Trout season was in full swing. There was this place that I fished a lot. It was known as Suckers Hole. Everybody that fished knew about it. The stream went from a four-acre pond that flowed over a dam that made a honey hole on the other side of the culvert. The water that ran over the dam made a nice honey hole loaded with trout. The one problem, it was owned by an old guy that would warn you to get off his property or he would shoot you with rock salt. When the cops would come it was a sticky situation. The cop told us the old man owned the land but not the water. The answer was simple — get a canoe — this way we weren’t on his property.

The time came to take a chance; it was time to buy a pair of chest waders. I had seen several fishermen use them to get under the culvert to the dam side. I was told by a fishermen as long as you don’t make any noise the old man wouldn’t come out of his house and check to see if anyone was fishing on his land. Sometime the old man had been drinking and he would yell to get off his property or he would shoot his shotgun loaded with rock salt.

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