I can remember it like it was yesterday. Saturday mornings, my mom would load me and my brother up in what seemed like a 50-foot station wagon. Most weekends growing up, my Dad had to work to pay for the emergency room visits my brother and I issued each other. She would help us load up our crab nets, fishing poles, and tackle boxes. We would make a quick stop at the seafood market on Coleman Ave. in Waveland, MS. She would get the finest fish heads and dead shrimp the manager had and off we went. From there we headed to the sea wall in Lakeshore, MS. She would park the “family truckster,” and unload the crab nets and fishing poles. Mom would sit on the sea wall all day long while we ran the traps and fished. Most of the time we would do well on the crabs, and any fish we caught were followed by a massive celebration. Looking back, she was a real trooper, and very patient. Those days are long gone, but will never be forgotten. Had it not been for her support and unconditional love, I may never have become a fishing guide.
With Mother’s Day right around the corner, we first wanted to say thank you to all the mothers out there. Without these wonderful ladies, many of us may have never discovered the magic and wonder of fishing and the outdoors. We have tracked down a few folks in the outdoor world to get some stories about mothers on the water. There was no particular question I asked them, just, “Tell me about ya mom an dem.”
Enjoy…
Capt. Kenny Shiyou – Goin South Charters – Bay St. Louis, MS:
“My family grew up on the water: fishing, crabbing, shrimping, oystering, you name it. There was one day me, my mom and my dad were fishing off our party barge near Bayou Caddy (MS). We rolled up on a school of diving birds and found the specks and white trout, thick. I was casting a tandem rig and hooking two fish every single cast. I was just casting, hooking fish and passing the rod to my mom. As fast as she could reel, fish were coming off the side. She held out for about 30 minutes of non-stop action but she had enough. She stood up, threw her rod on the deck, and said, ‘stop handing me those damn rods, and bring me home, I am done’. We went straight home.”
Capt. Charlie Thomason – Bayou Charters – Hopedale, LA:
“My wife loves to fish, but she does not get to go as much as she would like. I try and get her and the kids out anytime I can. When she is on the boat though, she switches from mommy to customer. I can’t tell you how many times that I will shut off the engine and she is on the bow casting. I take care of the young ones and she gets to fish, period. It has always been like that and probably always will. My girl just loves to fish, and I am just happy to have her on the boat.”
Al Jones – Outdoor Reporter WLOX News – Biloxi, MS:
“My mom is a trip when she gets on the boat. We were fishing this one time, and we were hammering the big speckled trout. We had the entire floor of the boat covered up in huge trout. It was one of those bites you will always remember, the fish were that big and there were that many of them. She just smiled and said, ‘this is just like catching flathead catfish back at the pond.’ She is just happy to be out fishing, and she always makes me laugh.”
Capt. Steve Perrigin – Strictly Fishin Charters -Ocean Springs, MS:
“My mom loved to fish, she always did. One thing she never liked to do was buy a fishing license. Every time we would go, it was an act of Congress to get that woman to buy a dang 5 dollar fishing license. For years, we never ever got checked and that only made it more difficult to get her to buy one. She worked hard for her money and she never understood why she had to pay to fish. Finally one day we got checked and she actually did have it on her. For once in my life, I was happy for those agents to stop and check my boat. I thought she would buy one every time after that without a fuss, nope, she still fought me every time.”
Capt. Hunter Cabellero – Paradise Outfitters – Venice, LA:
“The first time my mom ever came out on the boat with me was a couple of years ago. I wanted to take her offshore, but it was way too rough. She was already down in Venice, so we went out to Breton Island to catch some trout. We had just gotten to the island and were getting set up on some fish. I was working up on the bow and fell in the water. It was not that rough where we were, it just happened. Never, not once, have I fallen off a boat. My mom flipped out, she was pretty freaked out. We caught a bunch of trout, but she has never been back out with me.”
Chris Morse – Fishing Tackle Designer – Hattiesburg, MS:
“I grew up fishing with my Grandparents, they took me everywhere. We took a trip up to Horn Lake in north Mississippi to do some brim fishing. That lake is known for two things, excellent brim fishing and the number of water moccasins in it. We were fly fishing that day and my grandpa put his fly in a cypress tree. While he was trying to free his fly, a water moccasin fell out of the tree. The snake landed between my grandpa and grandma. Without skipping a beat, my Grandmother yelled to my Grandfather, ‘One of us is getting out of this boat in a pine box and it ain’t gonna be me if you don’t get that snake out of this boat.’ I will never forget her saying that for the rest of my life.”
Ronnie Daniels – Fisherman’s Guide Service – Long Beach, MS:
“What can I tell you? I just got lucky with mine. The first date my wife and I had been on a boat. We named our son Fisher and I even gave her a custom (pink and silver) fishing rod for Mothers Day last year. It even has the names and birthdays of our children on it. She is the best.”
Justin Roland – The Tackle Box (Bait and Tackle store) – Gulfport, MS:
“Man I got my wife to come shrimping with me, that was something. Not only did she wear shrimping boots, they were freakin’ pink! We got a lot of stares that day, but it was awesome. It was actually one of the best catches of shrimp I had ever had. She did fine, those pink boots just caught a few of the old timers off guard I guess.”
To all the momma’s out there, Happy Mother’s Day. Have fun and be safe!
Capt Sonny Schindler
Shore Thing Fishing Charters
Bay St Louis, MS
www.shorethingcharters.com
228-342-2295