Fishing Memories With Grandpa

[DECK SWABBER 58]

When I was 10 or 11 yrs. old mom and dad let me drive up to Lake Ellen in the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan north of Iron Mountain with grandpa and grandma, this was a two week fishing trip, mom and dad were coming up the second week. We were in a '69 Buick Wildcat, it was brand new, I remember sitting in the driveway and grandpa yelling for me to go see where grandma was, we were all loaded up and ready to go. I went into the house to find grandma sitting in her chair praying with her rosary for us to have a safe trip.
Halfway there (it was a long trip, no interstates) grandma was yelling Ferd, Ferd, wake up, his name was Ferdinand, he was falling asleep at the wheel!
We stopped at a wayside, and he took a nap on a picnic table bench! Well, we made it safe and sound. There were two lakes, Little Lake Ellen and Big Lake Ellen, Little Lake Ellen required walking down a very steep hill to a row boat, on the way back up grandpa ate many "nitro pills" which scared the beejesus out of me. On Big Lake Ellen we stayed in a trailer with a boat dock,
grandpa had his own motor, a 60's vintage evinrude, blue and white I think, I had to help him carry it. My uncle and aunt and cousins were across the lake in a cabin, one of the cousins a few yrs. older and I begged grandpa to take us fishing, soon the cousin "hooked" grandpa in the ear while casting, back to shore we went at a high rate of speed and were kicked out of the boat. Later in the week we talked grandpa into taking us out again. The cousin decided to film grandpa fishing with his 8mm movie camera, of course grandpa hooked a big fish and the cousin being older he kept yelling for him to "get the net, get the net", well he lost the fish, got really mad, started the motor, took us back to shore and kicked us out of the boat.
What great memories, everytime I'm out on the water I can't help but think of him. He was a "true" fisherman. Grandma used to go out with him and read
a book while he fished. God rest their soul's.

 

[dlindeblad]

Re: Fishing Memories With Grandpa

Yah, I remeber fishing with my grandfather and getting kicked out of the boat a time or two. This usually occured after getting my line wrapped up in the prop a couple times. I can remeber one such occasion fishing in Red Jacks in Upper Michigan between Manistique and Munising.

 

[JB]

Re: Fishing Memories With Grandpa

Somehow, this lovely tale doesn't strike me as a Stupid Human Trick but more of a treasured memory. We don't have a Treasured Memories Forum. Maybe we should.

Meanwhile I will move it to Dockside Chat.

Thanks for sharing, Swabber.

 

[Jack Shellac]

Re: Fishing Memories With Grandpa

Good story. I learned to fish with my grandfather, too. Fortunately, mine had a lot of patience and I was just threatened to be kicked out of the boat. My first .22 and shotgun also came from my grandfather. Good memories all around.

 

[clearwatguy]

Re: Fishing Memories With Grandpa

My father was born in the year 1900 and i was born in 1969, he was 69 years old, he passed away in 1977 at the age of 77. My mother was considerably younger she is still with us now at 74. We were poor but mom and dad loved their fishing and camping, we had an old scotty camper and a chevy station wagon they would put the boat on the wagon and tow the camper with it.
minutes after getting the camper set up dad would start asking mom if the "johnny cake" was done yet (for the rest of us yanks johnny cake is corn bread) and she made killer cornbread in that old scotty campers oven lol we had a 14 foot aluminum boat with a 5 horse Johnson motor. two years before he died they had gathered, bred and sold night crawlers a penny each and made enough to buy a brand new sparkling 7.5 horse sea king right out of the Montgomery ward catalog. that motor was a hard starter and my dad was not the most patient man in the world. the year after they bought it after cranking on it to head back to the camp site i remember hearing the GD Montgomery ward junk blah blah blah and then after having enough he unclamped it from the transom and woosh overboard it went.... mom had been calling his name and when he finally calmed down and looked up she was holding the fuel line that he had forgotten to plug in to the motor lol. he rowed back to the site and drove home got the hand tiller for the garden bent the tines out drove back to the camp site rowed back to where he dumped the motor overboard and dragged the bottom with the tiller head until he snagged it hauled it up and right there in the boat he took the plugs out propped it upside down till it drained put it back on the boat and the damn thing ran fine from that day on until we sold the boat and motor to pay down the hospitol bills after he passed away. i have never been fishing since he passed on, this summer mom said she wanted to go one more time before she passed away so i scraped up everything i had and bought a boat, motor, trailer, pickup truck and a pop up camper and we have gone out every weekend since just before labor day. i have had nothing but issues with this evilrude 125 horse but she and i have both had a great time and to be honest... the thing is just to heavy to unbolt and drop off the transome

