These stories will be read by my Grandchildren, my Great-Grandchildren and anyone else who may enjoy reading both Hunting and Fishing stories. My Dad was not a fisherman nor did he ever take any of his sons fishing. But he was an excellent Auto Mechanic, a Silent Hero and a Friend to everyone. This first story is about my Dad and why I feel he is a Silent Hero and my Brothers who were way smarter then me.
1. My Dad was a person that would not say no to anyone who needed help and most generally he would help them for free. He would help to put in new cement driveways and sidewalks using his own cement machine and sometimes he would even use his own money to help pay for the cement. He would help people to build their houses or to help in remodeling a house. He would fix other people's cars or service them for free. For people who were poorer then he was or they were elderly people, he would pay for some of the car parts out of his own pocket. Most generally my Dad would not take money for the services that he provided for others but he did bring home TV sets that needed fixing and Dad would fix them and then donate his extra TV's to people who had none.
One day my Dad brought home an Edison Entertainment Center. It had a wire recorder, a phonograph player and a long wave short wave radio. The only problem was that nothing worked on it but because it was made by Thomas Edison my Dad felt it was going to be worth a lot of money someday. One day our family was gone all day long and we did not get home until after dark. My oldest brother Bill was good at taking broken toys apart and fixing them. I don't know how old he was at this time but when we got home Bill had that Edison Center all torn apart and it's parts were sitting all over the living room. My Dad was mad and I mean really mad. He may have even lost his temper and may have knocked Bill on the floor, But Bill was calm and he told his Dad that he could fix the entertainment center. There were a lot of tubes that were replaced and when Bill put it back together, everything worked. The wire recorder, the phonograph player and the radio, they all worked great. On another day my Dad brought home an old player piano that someone did not want any more and a bunch of paper rolls. As far as the piano playing by it's self, it did not work anymore. None of the hammer heads were broken but it was greatly out of tune. Bill told my Dad that tuning the piano was possible and Bill tuned it up in a few hours using common house hold tools. Again there was a time when our family was gone all day long and when we got home after dark Bill had that piano all torn apart and the parts were all over the living room floor. My Dad was again really mad but Bill calmly told him that he could fix the player piano and make it work like new. When Bill put it back together the player piano did work on it's own. You would put the paper roll on which was full of holes and pump the peddles and the piano would play all by it's self. I don't know what ever happened to the player piano or the Edison Entertainment Center but I will have to ask my brothers the next time I see them.
Bill was really smart. In his senior year of high school Bill designed and built a car that would follow a beam of light that was shined in front of it. He said that someday cars would follow a series of lights to get to it's final destination that was programmed for the car to follow. The people would just ride in the cars and the cars would take the people to where ever they wanted to go. This was a science fair project and the judges were so impressed that not only did Bill get first place but he was also allowed to take his project to the State Science Fair. After high school Bill went on to college and received a degree in Physics.
My brother Jim was an Engineer. He knew all about the automatic car washes and he knew how to fix them from A to Z. His company would send him all over the USA to fix the broken down car washes. He was the company's most valuable fix-it man and he was always on demand. My brother Don was also an Engineer with a college degree. He joined the US Army and made a career from it. Don, Jim and Bill were all excellent violin players when they were younger and either my Mother or I would play the piano and they would play a trio on the violin. Why we were a regular Family Orchestra and it sounded really good. Those were the good old days.
Ron was the youngest brother. both he and Bill followed in my Dad's footsteps when it came to fixing cars and helping others with their many projects. Ron was also an Engineer. He knew how to trouble shoot commercial security systems from A to Z. Ron told me that he made so much money on his job that it was never a problem as to where your next dollar was coming from. It was as if every thing was given to you on a silver platter.
