Jimmy Rodgers

When I listen to Jimmy Rodgers or Bob Wills And The Texas Playboys, I always think of my Dad and the 1962 Chevrolet pickup that we rode together in. Dad would go to the Colorado River to hand fish and while he was driving he would sing those old songs to me and my brothers. I was in heaven back then. My Dad was my buddy and the person I looked up to. He always could make you laugh. There was always fun times to be had when I was around my Dad. When his brothers Dalton, Gerald, and Son (Francis) were around it was the most fun any person who was male could ever have. Hand fishing is what the the folks in Oklahoma call noodling. When all of Dad's brothers headed for the river it was an all day affair. There were no swim trunks and the wives were not invited. Everyone stripped off their clothes and went in. They always headed for the place with the most rocks because that is where the large yellow cats and blue cats were. I am talking cat fish here, you get me? Dad and his brothers would go under the water and stick their hands up under the large rocks and pull out some large catfish. Afterwards, we would go home and have a large fish fry if the fishing was good.
Of course, hand fishing was dangerous but we would have loads of fun. I know twice it did turn dangerous. Once when my brother got his arm caught under a rock and was not coming up. My uncle and my Dad had to go under the water and pull his arm out where it was stuck up to the elbow. Another time was when my uncle Son went under and grabbed a water moccasin with his hand instead of a fish.