One of those marinas by the big bridge over kickapoo had the cutest, well develpoed little blonde waitress, and I wanted to order 4 orders of french fries and have her deliver one litlle tator at a time so I could see her go back and bring more!! LOL. Hey I was in my late 20's and full of p--s and vinagar! 
Durn, yall remember back then, don't ya?:spineyes::spineyes::spineyes::spineyes::spineyes:


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## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

Lord this brings back memories.I used to tent camp at Big Johns and catch them channel cats till the world looked level.


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## RB II (Feb 26, 2009)

The mention of Zells Liquor in Oakhurst brings back old memories as well. My uncle lived in Oakhurst, family name Botard. He had a place down the road by Zells. They had a million bottle caps at that store as I remember and bottles too.


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

I visited Galloways back in the early 70's but can not remember much about them. Spent more time at Hanks.
I do remember way up the river where Bedias creek came in. Before the lake filled it was called Wilson Shoals. It was a good thing the lake filled up because people would fish the shoals out if the lake had not filled up. At the shoals it would trap the fish and it was a slaughter.

Matt


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## TaterSalad (Sep 1, 2005)

Sunbeam said:


> That is a name from the past for sure. Have not heard his name or thought about him in many years.
> There were lots of people who were pioneers on Livingston.
> Big John Brightwell at Big Johns Marina
> Sweet William Hendrix at Sweet Williams Marina. (now gone)
> ...


Myrtice and Denver Wathen had that TV show in Houston called Freshwater Fishing Texas Style. That was "must see TV" for me. They would sit at a table and call the marinas at all of the lakes and get fishing reports. Then they would have film of Myrtice fishing. Can't tell you how many bass I saw him catch in the Jungle on a Tenn Shad Bagley's Honey B on that show. Speaking of the Honey B, Rick Clunn won the 1976 Bassmasters Classic using a Tenn Shad Honey B that Denver Wathen had given him. Denver and Rick both were Conroe regulars and Clunn may have been guiding on Conroe by that time.

And speaking of Myrtice's monster snapping turtle catch, that story made newspapers across the country. Here is a link to one of them:

http://newspaperarchive.com/emmetsburg-democrat/1973-02-08/page-5


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## Zereaux (Jul 18, 2006)

HydraSports said:


> The mention of Zells Liquor in Oakhurst brings back old memories as well. My uncle lived in Oakhurst, family name Botard. He had a place down the road by Zells. They had a million bottle caps at that store as I remember and bottles too.


Yep and their house was FULL of arrowheads and indian artifacts that Aunt Lilla found as the lake was filling. When I wasn't fishing, I was looking for 
arrowheads with Aunt Lilla.

There is(was) a submerged burial ground off the southwest point of
the 190 bridge. Found a bunch of arrowheads, knives, scrapers there.
The other hotspot was Penwaugh slough...
I've got boxes & boxes of arrowheads & stuff we found.

Jerry Smith in Onalaska was kin folk too. I believe he was my 3rd cousin.
Back when we hunted Trinity/Polk county, we always stopped at his store
for supplies. I remember he had a big ole mule deer mount on the wall...


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

Tater Salad mentioned TV fishing reports in post #40.

Bob Brister was the outdoor editor at the Houston Chronicle in those days.
He always did the main story for the Sunday edition.
His daily reporter was a fellow named J (last name omitted). J did the daily fishing and hunting reports. 
He was up on Livingston or Rayburn near every week. He would visit various marinas and exchange free fishing trip for free publicity for the marina or guide.
I first met him at Hank's in the fall of '69. He came up upon an invitation from Jimmy M (last name omitted) to kill some wild pigs.
Jimmy had built a tree stand straight across the river from Hank's. He killed numerous deer from that stand that year. He also saw and killed even more hogs.
Jimmy took J over to the stand about 2PM and left him on that sunny but chilly day.
About thirty minutes before dark Jimmy called me from Huntsville saying he had been tied up and ask if I could go get J.
Well, by the time I got there it was almost dark. All I found was an empty bourbon bottle, a few snack packages but no outdoor reporter. 
I yelled until I was hoarse but no response.
When I got back to the Marina I called the GW and sheriff's office. The search was on immediately.
That was wild country back then. No subdivisions, no real roads and heavy brush. That was nearly four years before Water Wood Corp bought and developed the land.
After an all night search on foot and an all day search on horse back with dogs J was still missing.
About 5PM I got a call from the Groveton sheriff's office saying that they found J.
He was a little worse for wear but OK. When I ask where they found him they said at ***'s liquior store drinking bourbon. 
Seems he had emerged from the woods on highway 19 about five miles west of the river. He flagged down a car and asked the driver if he had any whiskey. When the driver said no, J got in the car and said , "Let's go get some."

