My Old Tackle Box

While sorting stuff in my fishing basement last night, Nathaniel came across a tackle box he'd never seen before and one I hadn't opened for years. It was the first "big box" I got while I was growing up -- probably when I was around Nathaniel's age (14) or just a bit younger. With three trays on each side, my old green Plano tackle box was pretty grand and fancy seeming to me when I first got it. I'm quite certain I stocked it with every hook, weight and lure I owned the very day I got it, and I remember spending a lot of time cleaning trays and moving stuff around as I got new baits. You can't tell that today as it has been picked through and has been out of service for a couple of decades, but my tackle box was one of very few things that I tried to keep in good order as a young man.

That box sat on the bank and in boats beside me in a lot of different setting through about a decade of active use, always ready with whatever bait I  needed. The box, as it is today, is less of a true boyhood collection than I'd prefer. Over the years some slightly newer stuff has landed in it, while baits I often used have been removed. Still, when I look into the box I see a now-broken Bang O Lure that produced dozens of bass from the banks of small Florida lakes; a baby bass pattern Rebel crankbait that was one of my first lures with an extra realistic finish; a couple of packets of Culprit worms, which were my mainstays for many years. I still remember the first time I ever fished with Culprit Ribbontails because it was also the first time a friend and I ever went through a whole packet of worms in a single afternoon. We found a seriously active group of fish in a canal off Crystal River, and after that I was seriously sold on green shad 7 1/2-inch Culprits.

Nathaniel also found the old brown single-tray box that preceded the one in the picture, but it is empty now and has broken trays. Meanwhile, I came across my Grandpa's old pool-cue-like boat rod that he used to take out on deep-sea boats. It's pretty fun unearthing old treasures as we work together to gain order in the fishing basement. I wonder what else we'll discover?

Little Fisherman in the Background

My sister just sent this great photo of my dad and my grandmother (Grammy) from when I was growing up. I like everything about the photo, but one very telling thing I took note of is the little fellow fishing from the shore in the background. That's me, and it's a scene that repeated itself anytime my family went anywhere there was water when I was going up. Family vacation, church picnic, scout camp, friend's house... The event never mattered. If  there was a lake, pond, river, creek or bay of any sort or size where we were going, I lobbied to tote along a rod and reel, and if I got to bring one, I invariably fished as many of the minutes we were there as was allowed.

Although a lot of Florida parks look similar from this perspective, my best guess is that this picture is from Crest Lake Park, which is right in Clearwater. Crest Lake is only a few miles from the house where I grew up, so it was a handy place for family picnics or for short fishing trips. Once I could drive, I often would go there an hour or so just before dark and walk the banks, armed with a single baitcasting outfit and a Bagley Spintail Bang O lure, which I would twitch on the surface to attract vicious strikes.

I'll bet if I were to return to Crest Lake some summer evening, I could use the same simple equipment that I used 30 years ago to draw similarly vicious topwater strikes.