I grew up in Texas and stayed at my grandmothers' house all week during the summers. My grandparents loved to go fishing. They fished, probably, every lake in Texas, before their passing. Vacations for me were going with my grandparents on their vacations, which was always a fishing trip to Lake Dallas or Texoma Lake. George and Billie were die-hard fishermen. They started before dawn, in the dark and loaded their aluminum boat with all of their gear. I usually fell back asleep in the boat and did not wake up until we were at their favorite spot on the lake. I always felt they knew every nook and cranny the the sand bass or big mouth bass were hiding. We would stay in the boat on the lake all day, just coming in for a short break or sandwich and then back to fishing. As a child, I loved to fish, but probably not as much as they did. When we went fishing it was the norm to bring home hundreds (or it seemed like hundreds) of fish, that my grandfather would carefully scale and clean to be put into the freezer for a wonderful fish fry at a later date. I wasn't particularly fond of fried fish at that time of my life. Back in the 50s, fileting fish wasn't done as often as it is today. Almost always, I would choke on the tiny bones in the fish, even when I was extremely careful. Probably one of my grandparents greatest adventures was the time when my Uncle Ted took them to the Gulf of Mexico to deep sea fish. My grandparents were like two little children in their excitement and prospect of fishing the big ocean. They brought home an ice chest full of fish, including a red snapper as I remember. As an adult, my husband and I were also treated to a deep sea fishing trip by Uncle Ted. My husband, who loved to fish as well, was beside himself. We awoke at midnight to drive to the party boat my uncle had rented, along with a hundred other thrill seekers, hoping to catch the "big" one. We were ushered into the bowel of the boat for the 3 hour trip to the fishing spot predesignated by the captain. At dawn we were awakened by the captain and told we were at our destination. I was actually looking forward to fishing for the "big" one, until I walked the stairs to the main deck to view more water than I ever imagined seeing. There was no land in sight. Immediately, my stomach was in my throat and I knew I was in trouble. I ran back downstairs to use the potty and was greeted by a sign stating " Go to the side of the boat if you are sick". This made me even sicker. There was no way I was going to throw up in front of 100 strangers. Not today, not ever. Somehow I was able to hold this sickness all day. We did not catch the big one. A storm came up and the captain turned the boat around and headed for shore. I did not realize that the captain had been drinking beer all day and was driving the boat like a maniac. Once we were on land, we drove home. It took me two days to get over the sea sickness and to this day I have not been back to deep sea fish. I do love to fish on a much smaller scale. I used to think my grandmother was dragged to the lake to fish. I once told her when I grew up, I would see to it that she had a real vacation. she laughed and said, "Honey, I love to fish and would not want to vacation any other way." Until the day my grandmother passed away, she would go to her little cabin at Lake Dallas and stay and fish by herself. She truly loved to fish! |