2. As kids we were raised up in Ohio USA and we went out West often as a family for vacation. When I was 6 years old we went to the mountains for a Family Reunion during the summer. We were in a Canyon that had a mountain creek running through it. Some people were fishing and they were catching fish and I too wanted to go fishing. So one of my Uncles loaned me a fishing pole and he put on a hook, a weight and a worm. He told me to go have some fun. I was the only one at that time fishing and I was not catching anything. One of my Uncles yelled down to me and told me to throw rocks down the creek and that will scare the fish up the creek and I would catch a fish for sure. So I began throwing the rocks and my Uncles would laugh at me. About two minutes later I caught a 16 inch trout and I pulled it out of the water. Guess what ? My Uncles were no longer laughing at me. That was the very first fish I have ever caught and I have often heard people say that kids are always catching the biggest fish.
3. My brother-in-law, named Chuck, he owned his own boat and he and his wife, my sister moved to Painsville, Ohio. Painsville sits right on the edge of Lake Erie and just about every weekend Chuck would take his boat out onto the Lake to enjoy some boating and fishing. As a way to get in more fishing time and to be with friends who also enjoyed fishing Chuck joined the " Rod and Gun Club " and they would meet on the beach of Lake Erie every weekend right there in Painsville.
Just about every other weekend my four bothers and I were invited to go up to Painsville and do some water skiing or fishing. I was only about 8 or 9 years old. The Rod and Gun Club members would all bring their boats and the members of the club were very friendly and they would treat us children as if we belonged to them. Most of them would leave in the morning to go fishing and they would invite us kids to go with them. Every time that we were a part of the activities we would end up in a different boat. But that was alright because everybody was always kind and they would treat you as if you were their kids.
They would take you out onto Lake Erie about a mile from shore and drop some weights so the boat would not drift. Then they gave us a fishing pole with 3 hooks on it with a minnow on each hook and a small weight. You then let the minnows drop to the bottom of the lake and then crank it up 7 or 8 times so that the hooks were next to the bottom. After about 30 seconds you would feel a tug and when you reeled your line in there was two or three Yellow Perch that were 10 to 12 inches long. They would remove the fish off the hooks and put more bait on the hooks. Then again you would drop your line to the bottom of the lake and pull in three more fish. Everybody was catching fish. When you got hungry they would give you a sandwich and a soda pop or a glass of ice water. Some people would give you cookies and milk or potato chips to eat with your sandwich. Most of the people would put the fish into buckets of water and when the buckets got full then we headed back for the shore and they would clean up the fish and pull all the bones out and put the fish in the cooler.
After all the fish was cleaned up you could go boating with anyone who would have you and they would most generally let you go water skiing or they would stop the boat and everyone would jump off the boat and go swimming. There was also time for volleyball on the sand or play some baseball. If you wanted to do more fishing, someone would take you out in their boat and you could do more fishing. When it came to the end of the day the wives would bread and deep-fry all the fish that was in the cooler and you could eat all the fish that you wanted. Oh, those were wonderful days to be alive and to be among friends.
4. After I got married we were living in the Provo, Utah area and I heard that Deer Creek Lake on the other side of Provo Canyon provided you with some good Yellow Perch fishing. So the very next Saturday we went to Deer Creek Lake for a picnic. We tried a few fishing holes while going through Provo Canyon but the fish was not biting. Deer Creek Lake was altogether a different story. As fast as I could throw my line into the water I would catch a Perch and they were 10 to 14 inches long. I'll bet we caught 80 Perch that day and we filled up two buckets full. When we got home it took us over two hours to clean up all those fish. We had a freezer to put them in and we had all the fish we wanted to eat for the next several meals.
5. After I had moved to Idaho I found out that there was a lake only 5 miles from where I lived and everyone that I talked to told me that the fishing on that lake was excellent. So I tried it and discovered that it was full of large Yellow Perch, Bass and Rainbow Trout. I went there often and I had made friends with a dog that lived at one of the farms next to the lake. Every time that I would go to the lake that dog would know the sound of my truck and he would follow me up to the lake and he would sit with me the whole time that I was up there. This was the only dog that I knew that loved to eat raw fish. All the fish that was too small to take home I would give to the dog and he would eat the bones and all. One day I was fishing on that lake and I caught about 3 Trout, about 12 Perch and a big 6 pound Bass. I was proud of that Bass and I could not wait to get home so that I could show it to others. While I was there one of my friends came up to the lake and asked me how was the fishing. I talked to him for a few minutes then I told him about the Big Bass I had caught and he wanted to see it. I went looking for my stringer and it was gone. I told my friend that there was a fish eating dog and I think he took my fish. My friend left and I went looking for that Dog and I found him. He had eaten all the fish except one Perch. Boy was I mad, and that was another fish story that went down the drain.
