I'm not much of a fisherman.
That isn't a good thing to admit when you live in the South — kind of like admitting that you don't watch NASCAR or eat chicken–fried steak or drink tea (guilty on all three charges).
My mother's father was an avid fisherman, though. He belonged to a fishing club in east Texas, and we used to meet my grandparents there.
It was about a two–hour drive from my grandparents' home in Dallas — an old two–story country house that was converted into a clubhouse where guests could spend the night and have meals. Members could keep fishing boats there, and that is what my grandfather did. When he was planning a trip to the fishing club, he would call the clubhouse and tell them to get his boat ready — which meant, I suppose, making sure it had enough gas and that all his gear was ready to go when he was.
I can still remember his boat, light brown and white, and I remember getting up early with my father and grandfather to go fishing hours before breakfast. I never did too well on those excursions on the lake, but I remember vividly the night Grandpa taught me to cast.
I was about 7 years old. My family had met up with my grandparents at the fishing club and one night after dinner, Grandpa decided it was time for me to learn how to cast so we went down to the shoreline between the boathouses. Grandpa showed me how to cast ("Pull the rod back to 10 o'clock," he instructed, "then go forward and release the line when your hand is at 2 o'clock.").
We both thought I was just practicing the mechanics of casting — but, lo and behold, I caught a fish!
Well, anyway, the reason I bring up fishing is because I stumbled on to a website that I think has the potential to be very useful for any of you anglers out there.
Called NetKnots.com, it instructs fishermen in tying knots. It even has animations.
I shared this with a friend of mine who used to be one of the outdoors writers for a newspaper where I worked as a copy editor. To be honest, I figured the material would be a little too elementary for him, but he replied that it has a lot of good information consolidated in one place. He said he had bookmarked it.
Well, that's good enough for me!
So, if you are an angler — or you know one — take a look at the website.
And I hope you catch a whopper!
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