Another time a couple of years later Bill Hendrix at Sweet William's marina called me as I was opening around 5AM. He said he just wanted to let me know that the morning Houston paper quoted him as saying the crappie were biting very good in Kickapoo Creek. 
I laughed since it was a hot August morning and I had not seen a crappie in a month. Bill laughed, too. He said he wondered if he talked in his sleep since he had been in Dallas for the week and had just gotten home about 1 AM and had gone straight to bed.
That same worded report ran for at least four more days straight. I thought about calling Jimmy to see if he had lost J in the woods again.


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

What was the name of the marina and trailer park just South/West of the jungle. It is the next e creek up from Palmetta Creek. It is where Randy Dearman had his trailer. It was owned by a couple from Baytown, and I believe he was in wheelchair. I went there all the time. I met J.R. Richards the Houston Astros pitcher and Enos Cabell there several times. Man they loved to fish and have a good time.
I know it was a red clay/gravel road from the main blacktopped road and if it was raining real bad it was allmost imposible to get out because a lot of the road was uphill on the way out.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

Hart's Creek Marina in on the south shore just south of Hart's Creek. There is about a mile of road to the FM 356 road through Carlisle. I doubt if it was paved in those days.
The next creek north of Palmetto Creek is Pool's Creek. That is were Water Wood Corp built their marina, country club house and Cabanas. In about 1973 during the gas shortage most work was halted there. The marina was in operation but most of the roads were not black topped. That might be the place you are thinking about.

BTW The Water Wood country club buildings were just demolished last month. It had been closed since 2009. Another one of those get rich quick schemes that never worked out. Location...Location...Location.


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## RB II (Feb 26, 2009)

We were duck hunting the Jungle across the river from the Marina that sat right on the river bank around the bend down stream from Robbs Lake (obviously can't remember the name). My buddy split his waders in the ice covered water. But we were slaying the ducks and he wouldn't quit. I had torn up my knee playing football that fall and was gimped up and as we were coming out fell all the way under. Needless to say, by the time we got to the boat, we were both freezing, I had to cut off his waders his feet and legs were so swollen and I was soaked to the bone. We putted across the river just before dark to the marina there and it must have been New Years Eve or some other special occasion because there was food everywhere and a huge fire in the fire place. Well we drug in there, probably 18 or 20 years old, freezing and the ladies took care of us. Gave us jump suits to wear while they dried our clothes and fed us like kings. After we got dried we got back in the boat and made our way back to the ramp, probably at Riverside. The crazy things that you remember from YEARS gone by.


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## TaterSalad (Sep 1, 2005)

baytownboy said:


> What was the name of the marina and trailer park just South/West of the jungle. It is the next e creek up from Palmetta Creek. It is where Randy Dearman had his trailer. It was owned by a couple from Baytown, and I believe he was in wheelchair. I went there all the time. I met J.R. Richards the Houston Astros pitcher and Enos Cabell there several times. Man they loved to fish and have a good time.
> I know it was a red clay/gravel road from the main blacktopped road and if it was raining real bad it was allmost imposible to get out because a lot of the road was uphill on the way out.


baytown boy earlier you mentioned being in a bass club. Do you remember a club named the Bay Area Sportsman's association ? I think that was the name of it. If not it was something close to that. My uncle and cousins were very active members in that club and most of the members were from baytown and deer park. My Dad and I went to several tournaments that they had. One was to Livingston and was out of Carolina Cove Marina. I remember it rained like heck and turned the water to chocolate milk. Only caught a few fish that time but those were some fun times.