6. I asked the Game Warden as to where I could find the biggest Yellow Perch in the state of Idaho and he said Cascade Lake in Western Idaho. So we planned a family vacation to Cascade Lake that very next summer. When we first got to the lake there were a lot of big rocks in the water not too far from the Dam and the kids said they wanted to put on their swimming suits and go swimming. So for an hour or two we jumped off the large rocks and enjoyed the cool water. Later we found a nice campsite on the other side of the lake. On the first evening all we caught was Cat Fish and Squaw Fish but we just let them all go. The next morning I was helping my wife with the breakfast dishes and my children began to yell for me to come and bring my fishing pole. For the next two hours we caught about 30 Yellow Perch that were 14 to 18 inches long. These were the biggest Perch that I have ever seen. They were fat and chunky and they were breaded and deep fried giving us all the fish that we could eat for the next three or four meals. That was a fun vacation and everyone very much enjoyed themselves.
About 2 or 3 years later we again decided to go on a summer vacation to Cascade Lake and like before we again went swimming where the big rocks were sitting. We set up camp in the same area as before and for two days we fished but we caught no fish. We asked the Ranger why we were not catching any fish and he said that in the spring time a farmer dump a big bunch of Cow Poop into the lake and it killed all the fish. We told him that we came from Eastern Idaho to catch fish and asked him for his suggestion. He said not too far from the campground there was a road the followed the Goldfork River and he suggested that we take that road and fish the fishing holes on the river. We took that road and followed the river for about 10 miles and we crossed a bridge. Holy Cow!! There was lots of Rainbow Trout on both sides of the bridge and I stopped the car and said: " There's our Fishing Hole ". We all fished for two hours and we caught about 30 or 40 fish. There was about 8 of us so we had less then our limit. As we were putting our fishing poles back into the Van getting ready to go, an old farmer drove by in his old pick up and he stopped and asked where we were from and how was the fishing. We told him that the fishing was excellent. He responded right back and said: " It should be good fishing. They just planned those fish only yesterday ".
Again that was a fun vacation trip and the kids still talk about it to this very day.
7. Chuck and his family moved to southern Nevada and he enjoyed going boating on Lake Mead. One of his friends told him this story. This friend did many odds and ends jobs to make a living. One of those jobs was to go under water once a week at the Dam of Lake Mead and clean off the screens of the garbage and junk that collected it's self there. He did this job for over 17 years. One day while he was doing his job, a 500 pound Catfish came up from the bottom of the lake and he was just sitting there staring at him. He said that large Catfish scared the willies out of him. He said that Catfish was big enough to swallow him whole and he felt that he was looking into the face of a big monster. He got out of the water as quick as he could and he told his Boss that no large amount of money would ever get him to go down there again.
When I looked at the Internet it showed at least two catfish that was caught and both of them were well over 20 feet. So do you think it might be possible to find a 500 pound Catfish on the bottom of Lake Mead ?
8. My neighbor told me that his brother went ice fishing one year and he made a hole in the ice with a 10 inch in diameter ice drill. The fishing was good that day and he and his friends had caught several fish. Then one of them caught a great big fish. It was so big that they could not get it out of that 10 inch hole. They tried to chip away at the hole to make it bigger but the fish still would not come out. So they cut the line and let the fish go. Another fish story happened to my other neighbor. He and his Dad were fishing from a boat on Bear Lake which is a large body of water that sits in eastern Idaho and Utah. This lake is about 30 miles long and 3 miles wide. They hooked a 36 inch Lake Trout and it took them a half hour to to bring it in. The son told his Dad that he should have the fish mounted because no one would believe this fish story. Today that 36 inch Lake Trout is sitting on the wall of his Dad's house showing proof that a Lake Trout that big was indeed caught at Bear Lake.
