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THURSDAY. MAY 6. 2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 9A
O'NEILL OUTDOORS
By 0"N£ILL WILLIXMS
Was this
the start?
[Due to a popular re
sponse, O’Neill’s column will
move from monthly, to twice
a month, appearing in first
week and third week of the
month.]
I was just a regular little
kid involved with Little
League baseball and the
usual stuff but always had en
joyed hunting birds and
squirrels with my Red Ryder
BB gun and catching bream
and an occasional bass in
local ponds.
For a few summers, until I
was twelve or so, I went with
my maternal grandmother
and grandfather to visit my
relatives in the mountains of
north Georgia. There I fished
every single day, except Sun
day, with my cousin,
Winifred. We all went to
church on Sunday.
Fie was a kind, gentle,
mountain boy, a year older
than I was, and was always
willing to show the little city
kid about the mountains, the
fish, and the other critters that
live in the hollows and
mountain sides. I fished with
my paternal grandfather in
the ponds around the country
side. I’ve probably told you
and written about those trips
many times. You can read
about that another time.
Guess the first venture
into capitalism, based on out
door pursuits, occurred when
I was 14-years old.
I met a fellow in the 9th
grade whose name was Jef
fery Merrick Hobbins, he
went by the name ‘Rick’.
He was a hunter and fisher
man; a good one. I guess his
most valuable trait for me
was that his father, Len Hob-
bins, had a boat and would let
me tag along with them to
Lake Lanier. This was 1957.
But I’m getting ahead of my
self.
Let’s digress to Rick and
O’Neill’s first commercial
fishery.
In the early to mid-50s, in
our area of DeKalb County
Georgia, existed some of
what we called ‘dollar’ lakes;
one could fish all day for a
dollar fee and keep whatever
you caught.
These lakes were very
popular, even to the extent
that on holidays it was diffi
cult to find a place along the
bank to cast a bait. One set of
three lakes was called ‘Chin
chilla’ Lakes. Seems the
owner had an adjoining
Chinchilla raising facility
nearby so
Anyway, Rick and I went
there often on Saturdays and
caught our share, nothing
special really but we were
honing our skills each time.
Rick figured out that by put
ting a half ounce sinker on
the end of the line preceded
by a rather large treble hook,
about two feet above, he
could cast out into the shal
low upper end of the lakes
where the creeks flowed in
and could simply rake the
hook across the muddy bot
tom with a jerking motion
and snag one catfish after an
other for as long as we
wanted or needed.
The fish were there be
cause of the fresh flowing
cooler current. Of course, we
likely scarred up lots of poor
little catfish critters without
hauling them in. The lake and
land owner caught us and
asked us to leave and not
come back.
We were 14-years old and
were not conservationists, so
we didn’t really understand
why the owner was so upset.
We do now.
So, by necessity, we
changed our weekly summer
haunts to a place a few short
miles away which, I believe,
was called Parker’s Pond.
Same thing; catfish and carp
and lots of folks fishing on
weekends and holidays. Rick
and I soon figured out that
lake, how to catch the fish
that lived in it, and capitalism
took charge.
We’d buy several cans of
Green Giant whole kernel
corn, or another brand since
it didn’t matter, and toss
handfuls out into the lake
where we were fishing. A
can of com was priced at
nineteen cents so the invest
ment was tiny.
The smell of all that com
soon attracted a generous
portion of the carp and cats in
the pond and we’d be catch
ing them by the buckets full.
OK.
So now we thought, let’s
sell these fish. We certainly
can’t use them all. Ah Ha!
We were in business.
On a given Saturday, my
mother would take us to the
pond about sun rise, and
City of Jasper
Water Treatment Plant
WSID #2270000
The Consumer Confidence Report
for the year 2020 is now posted on
www.jasper-aa.us.
A physical copy is also available at
Jasper’s City Hall, located at 200
Burnt Mountain Road, Jasper GA
30143. City Hall is open Monday
through Friday from 8:00 a.m.
until 4:00 p.m.
Rick and I have been friends all these years from 13-year
old fishing buddies until the present. He’s 78 and I am 77.
Above Rick with a 6+ lbs. bass on Lake Lanier in 1971.
we’d stake out a good spot,
and load up the shallow lake
bottom with com. We’d then
use corn threaded on our
hooks for bait.
While Rick staked out our
claim and fed the fish, I’d
walk around the lake and in
vite other fishermen to visit
with us before the day ended
if they needed, and we’d sell
to them the fish we had
caught.
