BASKETS

As a boy I was nosing around in Granny's dining room buffet, I came across some newspaper cut in a triangular form. I asked Granny what it was, and she told me it was Papa's finger pattern. I was told it was the finger cone used in a fish basket, and they were strictly illegal. So I gathered up the welded 4' wire, the hog rings, and wire cutters. After making three 8 ' baskets and, transporting them in loads of hay for concealment. They were safely at home on the river, two spots were easy just tie the no. 9 wire on a tree that fell in the water in a deep hole. The third was a challenge, we wanted to catch Suckers, they were only in swift water. We solved that problem by using a walking mule cultivator to tie the third . We carried the cultivator to the swift part of the river on a cypress river boat. The next thing we made was a long cedar pole with a horse shoe nailed to the end, to pull up the baskets. We gathered roast-nears and soaked them in a barrel of water to sour for bait. The baskets worked good, in the deep water we caught catfish, black perch, and a few bass. In the swift water we caught as many as 23 suckers at one time. Mama canned the suckers after pressure cooking the bones, and they made wonderful fish patties. The other fish were fried and eaten that night with Mama,s hush-puppies. I don't know if it was the way the fish were caught, or the home made lard they were fried in, but they were better back then.

HEAD NUT