9. There is a man in the State of Florida in the USA that runs a Dude Ranch for catching Large Mouth Bass. You could pay a fee and he will take you out onto a lake and he will help you to catch a big Bass. In his house he has mounted all over his walls 321 Large Mouth Bass that he has caught that are 20 to 24 inches and he says that you could catch one that big also. Many people go to his Dude Ranch to relax or spend the night and eat the meals that his wife provides. She is an excellent cook and people keep coming back because of the good tasting food. His Dude Ranch is advertised in many sports magazines, but most people come so they can catch one of the biggest Large Mouth Bass that is worth bragging about.
Speaking of Big Bass I was at a lake catching Bluegills that were salad plate size and they would get on your hook as fast as you would cast your line. I heard a twig snap behind me and I looked and saw a 20 year old man carrying his fishing pole and a tackle box. We just nodded at each other and I went back to my fishing. About 20 minutes later I feel this tap on my shoulder and that same man was standing behind me asking me to take his picture and he gave me his camera. Then he held up a 20 inch Large Mouth Bass. That was the Biggest Bass I have ever seen in my life for real. He caught it not too far from where I was fishing and he used a homemade lure that his Dad had made.
10. I asked my friend if I could fish on his property which sat on one of the local lakes, and after I had been fishing for 20 minutes I suddenly got this big yank and then nothing happened. I slowly reeled in my line but nothing was fighting on the other end and I felt that the fish must have gotten away. As I brought my hook out of the water I noticed that it was covered with moss and I thought to my self that the fish did get away. As I pulled the line out of the water there was a Bluegill on my hook that was as big as a dinner plate. That was not only the biggest Bluegill I have ever caught but it was also the biggest Bluegill I have ever seen. I was really proud of that Big Bluegill and this story got told over and over again.
11. I went to a yard sale and bought a 60 pound Lemon Wood Long Bow for 3 dollars. I bought 12 arrows and I practiced in my backyard until I was a pretty good shot. On the 1st day of the Bow Hunt I went to some woods that was behind my Grandmother's house. About two miles into the woods I came across a natural spring. There was a well marked trail going to the north of the spring and so I followed the trail that went up a hill. About half way up the hill I came to a thick bunch of trees that was growing very thickly together. Just beyond these trees were some tall grass with a big tree growing right in the middle of it. I sat down into the tall grass right next to the tree and waited. It was early in the morning and it was just beginning to get light outside. I waited there for two hours and then I heard some animal that was slowly coming up the hill. The closer it got to me the harder my heart would pound. When it got to the thicket of trees I stood up and hid behind the tree and I put an arrow onto my string and I pulled it back a little bit. Then the animal began to come through the thick trees. My heart was beating like crazy. Then the animal stopped. I could not see it but I waited quietly hoping it was going to be a Big Buck. I'll bet that we both waited there for 5 minutes or more. Then the animal spoke to me. It said Moooo. Boy what a disappointment. It was somebody's cow and not a Big Buck. Why was't it a Big Buck ? Oh well. I guess better luck the next time.
12. There was another time that I had gone on the Rifle Hunt and it was just shortly after daybreak. I found a well marked trail that lead from the hills to a lake and I was maybe only 100 yards from the lake. There was some tall grass where I was standing so I sat down into the grass and I began to wait. I was very sure that a Deer would come down that trail to get themselves a drink of water. After I had waited for an hour I heard something coming down the trail. The closer it got to me the more excited I became and I was thinking that I would see a Deer in a very short time. Suddenly the animal stopped not too far from me and I kelp wondering as to where is that Deer. Why is it that I can not see it? Then the animal began to move again and I waited and I wandered why I could not see an animal. And then through the thick grass the face of a small animal came right up to my face. I will bet that he was't more then 2 or 3 inches from my face and for several seconds we stared in each other's eyes. Then the animal sniffed me. It was a Wild Porcupine and the spikes on it's body went up in the air. I did not move and only seconds later it sniffed me again and then it backed up and it continued down the trail towards the lake. I did not see any Deer that day but I thought it was really great to get that close to a Porcupine in the wild without any problems.
