SOLD
11 x 14
Oil on Linen Board
A few years ago on a warm March Saturday morning, a few friends and I had emptied our white perch baskets and were heading down the Roanoke to Frank Taylor's fish shack - an old gray cypress siding shanty with a rusty tin roof that sits on pilings right on the bank of the river. Its porch, also supported by pilings in the river, connects to a crooked sinking catwalk that extends several yards further out into the river and "t's" at the end where a homemade fish scale'r is secured to two four by four's and two round pilings in the river. A homemade fish scale'r consists of a metal drum barrel with a hundred or so punched holes and a door cut and hinged back on in the middle. With a metal shaft going through the top and bottom, the barrel is secured to a metal frame horizontally with bearings so it can turn freely. Bolted to one end of the shaft is a metal sprocket and a chain attached to an old lawnmower gear box and electric motor that are secured to the metal frame as well. When the chord of the motor is plugged in to an outlet the chain turns the sprocket, and the barrel will then spin and scale hundreds of fish placed inside of it with its indented holes.
We had a pile of fish that morning, so we pulled up to Frank's to scale them all at once. On the bank were some men fishing for rock with hook and line. Already well into an 18 pack and some even holding a mixed drink, these old fellows had learned over the years that even on land it was best to always wear your life jacket if you were going to tear into it like that all day.
This morning I drove down to the end of King St. in Windsor where some early risers were set up on the bank of the Cashie casting for Shad that make an annual spawning run here this time of year. Right at the point behind the old Todd's Bait Shop was an old veteran of the Roanoke it appeared as he sat down at the end of the bank with life jacket on.