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## TaterSalad (Sep 1, 2005)

HydraSports said:


> We were duck hunting the Jungle across the river from the Marina that sat right on the river bank around the bend down stream from Robbs Lake (obviously can't remember the name). .


I think that was Hanks. Had a big yellow with black letters sign on the bank there correct ?

Anybody remember the school bus that was on the ridge by the river a little upstream from Shoemake creek ?


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

TaterSalad said:


> baytown boy earlier you mentioned being in a bass club. Do you remember a club named the Bay Area Sportsman's association ? I think that was the name of it. If not it was something close to that. My uncle and cousins were very active members in that club and most of the members were from baytown and deer park. My Dad and I went to several tournaments that they had. One was to Livingston and was out of Carolina Cove Marina. I remember it rained like heck and turned the water to chocolate milk. Only caught a few fish that time but those were some fun times.


No I do not, I was in Lure Masters Bass club in Bayyown in the middle 60's and was a member of the Pasadena Bass club for a very short time. There was another bass club here in Batown that was mostly ol saw bones and tooth fillers and pullers that had a cook that travled with them from lake to lake, can't remember the name, but I know they eat very good!, LOL.

Back to Big Johns Marina, I used to pore my own plastic worms, and I made a worm I called the "skunk worm" It was solid colors but had a poured in white stripe running down the back, so it looked like a skunk. Several marinas around Livingston had those worms.


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

Sunbeam said:


> Hart's Creek Marina in on the south shore just south of Hart's Creek. There is about a mile of road to the FM 356 road through Carlisle. I doubt if it was paved in those days.
> 
> This is the place that I said there was nothing there when we went there and fished the corn rows straight out from the ramp. You had to fight your way out the river thrugh all the fences and trees, and a big pig pen.


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

This is the marina in the circle I was talking about in the late 70's 1n 80' but it was not on that shore it was more to the North shore. You come in to the creek around a point and the marina and campground was there out of the wind. You drove in a clay/gravel road on the North side of the marina, and it was a pprox a mile or so down to the marina.


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## RB II (Feb 26, 2009)

TaterSalad said:


> I think that was Hanks. Had a big yellow with black letters sign on the bank there correct ?
> 
> Anybody remember the school bus that was on the ridge by the river a little upstream from Shoemake creek ?


That is what I remember it being called, but wasn't positive. Thanks. That sure was a sight for sore eyes, that big fire and all of that food, especially for two teenage boys who had been duck hunting all day.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

Baytownboy, That is the location on Water Wood marina and campground. It was open but not completed until '75 or '76. The '73 Israeli war and the Saudi oil cut off to punish the USA for aiding the Jews put the brakes on marina and subdivision development for about three years.
I left the area in '73 so I never saw the place until many years later.
From '69 to '73 there were all sorts of marina on the lake. They were like fleas. Just popped up all over the lake.
There was one on the north shore of Parson's cove coming into beacon Bay. Also one in the cove where the Wet Deck bar is located now. You can still see the dock pilings.
There was even a Goodrich Marina and Bait on the corner of US59 and FM1988.
Louis Hill had a bait shop in Goodrich also. His son sells live cat fish from the same building now.
Every place an old road dead ended in the Lake had a "marina" or at least a place that sold bait and miscellaneous tackle.
There were three out in the woods along the upper end of White Rock.


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## THUNDERSTORM (Feb 10, 2011)

Dont post much,but this forum brought back lots of memories ,my uncle had a place in timber bay, back in the early eighties we used to fish ,duck hunt out of galloways,hit the bars,starving marvins,rising sun,lots of fish,birds,and fun.the first time i follwed him thru the jungle at 60 mph in my new boat i thought what am i doing, . Also remember one of the biggest bucks i had ever seen came off one of the new subdivisions,new at that time> off 356 ,was hanging in the locker at the store in trinity, made the drive thru there a year ago i dont remember 356 being that long and curvy thank you sunbeam and all for the stories..


