I grew up in a rural area in Northern Indiana . My dad and mom owned twenty acres on a dead end road. About half of that was woods and the rest was a field and my dad's garden and our yard.
Just down the road from us was a creek and that was one of the places the kids on our end of the road would go to play. I remember fishing in the creek, but I don't remember what kind of fish we caught. I just remember catching lots of them and bringing them home where my brothers would clean them. I helped with that also, but only scraping the scales off. I didn't much care for cutting off heads lol.
My dad had taught us all how to fish when we were quite young. By the time we were 4 years old he had us out on the nearby lakes with him fishing. Well not actually out on the lake. We fished from the shore. I do remember what kind of fish we caught in the lakes , bass and blue gill. I just can't remember what fish were in the creek.. I will have to ask my brother next time I talk to him. He is younger, maybe not quite as senile as me lol.
Now even though we knew how to fish with a cane pole or a rod and reel, we never used one down at the creek. Instead we made our own out of string, a hook and a long branch! I don't know why we did that at the creek, but it might have been because my dad kept the fishing gear stored in a locked shed and we usually did that kind of fishing on a weekday when he was at work, so we had to improvise. Also, if we couldn't dig up any worms to use for bait, we would use cut up pieces of hot dogs. Apparently those fish, whatever they were, loved hot dogs.
The creek fed into Lake Michigan and certain times of the year the Coho Salmon would come to the creek to spawn. My brothers would make homemade spears and go stand in the creek and spear the salmon. I never actually tried that for some reason, but I would stand by and watch them spear one salmon after another. Suffice it to say, they caught more than their fair share of them. Enough to share with the neighbors. These days there is probably a limit to how many you can catch, and maybe there was back then too. But we lived in the country and the creek ran through the woods and if there were rules, those rules were made to be broken by us country bumpkins!
So there ya go, my first "memory" post.
Have a beautiful day my friends.
Much love,
Lia
Don't ask me why one line in here has a white background!
ReplyDeleteWow! Wonderful memories....I am envious! But that said...life was "better" back then...not as many crazies...less noise of all kinds...much more serene....I'm starting to sound like my Mother...guess that's because I am a certified old person..
ReplyDeleteLately I have been reminiscing a lot for some reason. I agree with you, life really was better back then and in spite of all the conveniences of today's world, I would give anything to go back to more simpler times. I sometimes find myself sounding a lot like my dad, not so much my mom because she died when I was 10, but dad had a lot to say about "the good old days" when he was young :-)
DeleteVery Cool. We had similar childhoods. I also remember fishing (from the shore) when I was a kid. There are some lakes and ponds around where I grew up. I also remember my parents taking us to Michigan for some fishing. The house where our family lived was outside the city. Not really a rural area but I remember when we moved in the street was still a dirt road. Then later this tar was put down that in the Summer there would be lots of bumps in it. I wonder if you remember that stinky stuff?
ReplyDeleteI would say there wasn't a limit on how many fish you could catch back then. I never did catch a salmon. That was also the last time I went fishing. I lost interest in fishing as I grew up but not being out in nature. I would ride my bike everywhere. Life was so much simpler in our youths.
Greg, our road was also a dirt road and they eventually paved it and yes, the tar would get hot in the summer and bubble up and us being barefoot kids would inevitably end up stepping in that hot tar. Thanks for reminding me about that!
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