Early in the day, I’d usu
ally get rebuffed rather
kindly as in “No sir, don’t
need any help from you, I’ll
catch my own” all the way to
smartly replying, “I don’t
need you to catch any fish for
me you little punk, get away
from here.”
However, before the day
ended, and his mother came
to pick us up as the sun began
to drift and the color turned
golden, we would have other
fishermen standing behind us
laying claim to, and offering
to pay us for the next catfish
or carp we landed.
The fee was only $1 to
fish, less than that for the
com, and we’d each pocket
seven or eight dollars for a
day’s fishing.
We’d cut forked sticks and
line up six rods and reels,
usually Zebcos or Johnson
Centuries, and fan cast into
the area where we’d tossed
the com, sit on our little
tackle boxes or simply lie
down in the dirt, use our
newly found wealth to eat
Moon Pies and drink Cokes
all day and have profits left
over. It really worked.
I don’t know how we
could have been able to tell
but we always felt we had
most of the fish in the lake
right in front of us by noon
every day.
Capitalism at its finest.
Surely did beat working all
day at the local grocery store
bagging groceries and mak
ing tip money.
Will that serve as a starter
for our careers? Rick spent
most of his business life as a
rep for Browning selling
sporting goods all over the
world and you know what
I’ve done, and still do, to
make ends meet so, what do
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you think? It’s as good a be
ginning as any.
During all these years, I
guess you could say that Rick
and I have been ‘selling our
catch’.
O'Neill Williams, born in
Atlanta, is host of O'Neill
Outside, which reaches
277,000,000 subscriber
households weekly on FOX
Sports Southeast, Amazon
Prime, Outdoor Action Net
work, and others. His
"O'Neill Outside" radio
broadcasts are heard in 38
states via WSB Radio.
"O'Neill Outside" radio is the
#1 outdoor based live radio
talk show in the country’.
Find out more or contact
him at O'NeillOutside.com.
Look for his columns the
first and third week of every
month in the Pickens
Progress. Or in our e-edition
archives at any time.
Hvv
Burn ban
now in effect
in 54 north
Georgia counties
GEORGIA FORESTRY
COMMISSION
On May 1, a ban on out
door burning begins in 54
Georgia counties, primarily
in the northern half of the
state. Affected residents are
asked to refrain from burn
ing yard and land clearing
debris during the hot sum
mer months because smoke
can negatively impact the
state’s air quality by con
tributing to high ozone lev
els. These conditions have
been linked to lung and
heart disease in humans.
“The restrictions are re
quired by the state Environ
mental Protection
Division,” said Georgia
Forestry Commission Pro
tection Chief Frank Sorrells.
“By limiting outdoor burn
ing, fewer chemicals and
particle pollutants are re
leased into the air.” The
burn ban is in effect until
September 1 in the follow
ing counties: Banks, Bar-
row, Bartow, Bibb, Butts,
Carroll, Catoosa, Chat
tooga, Cherokee, Clarke,
Clayton, Cobb, Columbia,
Coweta, Crawford, Daw
son, DeKalb, Douglas,
Fayette, Floyd, Forsyth,
Fulton, Gordon, Gwinnett,
Hall, Haralson, Heard,
Henry, Houston, Jackson,
Jasper, Jones, Lamar,
Lumpkin, Madison, Meri
wether, Monroe, Morgan,
Newton, Oconee, Paulding,
Peach, Pickens, Pike, Polk,
Putnam, Richmond, Rock
dale, Spalding, Troup,
Twiggs, Upson, Walker and
Walton.
While campfires and
barbecues are exempt the
bum ban, the risk of wild
fire in Georgia is always a
concern. An increase in the
number of wildfires has
been recorded in March and
April, with 860 wildfires
burning almost 5,500 acres
across the state. Escaped
burning is the leading cause
of wildfire in Georgia.
Residents in counties not
included in the annual bum
ban will continue to be re
quired to secure a bum per
mit from the Georgia
Forestry Commission
(GFC) before conducting
any outside burning. Per
mits can be requested online
at GaTrees.org or by calling
the local office of the GFC.
“Georgia’s 25 million
acres of forestland serve a
giant air purifier,” said
Georgia Forestry Commis
sion Director Tim Low-
rimore. “We can help them
do their work by recogniz
ing the bum ban and enjoy
ing the many benefits
Georgia’s trees and other
natural resources give us in
summer and all year long.”
For more information
about the bum ban, the
many benefits of trees and
services of the Georgia
Forestry Commission, visit
GaTrees.org.
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