 

[DECK SWABBER 58]

Re: Fishing Memories With Grandpa

My father was born in the year 1900 and i was born in 1969, he was 69 years old, he passed away in 1977 at the age of 77. My mother was considerably younger she is still with us now at 74. We were poor but mom and dad loved their fishing and camping, we had an old scotty camper and a chevy station wagon they would put the boat on the wagon and tow the camper with it.
minutes after getting the camper set up dad would start asking mom if the "johnny cake" was done yet (for the rest of us yanks johnny cake is corn bread) and she made killer cornbread in that old scotty campers oven lol we had a 14 foot aluminum boat with a 5 horse Johnson motor. two years before he died they had gathered, bred and sold night crawlers a penny each and made enough to buy a brand new sparkling 7.5 horse sea king right out of the Montgomery ward catalog. that motor was a hard starter and my dad was not the most patient man in the world. the year after they bought it after cranking on it to head back to the camp site i remember hearing the GD Montgomery ward junk blah blah blah and then after having enough he unclamped it from the transom and woosh overboard it went.... mom had been calling his name and when he finally calmed down and looked up she was holding the fuel line that he had forgotten to plug in to the motor lol. he rowed back to the site and drove home got the hand tiller for the garden bent the tines out drove back to the camp site rowed back to where he dumped the motor overboard and dragged the bottom with the tiller head until he snagged it hauled it up and right there in the boat he took the plugs out propped it upside down till it drained put it back on the boat and the damn thing ran fine from that day on until we sold the boat and motor to pay down the hospitol bills after he passed away. i have never been fishing since he passed on, this summer mom said she wanted to go one more time before she passed away so i scraped up everything i had and bought a boat, motor, trailer, pickup truck and a pop up camper and we have gone out every weekend since just before labor day. i have had nothing but issues with this evilrude 125 horse but she and i have both had a great time and to be honest... the thing is just to heavy to unbolt and drop off the transome

What a great story clearwatguy. You will never regret this, when she is gone you will have this summer's memories forever. My mom died this past jan, dad in '06. Memorial day '07 my big brother volunteered to bring mom 300 miles downstate to see the new house that we had built. She had not traveled anywhere in 6 yrs. due to her health. We decided to rent a small motorhome so she could lay down, use the bathroom, etc. She could not walk far and was on oxygen. Her elderly sister, in better health went too. What a great success that trip was, we had a cousin and family up from s.e. missouri for a mini family reunion. They gave so much to us, the least we can do is try and make their final years a little happier. Fortunately for me I'm self employed with a business partner so I have been able to travel and help out for the past 8 yrs. of their decline. She was hospitalized more times then I can count. I spent the last month of her life with her, in 2 hospitals and a nursing home and was holding her hand when she passed. It was tough at times but I have no regrets, my brother and I know that we did right by them. God Bless you and yours!

 

[redone4x4]

Re: Fishing Memories With Grandpa

lots of great stories here. I have one grandfather that passed away, the only thing i remember was a trip to his house in the florida keys to fish barracuda. He had a little aluminum boat with an outboard. That was all we did, fish, cooked fish, and ate fish for almost a week. and, we got to see some dolphins. I was about 10 at the time, but its the only memory i have, and a good one.

 

[Bass Man Bruce]

Re: Fishing Memories With Grandpa

Great thread! Great stories Clearwater and Deck Swabber.
I also learned to fish with my grand dad back in the early sixties. I loved him dearly but I can still hear my Grandma sternly warning him to have more patience with me and telling him "Clarence, watch your language!" as I tangled everything in the boat.
I still have the 1931 1.1 hp elto that we used.
I also have his dads 22 single shot!

JB, good call.

 

[DECK SWABBER 58]

Re: Fishing Memories With Grandpa

Great thread! Great stories Clearwater and Deck Swabber.
I also learned to fish with my grand dad back in the early sixties. I loved him dearly but I can still hear my Grandma sternly warning him to have more patience with me and telling him "Clarence, watch your language!" as I tangled everything in the boat.
I still have the 1931 1.1 hp elto that we used.
I also have his dads 22 single shot!

JB, good call.

