Throw Back the Big Ones

Posted Fri Jul 5, 2002 in

I used to fish, a lot. When I was in college, we lived not far from my folks (both parents and in-laws) farms in southcentral Missouri. Little Dry Fork Creek ran through my folks’ place; Big Dry Fork Creek ran across my in-laws’ place.

Sometimes, on summer Saturday mornings, I would rise early, grab my light spinning tackle, and drive out to the farm. My brother-in-law and I would walk down the hill to the creek just after dawn and wade and fish. My preferred bait was a small jig hook with a white squirm-tail grub body strung onto it (completely artificial! :). I bent the barb of the hook down to that it was easy to release the fish.

We would wade upstream in the clear water, casting the holes and working the riffles. I like to cast upstream and retrieve downstream, where I let the jig bounce along the bottom, jigging the rod tip slightly to make the bait bounce a bit. When the bait drops off the riffle into the deeper water, the fish really like that. :)

The creek had a rocky bottom so footing was secure. Smallmouth bass, perch, bluegill, sometimes a largemouth bass, and goggleeye were all there. We caught them. On the light tackle they were a lot of fun to bring in. I used no more than six-pound test monofilament on my rig. I could grab the jig head, lift the fish up and just tip it off the hook. They were rarely harmed and it was fun to watch them dart off when they realized they were free.

Sometimes, over a four or five hour period, we’d catch and release forty or fifty fish. (I remember one morning in particular when I had to replace the soft-bodied artificial bait because the raspy jaws of the smallmouth I’d been catching had worn it out.) We’d talk and laugh the whole time. The water was beautiful. Trees overhung it in many places. The weather would always be cool early in the morning. We’d be back at the house by noon, drinking coffee and telling fishing lies. Those were good days.

These memories were brought back yesterday, when I read this article about releasing fish. I rarely kept any that I caught. Now it seems that it’s a good idea to keep the smaller fish and release the larger ones.