‘THOSE AWESOME LI’L BLUE LINES’

Want to fish where you’re likely to not see another person for hours? Like the idea of reelin’ in fish after fish after fish that hit your lure with total and reckless abandon? Want to put the excitement you used to feel as a youngster back into your fishin’ trips? Well, then… forget the lakes, the rivers, and the big reservoirs… the fishin’ you’re wantin’ is the home-grown kind, right here in our own backyards… the small yet fishy streams and creeks all around us.

Take you a good look at a map of the local countryside. See all those squiggly blue lines on the map? No, not the big ‘uns, but them thin little blue ones that cross under the two-lane backroads and head off into big areas of nothingness on the map. Yep… you know the ones I mean. Now, ain’t you ever wondered about some of them cricks an’ branches just a wee bit, as you drove over ‘em time and time again? Wondered if any of ‘em was even worth fishin’? Or maybe what might lie just around the next bend? Well, let me tell you… if you ain’t been creek fishin’ lately, then you’re missin’ out on some of the best fishin’ holes around these here parts.

          How to get started: First off, pick yourself a bridge crossin’ to put-in at, drag you a canoe or kayak or even a small johnboat down the embankment, and simply cast off. I suggest you take at least two spinnin’ rods and reels, and nothin’ fancy or very dear to your heart, in case it should get smashed to bits against a downed Sycamore tree. You might want to take a saw and a hatchet, and about three times as many in-line spinners as you think you could possibly lose. Oh, and don’t forget to bring a good friend with you. He’ll enjoy the fishin’ and you’re gonna appreciate havin’ him along come time to drag your boat over blow downs and through shoals, and you’ll likely end up doin’ both about as much as you float.

         That’s okay, though, ‘cause you’ll cast each time you get out of the boat. You’ll catch Bluegill and Bass and even the odd Catfish, ‘cause even a Catfish in a small creek can’t afford to turn down an easy meal. If your spinners are small enough and your casting deft enough, you’ll catch so many fish that you’ll keep castin’ and castin’, again and again, ‘til suddenly you realize that the sun is goin’ down and you’re still quite a ways from your intended take-out point. As you paddle hard to make the next bridge before dark, it suddenly dawns on you… all of the water you don’t have time to fish. But that’s okay… there’s always Next Saturday!

After a day havin’ the kind of fun you had forgotten all about, you’ll go home, scratched and bleeding, and think about selling your sparkle boat and using the proceeds to buy more Mepps and Panther Martins. Don’t you do it, though… don’t you dare do it! A bass boat is a mighty fine thing… as are them thin li’l blue lines on a map.