B.M.B, Sounds like your a "little" older then me, but my brother and I still have the late 50's/early 60's neptune mighty mite 1.7 hp that our other grandfather had. I discovered it under the basement stairs in the house I grew up in still in the original carboard box, it looked like brand new. 30 yrs. ago when I was in college I brought it down here to s.il. to try it out on one of the local lakes. It ran like a top! He died in '64 when I was 6 so I have no fishing memories with him but I do have a couple of his lures

 

[mphy98]

Re: Fishing Memories With Grandpa

Great thread, My grandfather was born in germany, fought against us in WW1. He was taken prisoner and sent to Escanaba MI POW camp. After the war he sent for grandma and they settled there. He worked at harnishfeger for years until he could start his own CHEESE business. that took off and he sold out to the bigger fish! In the late fifty's he started a commercial fishing business in Bark River, MI. I spent many a summer up there on his Home built all steel 50 foot trawler. It had low sidewalls and a huge live wells in her guts. He used mostly trap nets until 1969 when they banned commercial fishing on the great lakes for a while. So when you got fresh fish, they were truly fresh. He was a great grandfather. I will always treasure the summers up there with him. As a side story somewhere in 69 or70 or so, the Michigan DNR crashed threw the side of the property, shot the dogs with a tranq gun (killed one of them) and had guns drawn on the largest violater ever caught up there. He had 75 fish that he was going to use to feed his family with in the winter since they took his livelyhood away. He told me that god put those fish in the lake and no man had a right to tell him he couldn't get a few to feed his family with in the winter. The Escanaba Gazette had the picture of him in handcuffs along side the boat and pier with those fish now dead and useless. He was never the same after that, he thought this could not happen in this country. Can you imagine 8 DNR agents with guns drawn on a 80 year old man, alone on his boat coming in off the lake? He could not believe that this country would do that for such a simple thing. The local judge threw the case out and admonished the DNR for what they did. I hear it was said that they had better never show up in his courtroom again with something like this or he would jail the DNR person for contempt and trespassing among other things. He died not long after that, I was in the service and could not come home fro the funeral, but I still go up to see my relatives from time to time and my aunt still has the property on the lake.

 

[DECK SWABBER 58]

Re: Fishing Memories With Grandpa

Great thread, My grandfather was born in germany, fought against us in WW1. He was taken prisoner and sent to Escanaba MI POW camp. After the war he sent for grandma and they settled there. He worked at harnishfeger for years until he could start his own CHEESE business. that took off and he sold out to the bigger fish! In the late fifty's he started a commercial fishing business in Bark River, MI. I spent many a summer up there on his Home built all steel 50 foot trawler. It had low sidewalls and a huge live wells in her guts. He used mostly trap nets until 1969 when they banned commercial fishing on the great lakes for a while. So when you got fresh fish, they were truly fresh. He was a great grandfather. I will always treasure the summers up there with him. As a side story somewhere in 69 or70 or so, the Michigan DNR crashed threw the side of the property, shot the dogs with a tranq gun (killed one of them) and had guns drawn on the largest violater ever caught up there. He had 75 fish that he was going to use to feed his family with in the winter since they took his livelyhood away. He told me that god put those fish in the lake and no man had a right to tell him he couldn't get a few to feed his family with in the winter. The Escanaba Gazette had the picture of him in handcuffs along side the boat and pier with those fish now dead and useless. He was never the same after that, he thought this could not happen in this country. Can you imagine 8 DNR agents with guns drawn on a 80 year old man, alone on his boat coming in off the lake? He could not believe that this country would do that for such a simple thing. The local judge threw the case out and admonished the DNR for what they did. I hear it was said that they had better never show up in his courtroom again with something like this or he would jail the DNR person for contempt and trespassing among other things. He died not long after that, I was in the service and could not come home fro the funeral, but I still go up to see my relatives from time to time and my aunt still has the property on the lake.

mphy98, so far you have won 1st prize! I challenge everyone to try and top it. For many years my family went to Door County WI, east of Sister Bay on Sand Bay, (Lake Mich. side). One of the only am radio stations came from Escanaba, just across Green Bay to the northwest of us. Their is a lot of commercial fishing in Door Co, two were on either side of Sand Bay, so watched it from afar a lot and was always fascinated by them and their life style. Btw, is that your grandfather in the pic? WHAT A GREAT STORY. One of the best experience's I've ever had fishing was charter salmon fishing, trolling with downriggers beneath the bluffs at Ephraim on Green Bay. I caught a 20 pounder.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: Fishing Memories With Grandpa

Great stories folks...thanks for sharing

My grandfather on my dad's side loved to catch bluegill, perch, rock bass, and sunfish. I used to love going fishing with him where I could see the fish biting the hook when I was really young and can still see a mess of 'gills being cleaned out back of their old house

My dad and I took him out on the big lake(Huron) out of Rogers City, MI once back in the late 80s when the salmon bite was incredible. I was around 10 and my grandfather in his seventies.

