Posted on 12/04/2021 10:47:48 AM PST by mairdie
Another Jack Bell story. This one is about the fishing around Reno, Nevada in 1922. Illustrated with old postcards.
Raised in Chicago, I grew up knowing that fish meant Mrs Paul's fish sticks and that fish smelled, especially the alewives that littered the walks along Lake Michigan. Reading Jack is making me question that just a little bit.
PING to a Jack Bell outdoors story of fishing near Reno
It is a glimpse of Rocky Mountains area 105 years ago with some great, if grainy, illustrations. The difference between then and now, especially from this article, are striking. Thanks for posting!
I’m having tremendous fun trying to understand him from the life he led. It’s hard to imagine standing still long enough to see the world through his eyes. I can better understand the nights he spent writing down his daily notes.
I think that world still exists for many of the Freepers. They’ve chosen places to live where their lives are surrounded with the beauty of nature and the warmth of friends.
When the present that I read about becomes too much, I love retreating into these worlds of the past.
I grew up in SW Michigan more years ago than I care to think about. Dad fished in those waters - and in Canada too. I remember those stinky alewives along the shores of Lake Michigan until the stocking of coho salmon helped to reduce their populations. I also fondly remember eating fresh cooked trout beside a clear Michigan stream and seeing dad's pride when he came home with a pheasant or a deer for us to enjoy.
I scanned the Jack Bell article. It reminds me a bit of the times when my dad was fishing, although it is much earlier. I don't know that the younger generation would have a great interest in the tone of the Bell stories. It comes from a time when game was abundant and men fished and hunted for sport and for food in a way that few men do anymore. Many younger people would be horrified at the thought of killing fish, birds, or other animals and tend to enjoy nature in a 'leave no trace' manner. Taking pictures, making sketches, or otherwise enjoying the beauty and abundance take precedence over the pursuits of 100 years ago. Those of us who grew up between those times may take an interest, but I think it's of mixed appeal.
It is really shocking how fast things can change. What used to be basic survival skills are now reviled by large chunks of the population. When we were youngsters, I remember reading about how the passenger pigeon was hunted to extinction just for sport. I think many young people today look upon hunting and fishing pretty much in the same way. There are certainly people who continue to hunt and fish, but many of them use technology in a way that doesn't resonate with those of us who grew up with it as a deep skill. I don't like the high-tech approach of tournament bass fishing and consider it unsporting. I'm not opposed to hunting or fishing, but unless it's a matter of survival, I don't like to see high-tech tools that make it next to impossible for the wild creature to evade the hunter. Times change and so do our sensibilities.
A very reasoned approach to the issue. Excellent to read.
I didn’t remember that the coho were used to control the alewives. Interesting.
Jack’s ‘leave no trace’ approach in his prospecting camps he attributed to his army training.
Jack certainly did survival hunting, but he also did specimen hunting. When he saw a species he didn’t recognize, he tried hard to get one. He also blew up magpie flocks to protect the burros that the magpies would injure and sometimes kill. I had a lot of trouble with that one.
Fish he seems to have put in another category as the papers were always writing articles about the fish Jack stuffed, brought in to the newspaper offices, or froze in blocks of ice to send to friends.
What a great story Jack Bell wrote about.
Hugs!!!!!
The construction of the St Lawrence Seaway permitted sea lamprey to migrate into Lake Michigan. It must have adapted to fresh water. There are lamprey in Lake Champlain as well.
Sea lamprey attached themselves to lake trout and weakened or killed them through their parasitic feeding.
The population of alewives exploded as their predator lake trout diminished in number. Alewives didn't have enough to eat, died in large numbers and stank up the shorelines.
Coho salmon were introduced to eat alewives and to provide sport fishing that was lost when the lake trout declined.
Lamprey were treated with lampricide that was applied periodically to key locations - I think near the Mackinac bridge.
Gradually a new balance was established and the stinky shorelines passed into history.
It’s coming back to me, thanks to your fine memory. I think we left Chicago around the time the coho were introduced. I still remember my horror at walking near the Shedd Aquarium and Planetarium with the walkways littered with the horrible, dead creatures. Actually, I will now try to go back to forgetting that time. Mrs. Paul’s fish sticks were a much preferable memory.
I actually still miss so many things in Chicago, but doubt I’ll ever go back again. And insult of insults, the Art Institute sold my absolute favorite painting!!!!!!
Chicago was the destination of a field trip we took in middle school. I think we went to the Shedd Aquarium. Good times. I was in Chicago a few years ago and I was glad to be in a large group.
My grammar school class wanted to revisit the school for the 50th anniversary and I heard they went in a bus with a police escort. The only thing I read about it now are the murders in the playground.
Ah, Shedd! I remember almost falling in the lake from the ice collecting on the walk around it from draining water. I worked for a while at the Adler Planetarium, just down Achsah Bond Drive. Wild wind as we’d leave the building. Once got locked in and all I could think about were the teasing stories about the footsteps of the ghost of William Herschel.
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