Because I Have To

This is a post I never intended to write, it is about something I have done for many years for reasons of my own and until recently very few knew about. This week I was asked again by my buddy Ben from the UK to tell others and I gave in. I finally decided to talk about it not because I want people to know about it and then tell me what a good person I am but in hopes that others will follow suit.

For many years I have grown a garden far bigger than I need, kept more fish than I can eat and taken enough deer each year to feed a large family. Many times I have heard about how good I was on the lake or in the woods which might be the case but only because I have had years of practice. People would tell me how good it was to have a full freezer with fish, game and vegetables I provided myself. All true enough but the real reason behind the numbers I kept and the size of my garden is I provide food to needy families in my area. I only had help one year in memory of my brother when some generous people sent some money to expand the garden for one season, which I did. After that year I have made it larger in hopes of having more to give but never accepted any further help and won’t again.

Part of what I brought home on a trip this year. I am still sharing them.

This one doe went to help three families.


This is how it works, I find families in my area that are having a tough time and make a list, as food in available I take it to each family in turn. They don’t know most of the time I am doing this and many times I simply leave vegetables on their porch by the bag full, as I have more I take it to the next family. The fish and game I take to them when they are home so I know it won’t ruin but they never know it is coming. I do the same in winter with frozen vegetables when I have them. If at all possible I will do it so that I can leave without them ever having a chance to say thanks or being embarrassed by needing help, I don’t do it for the thanks or praise. I don’t know how many families I have given food to over the years I only know it was no where near enough.

Why do I do it? Simple. I’ve been hungry. I’ve been poor. I’ve been broke. I’ve sat dejected wondering how I would eat that day. I have lived on a dollar or less a day for food and sometimes didn’t have that. I still have very little in the way of money after three years without a job, I don’t care, I scraped up money to buy seeds and plants, I struggled to buy my license this year, I planted my garden, I fished, I am hunting and I am helping feed people. I don’t care one bit about praise or acknowledgements about what I do, in fact, I would rather have continued doing it without anyone knowing since it was a private and personal act. The people that asked me to write about it had a point, if I would tell others maybe they would do the same. Fair enough. Just as my online name implies I tend to stay out of sight on a personal level but this is not about me but about people that need our help.

If you hunt, fish, grow a garden, whatever then you have the means to do what I do. I know all about the big organizations that provide food on an impersonal level to people but I refuse to work with them. I don’t need some group that doesn’t care who I am to do what I can do on my own. I have no trouble finding people that need help as close as my own neighbors.

So here is what I want to ask for all those people that are right down the street from you, help out. If you are mainly a catch and release fisherman, please, take a few home now and then to clean and help feed someone. When you harvest a deer take a ham or backstrap to a family going hungry. Plant an extra row in your garden then take what you have leave it on a doorstep. Freeze what you can to hand out during the winter when the need is even greater. Do it yourself not through some food bank or organization. Know where your food is going and see the results, it is a hands on experience not a drop it off and forget it one.

Please take a bit of time to think about this post, a few fish or a couple of pounds of venison will mean that someone gets to eat tonight that might not otherwise. Vegetables fresh from your garden might be the only good food they get for days. The money they save on food might be needed to keep their lights on, water running or gas in their car. I have been on that end and believe me when I say it is a miserable end to be on. We, as outdoors folks have the ability to help easier than others and I hope my friends that read this join in my quiet mission to help where I can.

Nickajack Cats

Friday I got to the lake for some bluegill, Monday rolls around and I am headed to Nickajack for cats. I have a neighbor that feels better having someone go with him when he heads to the river. At 86 he is still going and doing but likes some help now. I told him a few days ago, as I was helping thin pigeons out of his barn, I would go if he ever needed someone to fish with. Monday was the day.

We planned on leaving at 4:30, when it arrived so did rain and wind. I checked the weather, it looked fine in South Pittsburg so we headed out. The weather improved and was about perfect when we got to the ramp. The only bad part was not enough water being released from the generators to get the biggest cats feeding.

