Life was not easy for a young bass fisherman in West Virginia in the 1950’s. First, there weren’t that many ponds and lakes. This was limestone country where water typically slithers through the soil and rocks and ends up 100 feet below the surface. The winters were cold back then so the growing season for warm water fish was short and sweet. I had been fishing now for 8 years and had nothing to show for it but maybe one or two 10-inch bass.
Dr. Wolfe, a prominent dentist in Lewisburg had a pond back in the woods on his property that held both water and some nice sized bass. He gave us permission and I fished there whenever Daddy would take me. But try as I may, I couldn’t talk one of the big ones into biting.
Then, a miracle happened. I discovered rubber worms. They were brand new on the market as it took a while to get any new rubber or plastic things on the market following the restrictions of the war effort. But I saw an artificial worm in my Uncle Fred’s convenience store in Hillsboro, NC. It was a 6-inch, red rubber worm with a spinner in front and three hooks extending from the body. I think it was 89c, but I dug deep into my allowance money, bought it and took it home. The bass in Wolfe’s pond had never seen such as this and my confidence was sky high. I tossed the worm out and immediately caught bass, landing a couple over 10-inches. I was excited but not nearly as much as I would be a few minutes later when a 15-1/2-inch bass grabbed my worm just as I was about to pull it out of the water. The fight was brief but spirited as I drug the lunker up on the bank. I was ecstatic and raced back to tell Mrs. Wolfe about my catch. I called my mom to come get me and see what I has caught. At home, I admired my catch as it lay in the kitchen sink and kept pinching myself to see if this was really true.
I have caught lots of bass since then, some much, much larger, but none has delivered the sheer joy and elation of that first nice bass in Dr.Wolfe’s pond.
