| A guy from New York |
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| Written by Ken W | |
 Back in the mid-60's, when I was a year or two out of high school, I ran with a guy from New York state that I'd graduated with. Frank Regerro and I were constant companions, spending all of our free time fishing and/or hunting during the day, and double dating at night, with the girls that we both eventually married. I had been fishing for years before meeting Frank, but he's the one I credit with teaching me to hunt.
In those days, we spent most of our fishing time on a decent-sized farm pond near Mitchellville, MD. Jimmy Allen owned the farm, and we had carte blanche to fish and hunt whenever we chose. The pond was only 6 ft at the deepest point, but it boasted plenty of cover. There was an old wooden rowboat on the bank which we used regularly. About the only other fisherman we ever encountered was an older man who always fished from a kayak. He'd launch the kayak and head straight for the lilypad field on the back side of the small island in the middle of the pond, and we wouldn't see him again until he was ready to quit. As I recall, most days he came out with a decent stringer of bass. On a cold, blustery March 30th, along about '64, Frank and I hit the pond, and had it all to ourself. It had been a tough winter, but we had cabin fever so bad that we decided to give it a try, even if we were rushing the season a bit. Armed with a supply of 3" minnows and bobbers, we launched the old boat. When we beached it again, a few hours later, we had a stringer of very nice black crappie, several of which measured 18". We could have gotten citations for many of them, but didn't know that 'til we'd already eaten them.I've been a fairly serious crappie fisherman even since those days, although the only time I've encountered crappie in that size range, in any numbers, was during a trip to Kentucky Lake a couple years ago, when our guide put us into several schools of white crappie. Frank's gone now, struck down by a brain tumor in his mid-50's. Allen's Pond is still there, though it's now owned by the state, which 'improved' it to the point that it isn't worth fishing anymore, and I now live a couple hours north of the area, and have no real reason to go back. I spend most of my fishing time chasing black crappie in the local community ponds, and try them from my newly-acquired boat whenever I get the chance. Once in a while, I'll land a 15 incher (the largest I've caught in MD waters since that day so long ago), which I release, and I always think about the hours that Frank and I spent on the water together. I still miss him. Ken W "Papermouth44" |
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