13. Speaking about small wild animals, my wife and I owned a piece of property only about 4 miles from where we lived and we grew a small garden. When the corn was 2 or 3 feet high I felt that it needed a good weeding. So I went out there for most of the day to pull and hoe the weeds. I was down on my hands and knees pulling out the weeds right next to the corn plants and I heard a noise. I looked all around me but I saw nothing. I went back to work and again I heard this noise. I put my head between the corn plants and coming down the corn row that was next to mine was a mother skunk and three of her babies and they were coming in my direction. When they got to where my face was the mother skunk stopped and she looked right at me. She was only one foot away from my face. After about 3 seconds she began to raise her tail. I said a quick prayer and I told God to let the skunk know that I was her friend and that I was not going to harm her. I was glad that God heard me pray because the tail went back down and the mother skunk continued down the corn row followed by its three babies. They went around a corner and they were gone. I thanked the Lord for watching over me and I was glad that I did not sprayed by the mother skunk.
14. There is a place no too many miles from where I live that is called Rocky Peak. It looks like as if God dropped a giant rock on that spot. On the north end the rock slopes down right to the ground and it is very easy to climb upon the rock on that side. One year during the rifle hunt I hiked in to Rocky Peak early in the morning while it was still dark outside and I climbed upon the rock on the north side and I sat down on the rock only 20 feet away from the dirt. After it got light outside I prayed and asked God if He would bless me with a big beautiful deer. A little bit after 8 am I heard someone walking through the leaves on the left side of the rock. I thought it was another hunter walking through those leaves. When it came around the corner I was thinking that I would see another hunter but it was the largest deer I have ever seen. He stopped not more then 20 feet from me. Then he turned his head and looked right into my eyes. He was the most beautiful deer I have ever seen and his antlers were giant in size. In my opinion I was looking at one of Santa's Reindeer like you see in the story books. We looked at each other for about 10 seconds and I had a strong feeling that I was not to shoot this Deer. The Deer trotted off and went down the hill and started climbing up the next hill. I came out of my state of shock and I aimed my gun at the Deer and again I received a strong feeling that I was not to shoot that Deer. The Deer went over the hill and it was gone.
When I told this story to my wife's brothers who were all mighty hunters, they laughed at me and they told me that big Deer could have gotten me a new rifle had I shot him. To them I was crazy. They said that when you find a Deer that big you should kill it and not listen to some stupid voice. To this very day I felt that I had made the right choice. I did pray asking for a big Deer and twice I got a strong feeling that I should not shoot it. But at the same time I thank God for the experience of meeting the most beautiful Deer ever in my whole life.
15. A good friend of mine told me this hunting story. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. He told me he was out on the rifle hunt all by himself and he was in the woods standing by a tree waiting for a Deer to come. A 4 point buck did come by not to far away and he shot at it and the Deer fell onto the ground. He was really excited and he pulled out the tag and tied it to the antlers. Suddenly the Deer jumped up and took off running. The man picked up his gun and ran after the Deer.
At the bottom of a hill 3 Priest that were the best of friends, they all were hunting and they were all riding in a Jeep. Suddenly they saw this 4 point Buck coming down the hill. They stopped the Jeep and one of the Priest shot the deer. They were gutting out the Deer when they saw this man running down the hill screaming that they can't have that Deer. When he caught up to them the 3 Priest told him that they shot the Deer and that was that. My friend pulled the tag out of his pocket and show it to them that the tag on the antlers had the same number. The three Priest were really impressed and the one who shot the Deer spoke up and said: " By golly, if you can run that fast to catch up with a Deer and tag it then I guess that he is yours " and they let him have the Deer.