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

More!


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## berger1b (May 6, 2012)

Back in the early to mid 70's is when I started bass fishing. I actually started on Livingston with the CWA club made up of AT&T and SWB workers. The marina I remember fishing out of that was just south of the jungle on the west side was Neal & Bills. They rented out trailers. Back then all I had was saltwater gear so I would throw a spinnerbait with a AbuGarcia 6000c on a 6' Eagle Claw fiberglass rod. Talk about glutton for punishment.


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

berger1b said:


> Back in the early to mid 70's is when I started bass fishing. I actually started on Livingston with the CWA club made up of AT&T and SWB workers. The marina I remember fishing out of that was just south of the jungle on the west side was Neal & Bills. They rented out trailers. Back then all I had was saltwater gear so I would throw a spinnerbait with a AbuGarcia 6000c on a 6' Eagle Claw fiberglass rod. Talk about glutton for punishment.


Baytownboy, That is the location on Water Wood marina and campground. It was open but not completed until '75 or '76. The '73 Israeli war and the Saudi oil cut off to punish the USA for aiding the Jews put the brakes on marina and subdivision development for about three years.

This was the marina I was talking about earlier. It was south of the jungle on the west side and was Neal & Bills.


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

*Three true stories*

A friend of a friend told my friend whoâ€™s boat we were in where he had loaded up on bass a couple of days earlier. We came out of White Rock Creek at the new bridge, and I canâ€™t remember the name of the marina right beside the new bridge. We turned right and headed past the old bridge or railroad bridge and on to the river. We made a right turn up the river and went a little ways a made a left turn into a small creek. This was a just a little before daylight and was real hard to see where we were going inthis creek. He had stick steering so it was a little easier than the steering wheel boat. We were idling along and bumped a stump and heard something hit the water. I figured probably a turtle, MAN WAS I WRONG!!
I told Steve to stop the boat and look around. Nearly every stump, log had the biggest durn Moc, I have ever seen in my life. In the meantime he was looking around, we hit another stump and the snake hit the side of his boat and fell back into the water, I had to change my drawers because it was about a foot away from coming in the boat!
We cranked up and got the heck out of Dodge as fast as we could.

Another time we were getting ready to put our boat in at White Rock and this women come running up and asked could we do a big favor for her. She said her dad had gone out in the early morning and was supposed to be back an hour ago. She said he was running his trotlines and asked if we would go look for him. She told us where he always runs his lines so we headed out. We got about a mile up river and saw a 12â€™ aluminum boat coming at us real slow with the front/bow sticking almost straight up! We moved to one side and saw â€œgrandpawsâ€ transom almost getting ready to go under. He had a little 9hp Johnson on the back and was trudging along very slow as not to go under! We turned around and asked what was wrong and he said, he had caught a 100lb cat and could not get it into the boat, se he tide it off to the back and â€œwas coming homeâ€ with that big ol booger. We had him stop, and got the fish in our boat and we followed him back to the marina. There were some people gathered there now, and we all had a good laugh and they were relived that all ended well.

Another time we went down the pipeline as far as we could go and then went some more!
There was a lot of stumps, logs laying everywhere, great bass fishing heaven. We evently worked our way back to a small creek. I had just bought a new lure called the Moss Boss. It looked just like a gold spoon but only made from white plastic with a white buck tail on the hook and a gold fishnet pattern on the nose with a splash of red on the very end to look like it was bleeding on the nose. I only had one, so you knew who was catching all the fish, me. All my fish were approx 5 to 6 lbs. Throw it over a log and bring it back over and let it fall into the water and hang on. We heard some splashing up ahead and looked and coming out of the water, was a kid approx 16 to 17 years old with a stringer on each shoulder of 6 to 8 lb fish, I bet he had about 5 or 6 over each shoulder. He had been wading and had a super day. He thought we were game wardens and took off very fast.