We had already caught a few nice chinooks in about 20-30 minutes when he says to my dad, "so we ready to head in?"...this was august=primetime for slamon in the shallows near Swan Bay...we hadn't limited out yet...and the fishing was incredible(did I already mention that) so my dad replies..."this is the best fishing we've ever had and you want to leave?" LOL...we stayed out for a while longer but my dad respected his wishes and we did leave a bit early.

My grandpa liked the inland lakes more(maybe due to his memory of the Bradley going down in Lake Michigan along with many hardworking members of that community). That incident, followed by the Edmund Fitzgerald going down taught many folks to respect the big water.

Murphy it's funny you mention the POW camps in the UP...we were actually talking about that last night. I mentioned that there are worse places to be a POW than the UP- but being a POW anywhere is no good.

Here's to creating more great memories

 

[avenger79]

Re: Fishing Memories With Grandpa

i never got to go fishing with my grandpa, he was too old by the time I was old enough. going out with my dad though is a great memory. seems he and I never quite got along. he was a step dad and I was too punky too ever let him forget it. fishign however alwasy seemed to calm the tensions between us. I remember going out smelting once. I was little but he was trying to get me involved so I rode on his shoulders in Lake Michingan while he waded out with a net. We stayed as long as he could hold me up there. Brought home quite a few smelts and had a blast.
Another time we went out in Lake Superior in a 12' tinny with a 5 hp tiller on it. yeah not the brightest thing but we were having a blast. suddenly a huge storm came in. the ride back in was much more exciting then the ride out. huge rolling waves lots of rain and lightnening. People said we were crazy to be out there in the boat on a good day letalone on a stormy day.
He moved to Florida a while back, I had joined the Army, we still held the tension between us. I came back on leave and went to visit him. we went fishing, he didn't have a boat so we went to sears and bought an inflatable one for 20 bucks or so. used a shovel and a rake for paddles and went out in a little pond near his home. we caught bass after bass. suddenly an old guy showed up on shore and staretd yelling at us to get out. Don't you know there's gators in there he said. Sure my dad said but we have a plan. if one attacks we'll each swim in different directions. the one who makes it to shore can tell everyone what happened to the other. they we're calling us crazy again.
over the years I used to think he could just smell fish, we always seemed to catch them and it was the only time we ever got along.
we're older now, the tensions have gone. let by gones be by gones but I still like to go visit him and go fishing with him now and then.

 

[aspeck]

Re: Fishing Memories With Grandpa

Grandpa taught me my love for the outdoors. I inherited his 12 foot tinny and 3.9 merc which has morphed for the 3rd time into another fishing boat (gotta stay true to Grandpa).

Lots of good times fishing with Grandpa with Grandma yelling, "Your not going to throw that back, are you. That would be good to eat!" Didn't matter what it was or the size, she wanted us to keep everything. He taught me to be patient with others when learning, etc. I sure miss my fishing buddy. I lost him in 74 at the age of 13 ... and not a fishing season or hunting season goes by that I don't think of him. I am even wearing some of his old Woolrich hunting clothing.

Great memories. Now when my daughter or step-kids go out and something doesn't happen just right we laugh and say, "Well, at least we are making memories!"

 

[rbh]

Re: Fishing Memories With Grandpa

Great storys guys, thought I would share one of the only one I can really remember.
Back around 1970/71 I was 5 and grandpa had a job working for the province at the fish hatchery, there was two if I remember that he had to work at.
one was in summerland bc on okanogan lake and the other was way up in the mountains at pennask lake, so on one of his trips up to pennask lake he took me with him, and showed me all of the spawning tanks and the man made spawning channels. For some reason he left me alone to watch the fish while he went off to do some work, of course we were supposed to go fishing in the lake latter that day, but when you see big fish like the ones in the spawning channells you just want to grab one and show grampa what a great fisherman you are even if you did not use a hook and worm.
so I packed it over to were he and his buddys were working and all hell broke loose, so I had to put it back, just a little yellin and a hole bunch of laughin.
and thats all I remember.
rob