"Stop" Fishing

 

Stop Fishing With Gill Net
One night in the late fall Chuck, Kenny, and Joe camped out on Atsena Otie on the beach.

They had gone up inside the creek and run their net across.  They were stop fishing.   Stop fishing is when you close off the creek and wait for the tide to drop.   



Taking in the Net



Cast Netting the Holes

As the tide drops the fish come down the creek, trying to get out before the creek goes dry, and are caught in your net.   The fish you don’t catch in the net, you use a cast net to catch the rest that are in the holes.  In those days it was all legal.

Now that has all been outlawed!

The net ban put a lot of commercial fishermen around the entire coast of Florida out of work. Some of these men were too old to learn another trade, they had fished all their lives, and they had to turn to the welfare system to survive.

Many of the ones who did go to the poles and vote to BAN net fishing are also the ones who complain the most about the welfare system!

And the laws that were passed did absolutely nothing to stop the problem that they were intended to. We all hope that eventually it will be put on another referendum to be voted on again.

Not only did it put commercial fishermen out of work, it closed a great number of fish houses and other trades related in some fashion to commercial fishing.

After they came back from setting the net, Chuck decided before he crawled into his sleeping bag for a nap while they were waiting for the tide to drop, he’d shake the sand out.  

Water Moccasin

He noticed it was a little heavy when he picked it up but thought surely it couldn’t have that much sand in it. He shook out a nice sized moccasin that had found a warm place to crawl into and hole up for the night.  

There used to be a lot of snakes on this island, and then someone put hogs over there to eat the snakes and thin the population. There are still snakes on the islands but not as many as in those days.

To be continued

Wonder of Nature

McClamery Island Photo Courtesy
of Carla Sue Berryhill Ermel

On another occasion the boy’s were up around McClamery, fishing.  McClamery, for those who don’t know is one of the islands along the western shore between Cedar Key and the mouth of the Suwannee River.   

This photo on the right is McClamery Island, You can see the beach mentioned in this story. The lady on the left is Carla Sue and the one on the right is Denise Bishop. They were out fishing not long ago with Carla's husband Ray and stopped on the Island. Happy Ray snapped this photo and Carla Sue posted it.

They were out a good ways from the island but they could see a big light drifting slowly back and forth on the beach. 

Ghost Story Laid To Rest

One of the local ghost stories was that some man had died on the island and now haunted the island and the light was his lantern he carried as he walked back and forth on the beach.

It was in the fall of the year.  Chuck kept encouraging Kenny to push on up closer to the island.  They were scared spit less but Chuck said, “I want to see this ghost up close and find out if he’s real”. 

Kenny poled slowly and they got closer and closer.  As they drew closer they could hear a whirring sound.  They usually carried a double barrel shot gun with them for hunting game or to kill a big shark if they caught one in their nets.  Not many people around those parts ate shark in those days.

They got closer still; the hair was standing up on the back of their necks, cold chills running up and down their spines from fear. 

Chuck yelled, “Hey, who are you?”  No answer.  As they had gotten closer they could tell the light was a lot bigger than they had thought when they had first seen it.  It was about four feet in diameter.  

Chuck yelled again “You better answer me if you can talk; cause I got a bead drawn on you with a double barrel, and I’m gonna shoot you if you don’t, so if you can talk you’d better answer.”

Again there was no answer.   Boom!  Chuck shot one barrel.  The light scattered in a thousand directions but immediately regrouped.  How strange was that?  He yelled again and no answer came back.  And he shot again. 

Fireflies/ Lightning Bugs

The exact same thing happened.  Chuck said “Kenny push on up to the beach, I want to see for myself what this is.   And I ain’t believing that’s a man and I sure as hell don’t believe it’s a ghost.”

Still scared half out of their minds Kenny pushed them on up to the beach.  They got out of the boat and walked around looking, and the beach was littered with lightening bugs (fire flies) still flickering, hundreds of them. 

Because they had persevered against their fear they had witnessed a phenomenon rarely or if ever seen before by man.  I don’t think anyone knew at that time that lightening bugs would swarm like that. 

Had they known before time what that light was, Chuck would never had fired a shot.  They had laid one ghost story to rest.  And came away in awe and wonder of nature!