I am all storied out for tongiht but will have another tomorrow about the new orange and black Graphite rod back in the 70's.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I used to duck hunt the jungle back in the early 70s and the hunting was great. Pin tails/mallards/baldpate, teal you name it. 
The only problem was the bass fisherman who showed up about 9:00 casting into your block spread.
I would come out of my makeshift blind of Russo cane stuck in the mud around my flat bottom boat and cuss em, they would just plead, "But we been killing the bass in here lately!".

The route was launch at Galloways and run to the high line and cut into the jungle to the west bank to set up. I remember running at night to get there early and the whole way when you shined the Q beam in the water it would be solid shad the whole way.
I got stuck high center on a stump more than once and had to strip down and swim the boat of the stump, talk about chilly when it was the late season split!


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## fishinganimal (Mar 30, 2006)

The earliest I can remember in 71 I was 8 and lived the summers on the river with my uncle (Goat) owner of Bells Camp at the time. A time I will never forget. He had a loaded pontoon back then and when we left the dock the floor was solid minnow bags. All nighters and absolutely hammered the crappie with the colemans hanging out of the trees. That was the good ole days. I did work at the marina running up and down that hill to pump gas on the pier. $2 a day and loved it!!!


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## RB II (Feb 26, 2009)

shadslinger said:


> More!


X2. I could listen to these stories all day. I love it.

I was working as a helper at the university when they were building the basketball stadium in the '70s. There was a carpenter there that fished in the local bass club. He had an old '64 standard tranny truck and we were launching at White Rock on 356 to fish a tournament. I backed the boat down into the water and when I applied the brakes to stop for him to unload, a brake line broke and the pedal went to the floor. Somehow I shifted gears to 1st gear and popped the clutch and pulled the rig out. Very lucky that rig didn't end up in the middle of the creek. That ramp is steep. Took a hammer and folded over the brake line a couple of times, bled them down and launched the boat. I don't think he ever replaced that brake line.


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## wwind3 (Sep 30, 2009)

Guide--Earl "Bass" Haas? Saw him drop his boat of the ramp at Galloways I believe(maybe Hank's) one morning.I guess the winch didnt lock or he forgot to engage it when he pulled it out--made a heckuva racket scraping along that concrete.


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## wwind3 (Sep 30, 2009)

Fished a state Top 6 BASS affiliated tourney on Livingston one yr. Couple pretty good fishermen there--Ricky Clunn of Pasadena and Zell Rowland from Bryan I believe.


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## fishin_envy (Aug 13, 2010)

All of these old memories are really great to read about. The only thing I am more impressed with is the fact the mature gentlemen on this board refused to let 21st century technology pass them by and made it a point to gather around the internet campfire and share their stories. My hat is off to each of you for the great stories and the outdoor education each post brings !!!!


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## 63bulletbird (May 15, 2013)

Hello everyone ,Im a newbie my first post.I sure enjoy these stories,it brings back my own memories of fishing Lake Livingston in the 70,s


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## redduck (Jul 26, 2006)

I have posted this before but will share again. As I said earlier, Back in 1973, I had a 16 foot Falcon Tiger with stick steering. I had put in at the public boat ramp at 190 bridge (West side) and went up river (north) bass fishing the jungle area. Had a couple friends with me and we caught a few fish. On the way back to the boat ramp I was wide open (about 35 miles and hour back then which was flying) and suddenly ran into shallow water with stumps just under the water. The stumps were where they had cut the timber off about a foot from the ground. Anyway, the boat flew over one stump just under the water and my outboard centered the stump which had V shape in it and the motor could not bounce off right or left so it broke the metal bracket that hold the motor on the boat and the motor went flying up in the air only connected by the electrical and gas line. It fell back in the water. I got out of the boat and lifted the motor back on the transom. Flipped the trolling motor on and went about a mile when a good guy came along and pulled me back to the ramp. I took the motor home and after a couple of weeks cleaned it up drained all oil and replaced. Hit the starter and she fired right up. Ran fine for another 4 years till I sold it. The lake has a lot of memories.


