Fishing Under the Bridge
By: Hubert Crowell
The two of us sat there for hours, talking and watching our corks. The night was quiet with an occasional car passing over the bridge above. Crappie fishing is best at night with a Coleman light out over the water to attract bugs. As the bugs hit the water minnows start to swim around the light and then deeper the large crappie come after the minnows. On a good night fifteen or twenty would be considered a good catch and great eating with a sweet unique taste that only crappie have.
However many nights we sat and talked until daylight catching only a few crappie and then if we were not careful a snake or turtle would eat our catch right off the string.
The reason for these all nighters were not for the fish, although it made it worthwhile, the real reason we spent the night under the bridge was to catch up on each other lives. We both got caught up in our jobs and raising a family and did not see much of each other, so about once or twice a year we would plan a fishing trip under the bridge.
Friends
Dave and I met in Bradenton Florida in the 60's and shared an apartment over a garage in town. I had gotten my discharge from the Army the year before and returned to Florida to be near my parents who lived in Sebring. After a short homecoming I moved to Bradenton to look for work and a school to attend.
I worked at the time just around the corner at Bud Diemer's Gulf Service Station on Manatee Ave. In West Bradenton. Dave worked as a shoe salesman in a local department store. We were both looking for an inexpensive place to live. I don't remember exactly how we met, it may have been that he had the apartment already and as I followed up on an ad the landlady introduced us.
Dave was a good cook and I tried to keep things picked up so it worked out well. I believe that I took the couch and Dave had the bed. Later on I got a job at night, so I would sleep during the day and Dave had the apartment at night.
We shared a lot about each other, dated and drove around town in the evenings. I had been warned about Bradenton, watch out for the women! They told me that when you go to Bradenton you will end up married.
A&W Root Beer Stand
One of our hangouts was the A & W Root Beer stand on the Tamiami Trail just south of town. We would park, talk and exchange phone numbers with girls that were doing the same. One evening we met two girls in a convertible, and the four of us exchanged phone numbers. They were just out of high school and attending the local beauty school. We debated which number each would take, and we later found out that they did the same. Dave called Jean and I called Kathy. Lots of times girls will not give you the right phone numbers, but this time it worked out.
I met Kathy, her mother and sister and we dated almost a year. Kathy's mother worked at the time for the Eli Witt Cigar Co., in town and felt that someone dating her daughter needed a better job. She got me on as a driver making the rounds through Sarasoto, Bradenton and the Islands. After our dates I would go in and watch TV with Mom long after Kathy retired for the night.
Dave dated Jean and there was a lot of discussion about who would marry first. Kathy and Jean were comparing notes, but I don't believe Dave and I talked much about our dating. I proposed first, but Jean and Dave were married first. Kathy and I were married on December 16, 1961 after less than a year.
Moving
In August of 62 we moved to New Jersey, Kathy had relatives there and I wanted to get into electronics. After three jobs with the last gaining some electronic experience, the plant closed for two week and everyone took vacation. I had not worked long enough to qualify for vacation pay, so we packed a U-Haul trailer and headed for Georgia. Dave and Jean had moved to Georgia and Dave was now working at Lockheed were I also hoped to get a job. We arrived in Georgia June of 63 and moved in with Jean and Dave just north of Acworth in a small three room house. It was close to Lake Allatoona and we went swimming and fishing in the evenings and I looked for work during the day. I do not recall how long we stayed with them, maybe three months, it was cramped but we had fun. We then purchased a small house in Smyrna, Dave and Jean later moved into a subdivision in North East Marietta. Several years later we also moved to North East Marietta about two miles from them.
It was during these years that Dave and I would get together and go fishing under the bridge and catch up on each others lives.
We currently live in the same house, Dave and Jean moved back to Florida and we somehow lost contact. I miss those nights under the bridge and never got into fishing a lot. Dave has now retired on a Florida lake and still fishes.
They say we only have about seven close friends in a lifetime and I am proud to count Dave Owens as one of my close friends. I want to thank Jean and Dave for sharing their home with us when we were young and for being there when I needed to talk.
We are back in touch again on Facebook and who knows, we may even find a bridge somewhere and go fishing all night again.
Follow up Comments:
From Dave Ownens,
Hubert, enjoyed your story of our early years together, brings back so many memories. Life was hard in that little house near the lake, especially for Jean as we had 2 young kids and not much heating system and those Winters were so cold. Jean put up with so much in those early years as I'm sure Kathy did. Those hard years form a bond that so many couples today never experience. What are the chances of two friends meeting two friends the same night and remain married approaching 50 years. Now days odds of any one couples marriage lasting 50 years is not all that great. Still those were some of the happiest times. We certainly have a great appreciation of the things we now have and what an easy but simple life we now enjoy.
You and Kathy certainly have accomplished a lot and been successful in lifes endeavors. We are both proud of you guys and look forward to getting together again. Maybe under a bridge with a fishing pole.
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