To be continued

Coon and Dumplins

On another of their adventures, they were invited to eat aboard a launch with an older fisherman.  They had been fishing fairly close to where he was anchored and could smell whatever he had been cooking most all day and it smelled so good! 

They were delighted when he invited them to eat supper with him.  Their bowls were served and they began to eat.  Chuck commented on how good it tasted and asked, “What’s this stuff we’re eating?”

Coon & Dumplins

He told them it was coon and dumplins.  It was so delicious, and the next time they camped out they decided to cook one for themselves. 

They went hunting for a coon with memories of that delectable meal they had eaten still fresh in their minds.

Big Raccoon

Most folks always think bigger is better, and they were no different. They killed the biggest boar coon they could find.  They dressed him out and cut him up and put him in a big pot to boil, and when he started boiling he started stinking. 

The longer he boiled the worse he stunk.  They finally threw the pot, with coon and all overboard just to get rid of the stink.

Had they bothered to ask the man anything about how to prepare one I’m sure he would have told them to first remove the musk glands. 

I’m also sure he would have told them to choose a young one that would be tender when it cooked down to a stew.  But now the dish they had looked forward to eating, with their taste buds salivating was on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.  But they still had to scrounge up something to eat.  Most likely they ate an old stand-by, crackers and canned beanie weenies.

Cedar Key is rich with history, and superstition, folk lore and ghost stories.  Quite a few who have made their living fishing the waters around the islands at night can tell you some tales! 

One night when Chuck, Kenny  and Joe were out fishing, they came around the point of Piney Point, where the Lewis airstrip is, and has been located since WW II, and headed up into the creek.

They intended to fish the creek; throw their let-er-go (a 4’ to 5’ heavy pole that is weighted at one end with lead or concrete, it is attached to one end of the net, the heavy end sinks and anchors the net in place), and run their net out to make a strike, they could hear the fish jumping clearly. 

A Ghost

As they rounded the point they could see a very dim light and heard a mournful moaning sound. And they just knew they were about to have an encounter with one of Cedar Key’s many ghosts.  Kenny was poling and Chuck told him to push on up there and see what it was. 

 The three of them were scared half to death at the prospect of meeting a ghost.  Chuck said, “Kenny just push on up there, I want to find out what it is.”  Very slowly he pushed forward.

The wailing, moaning sounds continued, wooooo, ooooeee, wooooo!  When they finally got close enough to see the outline of a boat they knew it was somebody in pain and needing help. 

Kerosene Lantern

Big Blue Cab

They pushed on up, and come alongside.  Chuck held up their lantern and there was Raymo Wadley, sitting on his middle boat seat, and on the seat in front of and facing him, sat a big Blue jimmy crab that had him by the pointer finger on each hand.

"Hold still Raymo and I'll bust him with this Catfish Billie", Raymo moaned through clenched teeth, "Ooooh noooo Wart, he'll clamp down and cut my fingers off."

Catfish Billie

“Raymo we gotta bust him to get him off, there just ain’t no other way!”

Raymo said, “You know, they say if one ever gits ahold’a you, to hold him overboard and he’ll let go, but that ain’t true, if it was this son-uva-gun’ud be drowned by now.” 

“How’d he get you by two fingers like that Raymo”?  “Well, when I’uz trying to take him outta the net, first he got me by one finger with both claws ‘n’ I’uz trying to git him off with the other hand, but he out smarted me and let go with one claw and grabbed my finger on the other hand.  And I’ve tried ever thing!” “Ooweeee!”

“I held him overboard awhile, and then I tried to git my foot up to stomp him, but ever time I move a little bit he just clamps down harder. 

I wuz thinking next about biting him right in the face, but I’uz scared he might turn loose my fingers and git me in the eyes and blind me then I’d really be in a fix. It’s a good thing you boys come along when you did, to hep me out.”

Whap!  Raymo let out a blood curdling scream!  During the conversation Chuck had concentrated on the best position for the best shot.  The crab did tighten his grip on Raymo’s fingers but didn't cut them off as Raymo had feared. 

They had to pry the claws off his fingers with the pliers.  And even though his two fingers were cut to the bone he was a happy man to be rid of that big blue jimmy crab!

