Fog fishing

I am so glad to see these sunny, warm days. The mild temperatures
remind us that Spring is just around the corner. Just a few days ago, however, Gainesville was shrouded in a fog that
would have rivaled the famous fog of London. It reminded me of a fellow I knew in south Georgia not too many years ago.

Eustis was an unofficial expert on atmospheric conditions,
especially when it affected his favorite place in all the universe,
the Alapaha River.

In fact he was an unofficial expert on just about anything that came up, epecially when he applied his talent for stretching the facts a bit.

Since the Alapaha gets foggy off and on, naturally Eustis was an expert on fog and its effects and something he taught me about - fog fishing.

Eustis and I were camped on the river one time and we got up to fish before daylight, but it was easy to see that it was going to be hard to see the sunrise or anything else. The reason: thick fog.

We had to be careful not to walk right into the water. We could not see the river or even each other except for the thin glow from the kerosene lantern Eustis always carried.

After stumbling around a bit we settled down and cast out into the
current, kind of guessing where it was.

"You ever fog fish?," Eustis asked, a spot of tobacco juice staining the six day grizzle on his jowly face.

"Looks like that's what we're doing," I replied.

"Naw, Lunkhead, I mean FOG fish."

I knew from that tone of voice another fact stretcher was about to be
hatched.

"Eustis, what in all get out are you talking about?," I queried.

"This ain't nothin'," he said, swinging back to cast, "this here ain't near thick enough to fish in."

"About two weeks ago I was down here just below Pafford's Camp, caught five shell cracker and six yearling bass - out of the fog."

From that I gathered Eustis liked to fish on foggy mornings, but that was no real surprise, since he had fished the Alapaha since he was old enough to hold a pole and tell a lie.

"Sounds like you had a bit of luck," I observed.

"Yeah," Eustis replied, "you can snatch 'um down quicker out of the fog than out of the water, but they don't put up as good a fight."

"That was pretty thick fog," I said, knowing the trap was sprung and I had stepped in again.

Eustis never grinned or laughed when he knew he had put one over on
you. He was just as poker faced as an accountant going over the last minute details before an audit appointment with the IRS.

"Yup," he said, stuffing more Red Man into his cheek, "I reckon we'll have to settle for plain old water fishin' this mornin'. Like I said, fog ain't near thick enough."

Jerry Gunn is a reporter for WDUN NEWS TALK 550, SPORTS RADIO 1240 THE TICKET and MAJIC 1029 and accessnorthga.com.