Page 90 - South Mississippi Living - July, 2024

With Braggin’ Rights at Stake, I Had To Do Something
story and photo by John N. Felsher
In my youthful days, summer vacation meant freedom to fish whenever we wanted if we ducked out of the house before Mom realized we didn’t finish (or start) the chores she told us to do.
Unfortunately, our fathers still had to work five days a week and couldn’t take us fishing except on weekends. That didn’t stop us “tweeners.” On our bicycles or on foot, we explored every possible place we could fish.
Fortunately, several canals and drainage ditches ran through our little town back then. Many people call their favorite spots “fishing holes.” Most of our spots truly weren’t much more
than holes. We fished wide spots in canals and places where culverts created slightly deeper water.
One day, I couldn’t catch a fish in our favorite hole under a four-lane highway bridge spanning a canal. Across the highway, a patch of woods still existed. I passed those woods many times, but never paid much attention to it. With the fish uncooperative, I decided to explore the woods. I hid my bicycle in some thick brush.
Rather than wilderness, beyond the trees and brush lining the highway, I found a rustic old home occupied by an elderly widow. On her property ran a long narrow pond
90 | July 2024
www.smliving.net | SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living
SPORTS & OUTDOORS