To be continued

The Adventures

They would catch and split mullet, season it with salt, black pepper and a little dab of Louisiana Hot Sauce, and stake it with a forked mangrove stick by the fire and let it roast slowly in its own fat.  If you’ve never had it this way you need to try it sometime.  It is lip smacking good! 

But that was about the extent of their cooking knowledge.   Once they were camping down near the mouth of the Wacasassa River.  They cut some cabbage palm to cook swamp cabbage for their supper.

Man Harvesting Swamp Cabbage

The cabbage palm is our “State Tree of Florida the Sable Palm”. The Sable Palm is not actually a tree, it is a Palm. The heart or the bud is a sweet, nutty tasting delight.

Cabbage Boots

You need to know how to dress it out right; if you cut any of the bitter into it you will have a severe upset stomach, but they didn't know that,

Dressed Out

By the time they got it dressed out and cooked, they were starving and ate hearty, and spent the rest of the night with their rear ends hanging over a log, They were afraid to move, they might not make it back in time.

By day break they were as weak as little kittens.  And before they decided to ever have swamp cabbage again they got some instruction about cleaning and cooking one.There’s a variety of recipes on how to cook them and I won’t get into recipes here.  I have never eaten any cooked that I didn't like except some that had been cooked in a black label beer.  It was down right yucky! 

Hearts of Palm

All the rest were delicious.  It is also great eaten raw in a salad.  And again, there are several recipes for the salads, it is called, (“Heart’s of Palm”), and there are several recipes for the dressings.

To be continued

Fishing and Turtleing

After he quit school he started working with Genie Andrews.  Genie was more of a turtle-man than a fisherman.  It was really an art form with Genie.  I guess he could probably be called the turtle king, on the Gulf Coast of Florida back in those days.  He taught Chuck how to catch turtle, and how to read the sea and tell how the tide was running in any given area.

And he also taught him how to figure out the best place to set the nets to catch the turtle as well as how to run the nets and set them  All up and down the west coast of Florida, they even made a couple of trips to Key West during the time he turtled with Genie.  Genie really knew his trade! 

He had also done a little rum running every now and then during the WWII, just to supplement his income.  He taught Chuck how he could drop a load all at once by pulling one rope while running full bore ahead. 

Chuck never had an occasion to use that knowledge, but he knew how to if he’d ever decided to do anything illegal, and not get caught with the contraband aboard. 

He was approached several times over the years and offered opportunities, but he weighed the costs; and decided that the money he would make was not worth what the cost would be.

Chuck had a very close friendship with the Andrews Family. At that time they lived upstairs in one of the Andrews Buildings on the corner of Hwy. 24 and Second Street.

This building later became the famous Heron Restaurant which was owned and operated by Janice Coupe who served gourmet meals; her specialty was her awesome Crab Bisque!

The Heron Restaurant Building

Most all of the buildings on Second Street have an upstairs balcony, Chuck and Kenny would hold Mattie, the Andrews Mother, by the heels over the balcony as a tease.

I thought, this was so dangerous, but I knew her and she took it all in stride knowing they would not drop her, they were strong young men and it was humorous to her as well, and she told me the story several times and laughed heartily each time she told me. She adored Chuck, and his sense of humor. 

Before he quit school and started turtleing with Genie, he fished a lot at night with Kenny, and Joe, who were Genie & Mattie’s sons.  Sometimes on Friday and Saturday nights they would camp out on the barrier islands because it was adventurous.  

All young men love adventure!  They poled their skiff boats with a long pole oar; very few if any had power boats back in the 1940’s.  The launches had power if you were well off enough to have one.  Most launches were powered with an old car engine of some kind.

To be continued

The Last Load

The last load on the move from Lake Wales back to Cedar Key is one of the funniest stories Chuck ever told me.  In those days, the early forties, it took almost all day to get from Lake Wales to Cedar Key.  

Today it’s about two and a half to three and a half hour drive.  Depending on the route you take and how heavy the traffic is. There were not many roads back in those days and cars didn’t run nearly as fast.

Chuck was driving the Model T, and they were somewhere between Dunellen and Highway 19 when this story unfolded.  He was pulling a trailer with the wire chicken coop and a hundred, and forty seven head of chickens inside it.  All at once it began to shake and rattle. 

