The Fish Smellers

I have a first cousin named Donna. She has a husband named Joe. Donna and Joe have a daughter named Katrina. Katrina has a husband named Bryant. Katrina and Bryant have a little son named Conner. This small family lives side by side in a rural/urban part of Orange County, N.C.

They give great honor to Donna's father Norman who was married to my mothers' older sister Louise. Aunt Louise could take a month of postings alone; let me say this, she was the mother to six kids, a huge number of grand children and a hand full of great grand children, she was a huge life force in her family and her love could bring great joy, she was opinionated and spoke her mind at the drop of a hat. Her cooking continues to be legendary and a social gathering at Aunt Louise and Uncle Normans' house was sure to be a party.

There is a bit of family background.

Joe and Bryant are of course FIL and SIL respectively. They also are serious fishermen. They have a pontoon boat that is built for fishing. They invited my father Louis and me to go fishing with them on Saturday.

I have heard about their fishing trips. These two men claim to be able to smell fish when they are biting. (I am not talking about those guys who cruise around on lakes at 60mph chasing the Large Mouth Bass. Joe and Bryant are after meat fish, something to bring home, clean and then have a fish fry with friends and relatives.)
I never doubted this, I just had never heard of such a thing.

Yesterday morning my father and I met Joe, Bryant and Uncle Norman and headed for a lake in Alamance County. After a 35 minute drive we arrived at a beautiful, tree lined N.C. lake. The morning was bright and cool with a steady breeze. We boarded the boat and were off. Joe and Bryant were talking about coves to get away from the wind. After a fifteen minute cruise across the lake the fishing began. For over one hour we pulled in one good size meat fish after another. Using ultra light tackle a 12 oz. fish puts up a great fight. The wind blew a bit harder and we moved to several other spots and caught a few fish.

By noon Uncle Norman and my father were tired. We returned them to the dock, had a bit of lunch and moved on to another spot. As we entered the cove Bryant simply stated, "I can smell them, they are here." Now, as I took a deep whiff of the air I did indeed smell a fishy aroma in the air.

Needless to say, Bryant was right. The next two hours we caught scores of fish, keeping only the large ones for eating. I now believe that Bryant and Joe could easily have a fishing program on ESPN Outdoors...of course the name would be "The Fish Smellers".

By three o'clock we were back at the home of Joe and Donna, Katrina and Bryant and little Conner. Conner met his father as soon as we arrived and wanted to see the fish.
The live well was opened and Conner saw the abundant harvest from the fresh,clean waters of the lake. A count was taken, the total harvest was 184 fresh water fish caught on a beautiful N.C. spring day.

If you have a Joe and Bryant in your life you are a wealthy person. If you do not have a Donna and Joe, Katrina, Bryant and little Conner, Uncle Norman in your life, you are a pauper indeed.

Thank YOU guys for a great memory and good fishing!!