August 22 2007, TriCentennial State Park, Detroit, MI
After days of rain here the sun is finally showing on an after-lunch Wednesday. This beautiful park, with harbor and boat slips and performance space and lighthouse, is on the Detroit River which stretches more than a mile across to Canada. The water is blue – a milky blue – and clear and aclutter with grasses that have been blown by a continued 20-mile wind. But this little harbor – a couple of acres – is protected and this is where I now wet my first Michigan line.
After absolutely no luck with a Senko, a Rat-L-Trap and finesse worms I approach one of the few other anglers and ask for advice. His name is Larry Beale, and he’s just now getting back into fishing after four years of being too busy. This is 5th or 6th time fishing here. He’s throwing a little Rapala bait, but he says his favorite is a black/chrome Rat-L-Trap. He recently caught a two-pound bass on it and lost a huge pike – both right here in this harbor.
Larry was born in 1953 in Birmingham, Alabama. Who taught him to fish? “Myself,” he says. “I used to see neighbors come and go fishing. My father didn’t like it. He said if he wanted some fish he could buy them at the store. He didn’t have anything against fishing, he just didn’t do it.”
Larry continues to cast his closed-face reel as he talks. He casts along the shoreline rocks and out towards the boat slips, winding the lure with a steady retrieve. He’s a carpenter – went to school for it. “I’m a rough and finisher,” he replies to my question. “Do you know what that is?” I don’t respond. “Do you even know anything about carpentry?” I don’t.
“That means I can build a structure and also finish it,” he explains. “I can also make cabinets. Carpentry is my true love. Fishing is a pastime.”
Earlier I switched to a Roboworm and hung and lost one small largemouth. I’m told that this water also holds smallmouths and walleye. Now I’m casting a Lucky Craft Pointer and I hang and land a largemouth – perhaps 11 or 12 inches. Larry takes a look at my lure and asks if it floats and dives too. It does.
I ask him what his favorite thing about fishing is. “Catching them,” he says after a lot of thought. “The thrill,” he begins again, then pauses again, “how you just caught that one.” He thinks more. “That’s what fascinates me.”
He tells me about the big pike he hung and lost recently. “Just like I lost that big pike; I thought about it all night long.”
Larry moved here from Alabama because of love. He fell in love and married a woman from Detroit. He’s been here for 30 years.
I ask him if he can identify a memorable day of fishing. “It was the day I caught my biggest bass – 8 pounds. Caught it on a Rat-L-Trap. Fell in love with it then and been using it ever since.” He tells me about how another angler had to help land it with his net. “One guy offered me $35 for the bass. But I didn’t want to sell it. I gave it to a friend.”
Larry volunteers that he doesn’t eat the fish he catches. “I just like catching them.” He agrees that any he would catch would be fresher than he could buy from a fish market. “Fish market fish are liable to be older than me and you,” he confirms.
I ask him about carpentry. What’s his favorite wood? “Oak,” he says first. Then, “No, I love it all – Poplar, Maple, all of it.” What wood would he use if he were commissioned to make a special cabinet? “I’d use whatever they want. Oak could be used. Maple makes a beautiful cabinet. Or mahogany.”
What has been his most difficult project? “Now this may sound funny,” he says as he turns away from his fishing rod and looks at me. “I once had to hang a 10-foot door that weighed over 500 pounds. 10 feet by 40 inches. It was for an old church, and there were two of them. I had to pay a guy $100 just to help put it on the hinges.” Larry shakes his head as he remembers it. “I gave him $100. I did.”
He keeps casting and winding, but no bites. I’m hoping for a big one for the camera. Later I will catch two more largemouths on the Pointer, and Larry will catch a small perch. But no big ones.
Any type of wood he doesn’t like? “I don’t like sheet wood. Real inexpensive wood. I don’t like working with it. You can’t guarantee it.”
I ask about his tools – how much would it cost to replace them? “$10,000,” he responds quickly, “that is, in the shape they’re in. Maybe $15,000.” I ask if he owns any antique tools. “I did. They got stolen,” he replies abruptly. Nothing more.
He turns his back towards me and casts a few times in the opposite direction. I wait. Then in a few minutes he continues. “That’s something I despise, a thief!” He casts a few more times. “Want something from me, ask me.” Another cast. “I’m a very giving person. If I can help you out I will.” He doesn’t say more. I drop the subject.
A favorite tool? “I like a laminate router – trimming. In fact I was cleaning those this morning.” A favorite hand tool? “Cross-cut saw.”
Larry is like me in that he doesn’t take many breaks from fishing. He casts and casts and casts – obviously always hopeful that the next cast . . . I can’t remember my exact question, but his response was, “I always wanted to be a drummer.” He turns to me and smiles. “But I never learned. One day I’m going to buy some drums and I’m going to soundproof my basement so I won’t have a problem bothering my neighbors.”
I can tell that he’s a contemplative person, so I ask him if he cares to offer any words to live by: “Treat people as you want to be treated.” He pauses and then repeats it. And then concludes, “And I mean that.”