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## wwind3 (Sep 30, 2009)

Falcon Tigerwas a tuff boat.. Friend of mine did that on T-bend during a club tournament. He was late for weighin at frontier Park..Looked out at the Carrice Cr Bridge on Hwy 21 that crosses the lake and here he comes--backing up. Same deal---motor didnt fall off but was hanging by cables. He could back up but couldnt go forward.


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

wwind3 said:


> Fished a state Top 6 BASS affiliated tourney on Livingston one yr. Couple pretty good fishermen there--Ricky Clunn of Pasadena and Zell Rowland from Bryan I believe.


I fished the Texas State bass Tourney 3 years in a row, and all I to fish against were Larry Nixon and Tommy and the rest of the "Hemphill Bunch"
They were guides on Toledo Bend, but not on Sam Rayburn.:spineyes:


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

*SKYLINE GRAPHITE ROD*

This is a story about the new orange and black Graphite rod back in the 70's called â€œSkylineâ€ that was made in Fort Worth. 
Skyline Graphite rod, man what a rod, so super sensitive much more lighter than anything that I had ever used before, and purty with black and orange wrappings.
My mother had bought this new graphite bass rod for my birthday and the first time I got to use it was on Lake Livingston. My same ol friend who was with me on most all of these trips to Livingston was with my on the first time I used it. We went down the pipeline and I knew about a small stock tank that was flooded when the lake was built. I had it found it on an earlier trip and caught lots of bass there. It was off to the right by a big tree in the woods. My friend thought he was the best worm fisherman in the world, and had skunked me on several other trips to Sam Rayburn. 
But my day was coming!
We started fishing there and I had caught 10 or 12 bass and my friend was being skunked by my new graphite rod. He had said it would not make that much difference because he was the "pro so to speak" and I was the rank amateur at worm fishing. He was getting madder and madder and in a little while he walked up behind me and grabbed my graphite rod and gave me his fiberglass rod and said â€œlet me try this damed thingâ€ He proceeded to catch about 6 or 7 in a row, and finally said he was convinced that it does made a big difference. I let him use it to fill his limit of 15 bass. That was the limit back then.
So on the way out of Livingston at the new Wal-Mart on the loop, he said he wanted to stop for a cold drink and use the rest room. Well I'll be dam, here he comes walking up to my truck with a new Skyline Graphite rod!!!! WOW.
I do believe I asked him who was the rank amateur at worm fishing now about 20 times all the way home. I also reminded him he would have been "skunked" if I had not loaned him my new rod.

From that day on, he never out fished me using a worm. :spineyes::spineyes:


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

*MY FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH A GAGGLE OF GEESE and A CHRISTMAS TREE FARM.*

I had built my lake house on Lake San Rayburn in 1982. I had been going back and forth for about 5 or 6 years . One day when my ex-wife and I were eating at Shirleyâ€™s cafÃ© in the little big town of Broaddus, Tx. We overheard a conversation about a Christmas tree farm just south of Zavala on Hiway 59 and asked directions how to get there because it was on our way home.
The first time my ex-wife, â€œmy secondâ€ and I stopped to get a tree at this tree farm. I pulled up in my truck at the farm house to look at some trees. I got out and saw a gaggle of geese, a whole "**** flockâ€ and babies must have been approx 20-25 of "them big ol boogers" coming towards me. I had never been around those *"birds"* before so I did not know what was fixin to happen!!
Two of those boogers started running towards me real fast and instincts took over and I run to my truck, BIG MISTAKE, because they started flying at me, so I jumped in the back of the truck. You would think that would stop them, *WRONG*, because the bad boy of the bunch jumped in my truck also. Now you never would have thought a man can get on top of his truck in about 2 seconds, but Iâ€™m here to tell ya, when ya scared, the adrenalin kicks in big time and away ya go.
So here I am on top of the roof of my truck and hollering for the man who is standing at his door laughing his butt of at me know. Was fun for him, but not for me for sure!!. He came out and called off the "POSSE" and we bought our tree and left. My ex laughed all the way home. It's funny now, but was not at the time. True story, we bought our tree from him for about 4 years after that, but when we pulled up in the driveway, we always *tooted the horn before I got out*!!!!, LOL


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I started at SFA in 71, man it was hard to concentrate on school with big Sam just down the road! 
Back then I would go after class(most of the time I waited until after class) and wade out in Burl Lowery's field with a stringer and a pocket full of worms and spinner baits. It would be all I could do to haul that stringer out of the water when I got back to the bank.

