This is my post for #freewriters 2849 prompt the other counter hosted by @mariannewest
We built this boat in 1986, and someone we knew took pictures of us going out the inlet with our gillnet. Back then, we could use nets within 3 miles of the beach. The fish we caught in the ocean were migratory, so once they were gone and the trout were closed in the river, we fished up the creek. You could not have a gillnet on your boat up there, it was a cast net only. Trout and Goats are the only fish that live here year round, they are fish we could sell.
When we first started cast netting up the creek, we borrowed a pair of 10 foot oars from the fish house, and I rowed the boat in the picture while my husband cast netted.
When it gets cold in the winter, a fish called a goat will get into the deep holes up the south fork of the creek, and in the spring, they spawn, and we catch them in the north fork. I do not know why they changed forks to spawn.
We also caught shiners with the goats, but never caught them spawning. We made enough money to buy a trolling motor and I no longer had to row the boat. It wasn't bad on me until the wind got up, so the trolling motor was so nice.
One year, I went on vacation when the goats spawned, and my husband got his sister to run the trolling motor for him. She counted the goats he caught.
When I came back, he wanted me to count the goats. I told him I was not counting fish! He said, "Debbie counts them for me". If he wanted his fish counted, he should have kept the other counter because this one refuses to do it, and I never did count them. photos are mine