The largemouth bass an angler proudly displayed was a dandy, all right. So was his shirt.
That's the way it was Sept. 18 with our story about catching schooling bass at that magic hour between first light and sunrise. One of the photos showed ace angler Dwayne Culmer holding one of the black bass he caught that morning. His shirt brought chuckles to some of our readers.
Dwayne's shirt reads: Give a man a fish and he has food for a day. Teach a man to fish and he has to buy bamboo rods, graphite reels, monofilament lines, waders, creels, tackle boxes, lures, fish finders..."
And so on down the line. The print gets smaller until a tackle store of gadgets are listed on his T- shirt.
So funny, but so true. One reader emailed to say it's the same with bird watching. A similar shirt, he said, could start with binoculars.
Such as: "Teach a man to bird watch and he has to buy binoculars, field guides, spotting scopes, tripods, khaki vests, waterproof boots, Gore-Tex rain gear, polarized sunglasses, hats, plane tickets for birding trips in foreign countries... etc."
A magnet on my refrigerator puts a different spin on the fishing theme, probably written by an angler's wife.
"Give a man a fish and he has food for a day. Teach a man to fish and you can get rid of him for the weekend."
In the world of outdoor pursuits, duck hunting may be the most gear intensive. Hiking may be the least.
Teach a newbie to hunt ducks, and she'll start buying shotguns, decoys, duck calls, waders, boats, shells, a couple of Mojo Mallards, retriever dogs with accompanying vet bills, and an entire wardrobe of camouflage shirts, coveralls, jackets, parkas and gloves. All Gore-Tex, of course.
Then there's hiking. All hikers really need is their own two feet, if one hikes barefoot. If not, shoes are on the gear list. Any pair will do for a short jaunt. Hikes measured in miles are worth an investment is some shoes made for the trail.
Hikers can spend next to nothing, or max out a credit card on footwear, hiking staffs, day packs, water bottles, trail guidebooks, socks, and wicking underwear. And that's just for day hiking.
Backpacking? We won't even go there.
The amount of gear one owns is directly proportionate to the number of outdoor activities he or she enjoys. Just looking around the living room here at the shack-ri-la I see fishing rods, bicycles, cameras, canoe paddle, kayak paddle, kayak skirt, bow, arrows, a mounted striped bass on one wall, an 8-point buck on another, plus a guitar for campfire singing. And it's a tiny living room.
Introduce a loved one to the joys of the outdoors, and you'll do your part to keep our economy booming.
Flip Putthoff can be reached at fputthoff@nwadg.com
Sports on 10/23/2018