Fishing With Uncle Claude!

My grandmother’s sister was married to an auto mechanic who ran the only garage in our little rural town. My Great Uncle Claude was a unique individual who was constantly spitting and sputtering as he talked, complaining about the way engines had been arranged in a car, or how the spark plugs were hard to get to, or how they had changed something since the last time he had worked on that type of car. One of his favorite sayings was: “Foot fire, foot fire, foot fire!” As a kid I used to love to go over and read the fishing and hunting magazines while he tuned up mom’s car.

Uncle Claude did love to fish. He had a fiberglass canoe and he could put that boat on top of his 1939 Chevrolet Sedan and go anywhere with it that a Jeep or a Range Rover would dare to try. Uncle Claude loved to fish the small lakes. He had a particular fondness for those that would be filled up when the Sabine river was high and then left alone when the river receded. He specialized in perch fishing. He loved to catch medium sized bream, white perch, and even the sun perch if they were keepers. In the summer he would close down the shop on Wednesday afternoon and go fishing. He often invited me to tag along.

He had somewhat of an eccentric reputation and many people thought him to be rather brash at times but he exhibited a whole different side when I would go fishing with him. It was like he switched into teaching mode because he wanted me to learn exactly how to do all the different things needed to catch fish. One of the things you learned real quick was that part of your job was to hold the canoe steady if Uncle Claude started catching fish. And, he would also take the paddle down into the water and ease the boat around if you were getting bites and he wasn’t. Pretty soon he was in your spot and you were once again holding a limb to steady the boat.

When we came home he would always keep enough fish for a fresh meal for himself, send some home with me, and then call around and try to find someone to take any we had left over. He told me people were getting too hard to please because when he called, some of them wanted to know if they had been cleaned or not. He said he guessed pretty soon he would have to fry them up and put on a platter for them.

I greatly enjoyed our times together. We always had plenty of saltine crackers, sardines, and vienna sausage to snack on. Uncle Claude hardly ever went to any of the larger lakes because he didn’t use a motor, there were too many people, and he always feared being out too far when a storm rolled in.

He did, however, make exceptions occasionally whenever he felt getting back into the river lakes was not doable because it was just too wet and boggy. I was with him on one of these exceptions and it turned out to be a nightmare. The canoe was easy enough to paddle and it glided through the water so we ended up being pretty far out in the big lake that day. We had been catching lots of big bream on crickets and having a good time when we spotted one little cloud that looked like it might turn into something. Uncle Claude mentioned we might want to wrap it up and head in and even as we did the wind began to pick up. By the time we headed towards the shore the waves were rolling pretty good. After a few minutes a genuine summer thunderstorm was underway and we were caught in the middle of it. We had no choice but to paddle like there was no tomorrow. Uncle Claude was huffing and puffing and spitting and sputtering and I was doing all I could but we were fighting against the wind and the waves. Next came the thunder, lightning, and a drenching rain. We kept paddling and paddling and paddling.

When we made it to the shore we both were totally exhausted and we laid down on the ground even though it was pouring rain. I had never seen Uncle Claude so upset. I could see it in his eyes. He wasn’t concerned for himself but he could not bear the thought that he had put me in harm’s way. We never did the big lakes again after this episode but I’ll never forget the times we spent fishing together and hearing him tell his stories. I thank God he was willing to let me tag along. More later……………..