[philmont] fishing gear

<<Bill Sheehan wrote: In 1970, I did catch a couple in the North Ponil Creek with grasshoppers on a hook with sewing thread tied to a stick. Maybe not sporting, but it worked.>>
   
  First, I'm glad to see Bill appreciated my humor about his post about the whistles. It's fun to poke a little fun as Scouts from other areas. I hope it continues to be so for generations to come.
   
  Whistles have always been a part of my Scouting career and I guess of my life. I have a really loud one tied on every PFD I own and being a boatman and paddler, I own a bunch. And I use them.
   
  I even carry one in my pocket daily. You'd be surprised the attention it can get.
   
  I've never tried it on a crowded sidewalk in the New England states, but somehow I want to try that to see if it helps clear y9our path.
   
  One of my most memorable fishing experiences was on my 1959 trek at Philmont. Back then you pretty much could eat whatever you could catch and catch we did.
   
  Most of the trout were caught just as Bill told about with improvised pole, line and hook and we thought it VERY sporting, right up there with survival fishing. At least it got us away from Seidels Veg-A-Rice, a dehydrated wallpaper paste product pushed off as food by Philmont then.
   
  I just got out my old photo album and one stringer contained 36 trout. There were two more stringers. Texas boys can survive.
   
  The best part was the procurement of butter to cook them in.
   
  We went to the nearest commissary to ask for some extra butter to fry the fish in intending to trade fish for butter.
   
  The guy running the place was really cold to our idea and said NO. Our advisor asked him where he was from and he said "Oklahoma" to which the advisor, a Senior lineman for Texas A & M coached at the time by Bear Bryant said. "Yeah, I thought I recognised the stupidity". Oh we were a bold bunch back then.
   
  Well, we left and talked about our plans all the way back to camp.
   
  We regrouped and planned our "butter assault" on the commissary.
   
  The plan was to go in two groups. The first group would walk in and start trouble and get into wild arguments with each other occupying the people there while the second group would sneak in the back and find some buttter and stuff our Yucca packs with the needed fish fry supplies.
   
  Maybe the plan wasn't Scoutlike, but we justified it's use because neither was being told NO when Scouts were in need.
   
  The plan worked, we hit the mother lode in the refrigerator and filled two Yucca pcaks with USDA donated genuine butter.
   
  We all escaped un arrested and had a fish fry par excellence.
   
  The next day we gave away sticks of butter to every crew we passed knowing their next commissary was a "little short" of it.
   
  To this day when I catch some Brook Trout, I fry them whole in real butter just like I did at Philmont. Just the sight of that little fish bubbling in butter brings back some wonderful memories of my first trip away from home.
   
  Thank you Philmont!
   
  John LeBlanc
   

 
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Received on Fri Apr 6 15:56:43 2007