After days of rain here the sun is finally showing on an after-lunch Wednesday. This beautiful park, with harbor and boat slips and performance space and lighthouse, is on the Detroit River which stretches more than a mile across to Canada. The water is blue – a milky blue – and clear and aclutter with grasses that have been blown by a continued 20-mile wind. But this little harbor – a couple of acres – is protected and this is where I now wet my first Michigan line.
After absolutely no luck with a Senko, a Rat-L-Trap and finesse worms I approach one of the few other anglers and ask for advice. His name is Larry Beale, and he’s just now getting back into fishing after four years of being too busy. This is 5th or 6th time fishing here. He’s throwing a little Rapala bait, but he says his favorite is a black/chrome Rat-L-Trap. He recently caught a two-pound bass on it and lost a huge pike – both right here in this harbor.
Larry was born in 1953 in Birmingham, Alabama. Who taught him to fish? “Myself,” he says. “I used to see neighbors come and go fishing. My father didn’t like it. He said if he wanted some fish he could buy them at the store. He didn’t have anything against fishing, he just didn’t do it.”
Larry continues to cast his closed-face reel as he talks. He casts along the shoreline rocks and out towards the boat slips, winding the lure with a steady retrieve. He’s a carpenter – went to school for it. “I’m a rough and finisher,” he replies to my question. “Do you know what that is?” I don’t respond. “Do you even know anything about carpentry?” I don’t.
“That means I can build a structure and also finish it,” he explains. “I can also make cabinets. Carpentry is my true love. Fishing is a pastime.”Earlier I switched to a Roboworm and hung and lost one small largemouth. I’m told that this water also holds smallmouths and walleye. Now I’m casting a Lucky Craft Pointer and I hang and land a largemouth – perhaps 11 or 12 inches. Larry takes a look at my lure and asks if it floats and dives too. It does.
I ask him what his favorite thing about fishing is. “Catching them,” he says after a lot of thought. “The thrill,” he begins again, then pauses again, “how you just caught that one.” He thinks more. “That’s what fascinates me.”
He tells me about the big pike he hung and lost recently. “Just like I lost that big pike; I thought about it all night long.”
Larry moved here from Alabama because of love. He fell in love and married a woman from Detroit. He’s been here for 30 years.
I ask him if he can identify a memorable day of fishing. “It was the day I caught my biggest bass – 8 pounds. Caught it on a Rat-L-Trap. Fell in love with it then and been using it ever since.” He tells me about how another angler had to help land it with his net. “One guy offered me $35 for the bass. But I didn’t want to sell it. I gave it to a friend.”
Larry volunteers that he doesn’t eat the fish he catches. “I just like catching them.” He agrees that any he would catch would be fresher than he could buy from a fish market. “Fish market fish are liable to be older than me and you,” he confirms.
I ask him about carpentry. What’s his favorite wood? “Oak,” he says first. Then, “No, I love it all – Poplar, Maple, all of it.” What wood would he use if he were commissioned to make a special cabinet? “I’d use whatever they want. Oak could be used. Maple makes a beautiful cabinet. Or mahogany.”
What has been his most difficult project? “Now this may sound funny,” he says as he turns away from his fishing rod and looks at me. “I once had to hang a 10-foot door that weighed over 500 pounds. 10 feet by 40 inches. It was for an old church, and there were two of them. I had to pay a guy $100 just to help put it on the hinges.” Larry shakes his head as he remembers it. “I gave him $100. I did.”
He keeps casting and winding, but no bites. I’m hoping for a big one for the camera. Later I will catch two more largemouths on the Pointer, and Larry will catch a small perch. But no big ones.
Any type of wood he doesn’t like? “I don’t like sheet wood. Real inexpensive wood. I don’t like working with it. You can’t guarantee it.”
I ask about his tools – how much would it cost to replace them? “$10,000,” he responds quickly, “that is, in the shape they’re in. Maybe $15,000.” I ask if he owns any antique tools. “I did. They got stolen,” he replies abruptly. Nothing more.
He turns his back towards me and casts a few times in the opposite direction. I wait. Then in a few minutes he continues. “That’s something I despise, a thief!” He casts a few more times. “Want something from me, ask me.” Another cast. “I’m a very giving person. If I can help you out I will.” He doesn’t say more. I drop the subject.
A favorite tool? “I like a laminate router – trimming. In fact I was cleaning those this morning.” A favorite hand tool? “Cross-cut saw.”
Larry is like me in that he doesn’t take many breaks from fishing. He casts and casts and casts – obviously always hopeful that the next cast . . . I can’t remember my exact question, but his response was, “I always wanted to be a drummer.” He turns to me and smiles. “But I never learned. One day I’m going to buy some drums and I’m going to soundproof my basement so I won’t have a problem bothering my neighbors.”
I can tell that he’s a contemplative person, so I ask him if he cares to offer any words to live by: “Treat people as you want to be treated.” He pauses and then repeats it. And then concludes, “And I mean that.”
Photo: Larry Beale at Detroit's TriCentennial Park
