Fishing With My Father and The Rest of Mankind

What started as a necessity for survival back in some prehistoric era, has become one of the most widely practiced forms of recreation in the world. Go to any country on the earth, and you will find someone who fishes for the fun of it.

Sure, we love to watch shows like "Deadliest Catch", but most of us who have ever felt the tug of a sea bass, fresh water trout, or just a crappie on the end of a line will probably remember that moment long after we have forgotten who was the captain of which ship...with the possible exception of the late Captain Phil Harris.

I first remember being awakened by my father at 3:00 AM around 1950, to ride out to Gulf Beach, west of Pensacola, Florida, to surf cast...and watch the Sun rise over the Gulf. I remember quiet, nearly grunted, conversations with other early risers who appeared out of the darkness into the light from the old Coleman lantern. A few remarks about the fishing and they wandered off back into the darkness.

Except for the fishing gear, the fiberglass rods, monofilament fishing lines, and the Shakespeare reels, they, and we, could have been cavemen hoping to supply the family with food from the sea.

The scene has been duplicated on every continent since man first learned how to catch a fish.

If you have an interest in fishing, I hope the few pages of this website will whet your interest, answer a question, or just bring back a memory. By the way, if any remarks on this site seem a little hard to swallow, well, that's just the perogative of the fisherman. Nobody can say how big the fish was that got away except the person who was there...and he, or she, has the permission of history to lie.