Dad gave me his old Monarch 14' with a 20hp Johnson the next year and I was in high cotton for sure. 
The motor had a thumb switch under the cowling that would take it from locked down to kick up, but a little tear in the aluminum had developed so it would always slip back to lock down.
One day I launched at MacAllistor's Park and took off to Kingtown up North about 3 miles from the launch. I tore up the bass and crappie with an H&H spinner bait fishing the buck brush and right at dark headed back to the ramp. 
The lake was glass smooth and I was on plane skipping along when *Wham* a submerged floater just under the water ripped the motor right off the mounts and put the 20 hp in the boat with me.
A spinning prop with 20hp behind it 2' from my head had me in shock and deafened by the noise. I got my act together and reached under to hit the kill button on the motor.
Still a couple of miles from the ramp I gradually got my self settled down and tied the motor to the transom with a hank of rope.
I could only back up and it took me a long time to get back to the ramp.
Once there it took a long time and several smokes to settle my nerves to able to put the key in the door lock my hands were shaking so bad.
I went back the next day wade fishing, can't keep a good fisherman down!


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

I wish I could remember greater details, but I still have an image in my mind of being at Galloway's Marina in about 1971 with my dad when a bunch of bass fishermen were bringing in their catch to weigh in for a tournament. They had good stringers of large bass slung over their shoulders.


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## 63bulletbird (May 15, 2013)

I remember my uncle had a falcon tiger,very smooth for bass boat back then.It had an 80 hp merc with no power trim ,and it was my job to lift it ,man that thing was heavy for an 11 yr old.. Earlier yall mentioned driskell.I remember my dad buying a blank rod from him back then,and didn't he have a tv show for a while,and would sign of with 'see you in church on Sunday'


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## redduck (Jul 26, 2006)

This really happened to my brother on lake Livingston. Again, back in the 70's he had also had a 16 foot falcon tiger but he had to best me so he had an 85 hp Johnson on the back. Those falcon tigers had two pedestal seats in them. He took a buddy out fishing one day and as he was sailing along wide open he would point out land marks to his friend in the back. He had made a quick turn to the right and back to the left to miss a floating log and went about 300 yards and turned to say something to his buddy and his pedestal with seat and buddy were in the water 300 yards back. We all laugh about it now but the buddy was real pis&&ed.


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

I had about 4 boats that had stick steering in them and loved it because you you see lots of underwater "stuff" you normally run over.
At one of our Lure Masters Bass club tournaments on Sam Rayburn, there was a man who was so accident prone, no one in our club would fish with him. It was just about weigh in time, and we heard then saw this boat headed our way at the weigh in site. It kept getting closer and closer and finally it hit land about 3/4 throttle open, run up on land approx 20' to 30' or so and throwed the driver out, well guess who? Yep your right!
He said he got hung up in a tree with a Devils Horse, "three hooker" my son called them, and jerked it out of the tree. It was coming at his face and he throwed his arm up to keep from hitting him in the face and it got caught in right arm sleeve. This guy was so weird even in the summer time with 100 degree temps, he would have a pair of shorts on and long flannel shirt on!
He said he tried to get it out but the line was wrapped around his neck so the reached back to remove the line and one of the other hooks got caught in the back of his life jacket. So here he is his right arm caught on the back of his life jacket and can't move it and can only steer with the left arm and try and operate the gas on the right side with that hand also. In the meantime, he reaches across to operate the gas lever and he cataches the left sleeve on another lure that was laying in the front on his pants. So here he is trying to operate a stick steering boat with the with the stick on the left side and the gas on the right side with his right hand attached to his life jacket on his back, and his left hand hung up on his left side in his pants leg, WOW.
He was not hurt when his boat his the land , but his boat was damaged a little. It took about 6 guys to get his boat back into the water. His kill swith worked great that day!


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