OVER MY SHOULDER

It is this time of the year, when it is hot that I often think of the the swimming hole down on the ‘Buddy Sams’ place. Sometimes, it was referred to as ‘Swanks’, as the upper end of the hole was on Harvey Swank’s place. The swimming hole was about one and one half miles from our house. To get there, we went by the Swank farm at the top of a steep hill, wound our way down the hill, and forded the Irish Branch. I now own the Swank place, and Kenneth Tinsley owns the Buddy Sams’ place.

I started fishing in and picnicking at the ‘swimming’ hole when I was about 7 or 8 years of age. I learned to swim in this swimming hole---I recall that my brothers and I would go ‘to the creek’ and fish and swim. I learned to swim under water, and could swim completely across the creek, without surfacing---I recall that Mom got rather uneasy the first time that I demonstrated my swimming skills to her--she did not think that I would ‘come up’.

I have used various modes of transportation to get to the hole, including, walking, team and wagon, bicycle, horse back, tractor, tractor and wagon, and of course by car or pick up. Everyone in the surrounding neighborhood knew where this place was, as it had several large walnut and elm trees on the bank that provided shade for picnics, and family or group gatherings.

The hole of water was nearly a quarter of a mile long, but the lower part was the best for swimming----it was deeper, perhaps six feet in some places, with a smooth rock bottom on about one-half of the deeper part. Some one had climbed high in the big elm tree that set on the North bank, and installed a long rope swing that would allow us to swing out over the water, and drop into the deeper water. (the elm tree is gone now, as are nearly all of the other elms---the walnuts trees are still there though)

Buddy Sams allowed entrance to anyone that desired to picnic, fish or swim, as long as they ‘cleaned up their trash, and kept the gate shut so that the livestock could not get out.’ Often we, as would others in the neighborhood would have family picnics at the swimming hole, as it provided a good place to picnic, usually a mess of fish could be caught, and one could get in a good swim in hot weather (after the adults had gotten in their fishing, or after they went up stream to the upper end)

Needless to say it was a favorite place for the neighborhood kids to gather on a Saturday of Sunday afternoon. I recall that during the ‘warm weather’ our Church Youth group would often have an evening meeting and picnic at the picnic grounds.

Late in the summer, the water was usually clear and cool, as there are numerous springs that feed into the hole of water. This was an excellent place to visit at the end of a long hot day in the hay field---one could wash off the dirt and dust, and cool down at the same time. Some have been known to ‘skip school’ to visit this Swimming hole (or Bronson’s Ford North of town)-----I wouldn’t know much about that, but you might ask Ken Swender--he may have some knowledge of such activities.
This hole of water was and still is one of the best fishing holes that I have had the pleasure of visiting. It is not only a pretty hole of water, it has some good fish in it, and if one gets there at the right time, you can catch a good mess of fish. I have many favorite fishing stories about the hole---some about the ‘one that got away’ ---some about the actual catch.

I recall one afternoon when I was about 9 or 10, Dad took we boys to the ‘Swimming hole’ fishing. The wind had shifted to the southwest, and one could tell that a storm was coming, as the clouds rolled and bellowed up and you could hear thunder in the distance. We fished with our worms on our hook at the end of a line tied to our cane poles. Because of the incoming storm, we were there only about 30 minutes, but caught 15 or 18 of the largest black perch that I have ever caught in my life ---they were all about the same size---needless to say we had a good supper that evening---and got home without getting wet.

I recall as I grew older, I considered myself ‘quite a fisherman’ . I had graduated to a casting reel, and fished mostly with my ‘Lucky 13’ (which I still have, but it is retired) for bass and large perch. Christine and I were married in May, and I took her fishing some time during that summer. Now ‘girls’ just don’t walk the creek bank, wade the brush and weeds, and fish as well as the ‘guys’. (even if it is a new bride) So I put a grasshopper on her hook (she would not bait her own hook, nor take her own fish off the hook)---cast the grasshopper and bobber to the South side of the swimming hole, set her in the shade, handed her the pole and told her to watch the cork.---obviously this would “keep her out the way the most of the morning, while I fished”

I was perhaps 30 yards up stream when I heard the scream---. I ran back down stream to find her standing on the bank with her pole arched as if she was hooked on a rock, but the line was moving up and down stream. She was yelling “what do I do”--- of course the only answer is “land the fish”---(I am not about to assist her--after all it is her fish and she wasn't supposed to catch anything anyway)

After a few minutes, a lot of laughing and perhaps a tear or two, she dragged the fish up onto the bank------It was a six (6) pound channel catfish.We took the fish home----I had caught nothing. Not only that in all of the years that I have fished, I have never known any one (except as noted above) to catch a channel catfish in the swimming hole, not even on trotlines, limb lines, pole lines or jugs. ----We have a standing rule (made by Christine when we were married) that everyone would dress their own game and clean their own fish---but since she was a new bride, I was gracious enough to clean her fish.

----Well, I took her fishing with me again, after Mike and Steve had graduated from High School----and I still take her with me---I even let her fish with the good pole and the good bait or my favorite plug or spinner---and I am pleased that she will go with me. However, after 25 years of not being taken fishing, she is careful to not catch a fish bigger than the one I catch, nor to catch a fish when I don’t catch one. ----Guess that she wants to go fishing again. I always knew that she was a fast learner. ldc