You had to stomp and stand on the brake pedal really hard to get it stopped.  They got out and looked, and discovered the tongue was broken.

Auger

So they took the ax and walked into the woods just off the road and cut a pine sapling, the size they needed.  Trimmed the limbs off and chopped the end off, till it was just the right length and bored a hole in the butt end with the auger.  Chuck used to call it a ‘hertie gertie’.  They eventually got it attached as a makeshift tongue, and got on the road again. 

A few miles down the road they had to stop again and bore another hole on the opposite side of the first hole because the first one had wallowed out and worn through.  They got back in, and another few miles down the road, all at once the trailer began to shake, rattle and roll over and over. 

Chuck stood on the brakes again and got the car stopped, but by this time the trailer had torn completely loose from the car.  The chicken coop had torn loose from the trailer and was squashed beyond repair, and all those chickens were loose.

They had to catch them all, and there was no place to put them except in the car.  Only two chickens died in the crash.  So now, there is Chuck, Papa, the two dogs, Jack and Skippy and one hundred forty five head of chickens inside the Model T. 

The chickens had been so traumatized when the trailer rolled over most of them just squatted and were easy to catch.  They still had thirty five to forty miles to go to get to Cedar Key. 

Invariably one of the chickens would step on one of the dogs, and the dog would growl and snap, and the chickens would squawk and try to fly.  By the time they did get to Cedar Key it was long after dark. 

Chuck said the car was about knee deep in chicken s**t, and feathers.  He said they never did get the stink out of that car.  Chicken poop stinks just as bad as cat poop and pee.

Chuck was a wonderful story teller, he could paint you a picture with his words, and expressions, and you could very easily visualize his story, and feel as though you were there too. 

And he had such a great sense of humor!  In fact he saw humor somewhere, in almost everything.  I loved his stories!  The ones I tell you now are from memory.  I never thought to record any of them. 

Oh, the things we take for granted and then it’s too late to do anything but look back and wish we had!  I do thank God for the many wonderful memories, and the ability to still remember and write them down for my descendants and whoever else might enjoy them!

To be continued

The Divorce and the Move

 Chuck had many fond memories of growing up in West Lake Wales.  The family lived there till his Mom and Dad began having marital problems, and they leased the property out, and the family moved into town to a house on Cohasset Avenue.  They lived there for less than a year.

His mother decided to move back to Cedar Key and after the move she and Papa got a divorce.  Chuck and two of the sister’s were still living at home moved with her.  The older sister, Ilene had married Varnell Campbell and lived there, and Hoyt had joined the Navy. 

The family had always visited Cedar Key as often as possible while Chuck was growing up.  His dad and mom were Native Cedar Keyans and still had numerous family members living there. When he was growing up he used to spend a lot of time in the summer during school vacation in Cedar Key.

Chuck was fourteen when his mother moved back to Cedar Key with him, his sister Delores (Teeny) and sister Barbara Helen (Bobbie), his daddy had bought the building on Second Street (everyone calls Main Street) which years later became the  L&M Bar.  It was not a bar when Papa owned it. 

The Building is the one on the front right.
Photo courtsey of Carmen DayWilliams

Several years later he sold the building and at some point Lawrence & Melrose Clark bought the building, and built the bar in downstairs and that’s when it became the L&M.  Their family also lived upstairs where Chuck, his mother and two sisters had lived. Other families lived there between the time Papa sold it and the Clark’s bought it.

His mother’s, brother’s Chester (Chetter), Leotis (Bum or Odie Boy), and Leo Collins taught him how to hook ‘n’ line fish and how to net fish.  His daddy had a boat built for Chuck, and Chuck named it the ‘Seabo’.  He had to pay Papa back on a percentage basis out of what he made fishing.

Whenever he was not in school he was fishing and he made good money.  He didn’t quite finish the tenth grade before he quit school.  He and the Principal had a misunderstanding one day. 

The Principal started hitting him with a long cane switch and Chuck jumped up and punched him in the stomach and ran out of the school building and never went back.

To be continued

Cry Wolf

When he was about six or seven years old his mom dressed all of the males in the family in white suits, white shoes and white hats for Easter Sunday.  She dressed all the females in yellow dresses, etc.  She told Chuck to wait on the front porch with his daddy till it was time to leave for church, and told him he had better not get dirty!

