PHOTO COURTESY GRETCHEN STEELE
“A simple pole, a coffee can of worms, and bucket.
That’s all we really need somedays.”
F I S H I N G O L D S C H OO L By Gretchen Steele
In this world full of the latest and the greatest
technology that finds fish for us, marks the spot,
and all but puts them in the boat combined with
rods and reels that also sport one technological
miracle after another, there is much to be said for
returning to our fishing roots. of a crappie.
Fishing “old school” allows us to concentrate on
the world around us, marvel at the colors and
shapes and feisty attitudes of some fish. Little
fish with big fish personalities. The birds sing and
swing by to snatch up bugs or fish, a fat raccoon
lumbers along the bank looking for a hand out.
This is what fishing used to be before the bells and
whistles, before maps, and fish finders, jet boats,
air boats, and twin 250’s. Before the world of
tournaments, trophies and TV. This is what made
us love fishing in the first place.
A simple pole, a coffee can of worms, and buck-
et. That’s all we really need somedays. Perhaps a
pocket full of some plastic, or a little jig, a length
of cording and a washer for a stringer, and few
extra hooks to round things out. Don’t we all re-
member the excitement of heading out with Mom
or Dad, Grandpa or Grandma for that walk to
the edge of the creek, a stretch of river bank – the
farm pond in the pasture?
There’s not much to go wrong. Not a whole lot of
moving parts on a jigging or cane pole that can
break, no batteries that can die. It’s a bit primi-
tive. Just the fisherman and the world around him.
It allows us to go back and reexamine why we fish
in the first place. It allows us to feel that staccato
bam-bam-bam bite of a bait sized drive by bluegill
bite or the solid smack and thump hard hit of a
young aggressive bass. The gentle tap and nudge
I challenge you to leave the big boat, the fish find-
ers, the tackle box behind. Take only what you can
carry, and take a walk down the path to a piece of
water. Find a spot, have a sit on the bucket or the
bank. Let fishing at its most basic remind you of
why you learned to love it so much. The sights,
the smells, and the feeling of satisfaction of filling
the stringer with supper.
Perhaps Herbert Hoover said it best, “Fishing
is much more than fish. It is the great occasion
when we may return to the fine simplicity of our
forefathers. “
Volume 01 No. 02 | 2017