Summer 1957

I was 12 years old that summer and my uncle Sid from Toronto was down with a friend of his, Don. They came down with their fishing tackle and wanted to go fishing for big fish. My grandpa glanced at me and said, you know some good places. I said yes the Quatabahagan rapids, which are 17 miles long and on the Moose River, we could also try the French River and also Doctor’s Creek. My uncle said to my grandfather isn’t he a bit young to go up there with a canoe and motor. Grandfather said you’ll see for yourself to-morrow. The next morning we were on our way at 06:00 hours, nice sunny day and no wind. Blacky wanted to come; he swam about a quarter of a mile after us. He was too big and still clumsy. My grandpa’s canoe was a 20 foot chestnut with a five and half evenrude. The year was a 1950 but in good running condition. As we got into the rapids and looked at the shore line you could see that we were hardly moving up stream. I noticed once in awhile my uncle or his friend would look at me, not saying much. They looked scared. It takes two hours to do the rapids and that’s what it takes. Doctor’s Creek was just ahead. I said to them this is the place for nice pike and pickerel…..I’ll let you know about the fishing in the next episode.