He went out to the porch and just stood around, with his hands in his pockets, kicking one of the support posts that held up the roof of the porch.  His daddy said, “What’s the matter with you Chalie?”  He told his dad, “I’m mad as hell.”  Papa asked, “Whatcha mad about?”  Chuck replied, “Mama’s trying to make a damn preacher out’a’ me Papa and I don‘t like it.”  

At that time Chuck had never seen any man dressed in a white suit except a preacher. Needless to say he got his backside warmed before they left the house for church.

Chuck loved to play marbles.  He got so good at it after a year or so none of the boys in grammar school would play with him.  He’d have to play with high school boys, and some of them wouldn't play 
with him either.  He had a favorite marble he called a taw, or toy. 

Shooting Marbles

Back in those days they shot the marbles with their thumb.  They would draw a big ring on the ground and the ones you could shoot, and knock outside the ring would then belong to you.  He had a tremendous collection of marbles.  After all these years, occasionally when someone is raking leaves, another marble will turn up.

Old Roller Sjates

And another thing he loved to do was roller skate.  He was very good at it!  He was limber and agile, and very coordinated.  He practiced a lot on a concrete pad down by the Depot.

Chuck would sometimes yell, and holler and carry on like he was hurt badly, and his Mama would drop whatever she was doing and come running to see about him and he would just double over laughing. 

She scolded him time and again and told him to stop doing that!  It didn’t do any good.  She said “Son sometime you might be like the little boy who cried wolf, you might really be hurt and I won’t come because I think you are pulling a prank on me again.”

.

And sure enough one day he was building a kite and cut his finger pretty bad.  He started yelling and carrying on calling “Mama come quick I’m cut bad.”  But she didn't come. 

He finally figured out she wasn’t coming and he went over to the big water pitcher they kept out by the well filled with the water for the dogs and other animals to drink out of outside.  He dipped his finger in the water trying to get it to stop bleeding and the water turned red.

Papa came home and found him out there and with the water all red.  He yelled for mama and raised hell at her about letting his child bleed to death.  He soon found out about Chuck’s crying wolf. 

He told Chuck if he hadn’t learned his lesson, then he would most definitely get his backside warmed if he played any more tricks on his mama that way.

Chuck’s childhood was not all fun and games.  He did have chores and was responsible to do them.  His dad bought biddies and one of Chuck’s chores was to feed, water and take care of them till they were big enough to sell at the market. 

Turkeys

Same with turkeys, the turkey pen was across the road from the house.  Chuck took care of them too till they were big enough for the market.  He grew to hate the turkeys.

He used to tell me how dumb turkeys are.  He said “When it started to rain I would have to drive them all back into the pen and shut them up.”  I asked “why”? 

Even though I grew up on a farm, and we had chickens and other farm animals, we’d never had turkeys, and I knew nothing about them.  He said, “If I didn't  they would stand out there in the rain looking up and drown, they just didn't have sense enough to get in outta  the rain.”

Everything was scarce and in short supply in those days.  You had to learn to live off the land and become self sufficient to survive.  Life was a little better for his family than most only because his daddy did have a job with a steady paycheck. 

But very often when you had managed to put back a little spare change, there was nothing to buy.  On the tail end of the “Great Depression” came World War II.  It was still hard times all through the war years!  Everything was rationed. Each family got stamps and if you ran out you did without!

When Chuck was around ten years old he had already been taught how to shoot a gun.  The one he liked to use for hunting squirrels and rabbits with was a 22 rifle. 

Western Field 22 Rifle

One day while he was hunting the firing pin broke in two pieces.  He had to stop hunting for the day.  When his Papa came home he sat Chuck down with a piece of metal the right thickness.  

If I’m not mistaken it was a piece of a broken saw blade.  Very little was thrown away, everyone hoarded things.  It was saved for when it might be needed, either to be fixed or used for parts in some way. He told him to take out the broken pieces of the firing pin lay them on the metal and draw himself a pattern.

He gave him a file and told him to make a new firing pin and put it back in the rifle.  My son has that 22 rifle now and the same firing pin his daddy filed out and put back in the rifle is still in it.

To be continued