Soups fishing hole

 When you grow up in the Osage you learn about where to go fishing.  Larry and I fished mostly about 1/4 mile behind the house on Beaver Creek.  We would sein for minnows in the creek or grab some liver out of the freezer and head out.  Interesting enough we never brought water or food, and mom never seemed to worry about us.  She always said, "when they get hungry, they will come home".  

Now if you walk about another half mile west and a little south there was a deep water hole called Soups fishing hole.  Now Soup Wade was his name, and his wife was Letha and she was a schoolteacher in Shidler, and I don't know what Soup ever did besides tell stories.  Letha was a full blood Osage and sweet to me, always.  Just past Soups fishing hole was a beaver damn, and it was fun to watch the beavers working.  It was a great hole, and I caught many a bass there.  My brother Larry always caught more than me.  He fished with a fancy real and mine was an inexpensive Zebco (manufactured in Tulsa).  One time I caught but not landed the biggest bass ever.  I am guessing it was well over 5 lbs. and maybe up to 8.  The other outstanding thing I caught one time was a rod and reel, yep, a rod and reel.

I have to admit that if the fishing was not going well, we would start shooting turtles with a 22 rifle.  One   of the best times shooting was David Goldenberg (my second most favorite Jewish boy) was with me and he had never shot a gun.  He grew up in Queens, New York.  I guess they did not live on a creek.  

He was also surprised when he saw mom's crocks full of cucumbers turning into pickles.  He had not given much thought to cucumbers make pickles.  He was also surprised that I did not know what a bagel was.  He also was surprised that I was not aware he was Jewish.  I told him that where I came from, we just had three types of folks, black and white and red.  It was strange to me that I never really cared what color a person was.  

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• everyone likes to fish
• not everyone has a creek 
• the color of the skin or the ethnicity of a person does not make the man
• character is what makes a man

Thanks for listening,

gary

golson21@hotmail.com