Little Rivers

When I really sit down and think about it, the majority of my childhood fishing was done in canals of some type. We called them "little rivers," and that's really what they were. Bodies of water that connect to larger bodies of water, lakes or reservoirs connected to Lagoons that connect to the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. At least that's the way it works here in Florida. The entire state is crisscrossed with hundreds of these types of canals. Originally dug to drain what was swamp land into what would become fertile ground for citrus, sugar cane and cattle. Millions of acres were drained for these purposes, at the time it seemed like a great idea. Florida and the U.S. Government are now paying a high price for this foolishness, billions of dollars to clean up the Everglades, Florida Bay, Tampa Bay, the Indian River Lagoon and many other bodies of water here in Florida. At the time however Florida was just a piece of land where people could come and rape a fortune from it and then quietly move back to their homes in the Hamptons, leaving the rest of us here to suffer the consequences.

These canals "little rivers" also held fish, lots of them. Granted they didn't hold Rainbow and Brown Trout. You'll also never find a Brookie or a Muskie in any of them, but they do hold fish. The ones I grew up around held catfish and any number of species of panfish. The catfish were ugly, mean and the best fighters. The bluegills were the more attractive, neither however were as elusive nor as sought after as the turtles. Sure catfish and bluegills are fine species but nothing exuded manliness like catching a giant turtle. Big box turtles, box because that's what we carried them home in to show our Mothers who then promptly made us free the reptiles.

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Separated At Birth?

Separated At Birth?

Outdoorsman brings home deer with fishing rod

HENDERSON, Ky. - It's not exactly a big fish story, but technically, he did reel in the big one.

Henderson County resident Dan Phillips used a little ingenuity to bring home a 120-pound doe during a hunting expedition in early November.

Positioned in his deer stand, Phillips said he'd only been waiting about 30 minutes when he spotted a doe.

"This one presented itself as a good shot," he said.

And sure enough, when Phillips shot the arrow, it passed all the way through the doe. He found the arrow while tracking the deer.

"I waited about an hour and started tracking her," he said. "When I started tracking, I noticed she was headed for the Tradewater River. And that's not a good sign. I was afraid it would be in the water and that's a whole new problem."

Phillips said he's been in a situation before where he shot a deer that wandered into the water so he was hoping this wouldn't be a repeat performance.

It was.

"When I got to the river, (the deer) was deceased on the other side," he said, noting that the river is about 30 yards wide.

"I've done this before," Phillips said. "I had to swim to get a deer before."

Looking at the situation, Phillips thought, "I'm too old for this. And I wanted to keep my clothes on because it's November."

Not willing to walk away from the kill, Phillips said he first tried a rope that he attached to a metal hook.

He said the apparatus would not reach far enough.

After his arm grew tired, Phillips said he remembered his fishing pole with an 8-pound test line that he keeps in his truck "just in case I ever want to stop and go fishing," he said.

"I took the same arrow (he used to kill the deer) attached it to the rod, shot the deer again and started reeling it in," Phillips said.

The deer was hung on some debris, so Phillips said he walked up down and the bank to dislodge the deer.

"When I walked up stream, I was able to free it. So I reeled it in without breaking the line. That's what shocked me that the line didn't break."

Phillips said he got the idea to use the fishing pole because "I'd run out of ideas."

"I think I got a state record with an 8-pound tester pulling in a 120-pound deer."