When school let out for the summer I went fishing with "Uncle Walt." I never really have  figured out just who Uncle Walt was, but when we bought the Husman Café ca 1949 this old man had a room rented upstairs and he continued to live there with us. He was my fishin’ bud. We would dig worms out behind the outhouse or in the area where the outhouse used to be because that’s where the big ones lived.

    Then we would walk to the Reliance Dam and catch a bunch of bullheads and bluegills. I used one of those 8-to ten-foot bamboo poles with a bobber. Do they still make those poles? I doubt it. He had a new fang-dangled rod and reel. After we caught our limit we would go out behind the café and clean them. He taught me to pound a nail through the fish’s head, nailing him to the sawhorse. Uncle Walt would cut the skin around the head and then we would use pliers to pull the skin from the fish. My God … as I sit here typing this I don’t think I will ever even bring another fish home!

One summer, Ed and I were cleaning fish out in our backyard when two of the little Champagne girls came over to watch. One of them became absolutely still and seemed to be paralyzed with shock at what she was witnessing. I asked her what was wrong and in a quiet, breathless voice she replied, "Just think, what if that was a people." I did think. Not good!

Maybe she’s right. Maybe someone should find a way to put the fish to sleep so we won’t have to beat them over the head or ram a knife down their throat to kill them before we skin them.  

  Maybe we should locate the guy who came up with the little bottle with a needle in the lid that is used to "plump up" the night crawler to make it float so the fish can find it better. A guy with a mind like that should be able to come up with a plan to prepare the fish to die before he gets skinned. Anything’s possible.

Good grief … where did this come from? How depressing.

P.S. Over the weekend I was waiting in line at McDonald’s and there in front of me was a pickup with a couple of bamboo poles sticking out the back. I guess they do still use them. I think I want one, just because.