16. About 6 months after I graduated from High School I joined the missionary force into teaching Indians in Northern California about Jesus Christ. They gave us a flip chart with colored pictures on each page and it went through several Bible stories and then it talked about the birth of Jesus and the miracles the He performed. They gave us a car and we would go way up into the mountains looking for Indian families to teach. One day we followed an old dirt road until we saw a mailbox out in the middle of nowhere. We followed a second road where we found the mailbox and it took us into a box canyon. About two miles up the road we found an old house where a young Indian lady lived with her 4 children. They invited us inside the house and we taught them for 20 minutes. Suddenly the front door came open and her drunken Indian husband came walking into the house and stared at us for two or three secounds. Then he crossed the room and went into the bedroom saying: " I'll teach you not to mess with my woman ". He came back into the living room with a double barrel shot gun and he was putting two shells into the gun. We grabbed our stuff and got out of the house. When we got in side of our car the Indian came out of the house and fired the first shot up in the air and then he aimed the gun right at us. My partner started the car and backed it up about 50 feet before he turned it around and we got out of there in a big hurry. Boy what a close call and we were both shaking in our boots.
17. This story happened to a friend of mine about 30 years ago. His Dad bought him a new Shotgun for Christmas. During the New Years sales that went on in the many stores his Dad bought both a Lazy-Boy chair and a 25 inch colored TV set with a 4 speaker sound system. At the regular price they both cost a lot of money but after the New Years he got both of them for way less money, A few days after his Dad had bought the TV, my friend tried out his new Shotgun by going Pheasant Hunting. He was gone for 2 or 3 hours and he saw a lot of Pheasants but he was not successful in shooting them. He came home tired and sat down on his Dad's chair and turned on the TV. There was a Cowboy and Indian show that he began to watch it and the Indians were winning. This made him upset and without thinking he aimed his Shotgun at the TV to shoot the Indians and he pulled the trigger. The gun was loaded and sparks were flying everywhere. His Dad new TV set was now ready for the junkyard. He sat in that chair for almost an hour feeling really Dumb and he was wondering how he was going to tell his Dad what had really happened. Boy I am sure glad that did not happen to me. I don't think my Dad would have been as nice as his Dad was. He came home and shook his head finding it hard to believe and he never said another word about it. My friend told me that every time they have a family reunion the story is retold about him shooting his Dad's brand new TV set.
18. I have at least one more hunting story to tell but it does not involve guns. At 12 years of age I joined the Boy Scouts of America, and before I was in the group for very long I went on my first camping trip. Except on this camping trip we were all sleeping in beds in a nice warm cabin instead of tents. As a way to break in the newest scout which was me the other scouts took me way out into the woods by a game trail after dark. They gave me a sack and a stick. I was to catch a snipe and bring it back to the cabin. I asked them what was a snipe and they acted like they did not know but when I saw one I would know and as soon as I caught one I could come back to the cabin. Then they all left and I was all by myself there in the woods. What they did not know was I already knew what a snipe was. It was a black bird with a long curved beak and it hangs around with a whole flock of birds. Also a snipe cannot see in the dark so the chances of seeing a snipe come up this game trail it was all a bunch of Boloney to me. I think they were hoping that I would get scared and would come back to the cabin crying. So I decided to go along with their joke so that they would get the worse end of it. I went back to the cabin and I went behind it. I jumped across a creek and went up a hill and sat down. I could see the cabin very clearly and sat there and waited for two hours. It was now about 9:30 pm and the scout leader came back from meeting with the other scoutmasters. He noticed that I was not there and the scouts said that I had gone for a walk. At 10 pm one of the older scouts was some what troubled because I had not yet returned and he told the scoutmaster what they had done. The scout leader took all the scouts outside and told them that they could not go to bed until I was found. After they had all left I went inside the cabin and went to bed. It was pass 2 am in the morning when they came back to the cabin. They woke me up and asked when did I come back. I just simply said that I did not catch any snipes so I came back to the cabin. As long as I was a scout no more of the new scouts were taken out into the woods after dark to go snipe hunting. I think they would have all been mad if they knew that I threw their joke right back into their own faces.
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