AN UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER
The summer I'm thinking of was in the late 1950s. The fishermen of Princeton were catching few fish in the "berths" that had been discovered by fishermen long, long before our time, to be the best areas in the bay to catch the fish.<br /> <br /> Dad felt that the fish were in shallower waters this year because they were feeding on caplin close to the shore. So, going against the advice of the older fishermen, he decided to move his cod trap closer to the shore.<br /> <br /> The spot he chose was just out from a white cliff on the shore called The Scrape, and never had a trap been set there before, that anyone could remember. In fact, some of the older fishermen, including, I believe, his own father told him, "Llew bye, you're not going to catch anything there; you're just going to wreck your net from the sharp rocky bottom." <br /> Well, Dad was right, and for a few weeks to follow we would load our 40-foot boat twice a day.<br /> <br /> Usually we had to go further out the bay, passing Southern Bay head, to catch the fish, but this summer we were just across the bay from our house; we'd be back at our wharf in twenty or thirty minutes. <br /> <br /> Even so, there were times when we travelled several miles out. Then we'd often spend the night or two in a beautiful secluded cove called Cottis's Hole, where our family and others had a wharf and facilities to clean and salt away our fish, also a log cabin where we cooked and slept.<br /> <br /> When I was growing up, every summer our family fished on the waters of Bonavista Bay, but this one particular summer is truly unforgettable for me. <br /> <br /> PHOTO CAPTION:<br /> Dad and I loading our boat with cod fish and looking very pleased he didn't listen to the older fishermen. In the meantime, my brother Leaman is out of sight in the punt, holding up the net on the outside so the fish wouldn't escape, while taking our picture. Submitted By: Hayward Prince
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