I cannot remember the first time I went fishing, but certainly by the time I was ten years old, I was hooked! My dad, Richard Huffine, did not like to go fishing or eat fish, but he deserves the credit for getting me interested in fishing. Although he did not take us as much as we wanted, he did haul us to a beautiful, pristine lake several times when we were growing up. Watauga Lake, in East Tennessee in the 50's and 60's (and still is today) was a clear, cold mountain lake full of game fish including walleye, bass, trout, musky, crappie and bluegill. We of course did not have a boat, nor new of anyone who did, but we had a favorite cove that we hoped would be available when we got there. It was a family affair with my little brother coming along and Mom would keep an eye on him and make sure we had a sandwich when she made us stop fishing to have a bite to eat.
I don't even have a picture of us fishing during those days or of fish we caught, but those times are etched in my mind. We used bamboo poles with black dacron braided line, real cork floats, lead sinkers and # 6 and #8 hooks. We always dug our own worms when we got the word that a fishing trip was in order. We never caught much but we always seemed to catch a few bluegill, some redeye bass, and an occasional trout and some crappie in the spring. I would bring along a quart jar to hold my catch and Mom would fry those small fish up after I cleaned them. Too small to filet, we had to scale and gut the fish, but they sure tasted good after a long day at the lake.
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| Richard and Tookie Huffine w/brother Mark |
You will find that this blog is not about limits of fish or of the size of fish but of the people I have had the good fortune to fish with over the last almost 60 years. My dad did not live and die with fishing but he did enjoy himself when he took us. He would find a comfortable spot to sit and experiment with different presentations. I remember thinking how silly he was when he put a worm on a maribou jig!
I don't think he ever went fishing with anyone else but Mom and us boys other than when he caught "horny heads" in the creek when he was a kid. One time after we were all grown we got him to go with us to Watauga Lake one more time. Again, he found a spot and stayed there until it was time to go. What a great thing he did for me as fishing has been a big part of my life. I have tried to involve our kids and grandkids in fishing- Ah, but those are stories for another day!
