Did you ever telephone a fish? How about jugging? What about hogging?
These are all methods of catching fish that were sometimes in use in the turgid waters of the mid-south, where I grew up. One of them was illegal. One was as dangerous to the fisherman as to the fish, and one was far from sporting. You can figure out which is which in the next few paragraphs. Those were the years before fish farming became a substitute for the historic struggle to outsmart one’s intended dinner.
The fish mostly were catfish, which were abundant and could be caught and sold; bass, which could be caught and eaten but not sold; and crappie, also considered a game fish. There were a few others, including the legendary alligator gar—sharp-toothed, armored, and said to consume small animals in one bite. There were also eels, turtles, and snakes, including poisonous water moccasins.
Of these assaults on fish, jugging was the most pragmatic and easiest on the fisherman. It required a batch of empty gallon jugs with corks or lids. Through the handle, you tied a length of stout cord with a large hook on the other end. The hooks were baited with chicken necks or other scraps known to be attractive to omnivorous catfish. The baited jugs were set afloat and the fisherman leaned back in his skiff or johnboat to await action. If things went well, soon one or several jugs bobbed down. A catfish had bitten the bait and was intent on taking it to the bottom to eat. But the jug would not sink. Up and down, until the fish was exhausted, stopped swimming, and drowned. That was used by commercial fishermen who were not sporting types.
Telephoning involved a country telephone that had its own crank and generator. Bare wires were connected and dropped into the water. Vigorous cranking produced a momentary electrical current that had a shocking effect on fish close enough to be stunned. The stunned fish would float to the surface, where the fisherman could scoop it up with a net. That was illegal. Fish and game wardens counted coup on anyone caught with a country telephone in his boat. The practice has about died out with the demise of rural telephone systems and the rise of cell phones. Dropping a cell phone in the water would not hurt a fish unless it swallowed the thing.
In many kinds of sport fishing, the fisherman uses light gear and line, which will break if the fisherman puts too much strain and too little guile into the struggle between man and fish. Unlike jugging, a bite does not automatically mean a catch. Other, more adventurous fishermen don SCUBA gear and go into the water, armed with spear guns. If the fish include sharks or barracuda, the challenge is to avoid becoming the prey.
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