I had never fished this part of the river before, I knew the technique but not the area. We ran all of 100 yards, shut down and got started. Our rigging for drift fishing is simple, we used 3 way swivels to drop a 1 ounce sinker to the bottom and hold a short leader about a foot up. I kept the hook leader to about 6-7 inches long to keep the bait off the bottom and keep tangles with the sinker to a minimum. I was using my 9’ 6” casting rod, BPS Catmaxx reel loaded with 20 lb Firewire. For hooks I started with a 4/0 circle hook but changed to a 4/0 Kahle because of the way the cats were hitting. For a vertical presentation a Kahle hook is hard to beat. Bait was rooster and turkey livers.

 As I was getting rigged and baited up Kaiser had already put a bait in the water. Just as I dropped mine down he set back hooking a good fish. With a big smile he told me this was a big one so I grabbed the net. A few minutes later he had it beside the boat and it was big, turns out the biggest of the day. Just over 25 pounds of blue cat which he calls white cats for some reason. We got it wedged into the live well and dropped back in for another try. Just a few minutes later he puts a good 10 lb blue in the boat.

Right out of the gate.

And a couple of minutes later.

Since this was my first trip he really wanted me to hook a big blue but all I managed was a 2-3 lb channel cat. He thought I was crazy for wanting to keep (A) a channel cat and (2) one that size. To him if it doesn’t weigh 20+ it really isn’t much of a fish. To me, I am filling my freezer along with some other folks that want fish. A 2 lber eats good. He just gave me that I’ll tolerate it look and kept fishing.

 A 22" channel he considers a trash fish.

We drifted along waiting for more water to be released getting a few hits but I just couldn’t hook up. He managed one or two more smaller fish. The whole time cats were rolling on top all around us. Blues do this every morning which helped us figure out which runs they were using consisting of rock piles and small channels providing them cover. When we would hit rocks with our sinkers we knew a strike was coming. The cats were stacking up just downstream, grabbing bait just as it dropped off the deep side.

After an hour or so I had a hit that bent my rod to the handle. Finally I had hooked a decent fish. Blues tend to stick their nose down and hug the bottom which this one did so I knew what I had, channels like to twist and thrash about. Over 9 feet of heavy rod made it change its’ mind pretty quick and I had my first 10+ blue of the day. Now it was on. After catching this one things clicked. Sometimes you just need to break the ice.

On the board. This one was 11+.

We made drift after drift which is boring to write about and worse to read but that was the formula for the day. Each drift usually produced a fish or five with, what to me, were some good cats running 6 to 11 lbs. The day got hot but if we found the right drift fish would hit. All along the way he would tell me stories of past trips and where to fish this stretch all the while apologizing for it being a bad day. Funny since I catfish a lot and we were catching more big cats than I ever do, I tend to target channel cats in the 2-5 lb range on Percy Priest.

We fished for about 7 hours before running out of bait. The wind had gotten up and without much current the boat wouldn’t go downstream or up. Weird to sit in a wind and current but not move. I put one last 6 lber in the boat and we wrapped it up with a total of 14 fish in the boat. The cooler was full, 3 more good fish were in the live well, I had too much sun and was tired. Time to go.

A full cooler makes happy fishermen.

I'll take this any day. Good times.

What a day. 85-90 lbs of cats on ice, some great memories along with enough knowledge about a new stretch of water to go back on my own. Can’t get that sitting on the couch. I am ready to head back as soon as I can. For such a fun day it is hard to get into words for some reason. Sorry about that. I hope the pics will add a bit to where words fell down.

One final thought, if you have a neighbor that needs a little help with something it might be a good idea to give them a hand. Because I did I got to fish with a cool guy that had some great stories plus got invited to hunt his place again after 2 years. He is 86, a veteran that served in the Philippines after entering the Army in 1943, lived here all his life and just knows stuff. A great guy to spend time with.

 Not bad for just helping get rid of pigeons.