Largemouth Bass (a.k.a. Bigmouth Bass, Black Bass, Bucketmouth Bass, Green Bass, Green Trout). The largemouth bass is one of the most important freshwater game fish in North America. It has dark stripes on its sides, but they disappear as it matures. Young fish have dark lateral bands. Their mouth is large and extends back beyond the eye. Largemouth bass usually weigh less than ten pounds. It spawns in spring from March through May in waters that are sixty to seventy degrees. Large females can lay up to forty thousand eggs. They eat small fish, worms, insects, crawfish, small turtles, and frogs. They strike artificial lures or live bait.
Redeye Bass (a.k.a. River Trout, River Bass, Shoal Bass). The redeye greatly resembles the smallmouth. It is a small bass found in rivers. Redeye bass are up to fourteen inches long and are very common in the Chattooga River. They eat small fish and crawfish. They can be caught on spinners and lures. Many anglers prize them because they are scrappy, colorful, and highly palatable.
Smallmouth Bass (a.k.a. Bronzeback Bass). The smallmouth bass is considered by many to be our greatest freshwater game fish. The color of smallmouth bass is golden bronze-green or brownish green with distinct faint vertical bars on the side of the body. The mouth extends to the pupil of the eye, but not beyond. There are scales on the base of the fins. Smallmouth bass usually weigh less than six pounds. They prefer deeper, cooler waters and are found in clear streams and lakes. They spawn in the spring in waters that are sixty-five to seventy degrees. They feed on minnows, worms, insects, frogs, crawfish, and hellgrammites. Smallmouth bass will strike artificial lures and live bait.
WHITE BASS
The white bass are the true bass family. White bass are found in rivers, but seem to prefer large lakes with relatively clear water. In the spring, they run up rivers and spawn in running water without building nests where the eggs free-float or settle to a gravel bottom.
Striped Bass (a.k.a. Rockfish). The striped bass is colored greenish or brownish on the upper part of the sides, silvery or brassy below, and white on the belly. Seven or eight dark, well-defined stripes run from the back of the gill cover to the base of the tail. Size ranges of ten to twenty-five pounds are common. Good fishing occurs during the spawning run. The bait commonly used is shad.
White Bass (a.k.a. Striped Bass, Silver Bass). This white bass looks like a striped bass but is much smaller. Sizes range up to four pounds. They swim in schools and are often seen chasing shad on the surface of the lake. They will strike minnow lures and spinners.
THE CARP FAMILY
Carp are large minnows. They are golden in color. The goldfish raised in aquariums and ponds are part of this family. The carp family includes over three hundred American species. They can grow to three feet long and over twenty pounds in weight. They are found in lakes and slow streams. Carp are bottom feeders.
THE CATFISH FAMILY
The catfish family contains over one thousand species. They have smooth, scaleless bodies with long barbels around the mouth. Depending on species, catfish can mature at less than a pound but can grow up to 150 pounds. Most catfish live in quiet waters, but some live in moderately fast-running streams. Catfish are scavengers and will eat other fish, frogs, crawfish, insect larvae, crustaceans, clams.
Blue Catfish (a.k.a. Channel Catfish). The blue catfish color is a rather dark bluish gray on the back, which fades into a lighter slate gray on the sides. It has no dark spots. The average size is two to five pounds. Blue catfish weighing twenty pounds are common, and they can grow to over one hundred pounds.
Brown Bullheads (a.k.a. Bullhead, Mudcat). Brown bullheads are light brownish yellow to black-brown in color and are found in slow or stagnant water. The average size is less than a pound, with large brown bullheads reaching four pounds.
Channel Catfish. Channel catfish are considered the sportiest member of the catfish family. They are colored silvery olive or slate blue with round, black spots. Channel catfish have a deeply forked tail and fairly slender body. They can weigh up to three or four pounds and prefer clear moving water. Most of their feeding is at night. They spawn in the spring with an upstream migration.
THE CRAPPIE FAMILY
Black and White Crappie (a.k.a. Bridge Perch, Calico Bass). The crappie is closely related to sunfish and black bass. The two species, black and white, are very similar. They can grow up to sixteen inches long and can weigh over two pounds. Crappies eat small fish, insects, crustaceans, and worms. Jigs may be used in casting for them. They are easily caught in the spring and make excellent pan fish.
THE PERCH FAMILY
Yellow Perch (a.k.a. Ringed Perch, Yellow Bass). Yellow perch are the best-known perch. They are yellowish, and their sides are distinctly barred. Their fins are tinged with red. The average size is less than a pound. They are found in lakes and are a school fish. Spawning occurs in the spring, and the eggs are laid over sand. They eat insects and small fish. They will strike live minnows and artificial lures.
Walleye (a.k.a. Walleyed Bass, Walleyed Pike). Walleye is a large dark perch. They are becoming less common in local lakes. Walleye weigh up to ten pounds and are also very good to eat.
THE PIKE FAMILY
Northern Pike (a.k.a. Pike). The scaling, which covers the entire cheek but only the upper half of the gill, identifies northern pike. They weigh up to thirty-five pounds and can grow to over four feet long. Northern pike are slender with narrow pointed heads and duckbill-shaped mouths.
Chain Pickerel (a.k.a. Jack, Pickerel, Pike). Chain pickerel are much smaller than northern pike, but look almost identical. They grow to a maximum of three feet in length and also have a duckbill-shaped mouth.
THE SUNFISH FAMILY
Sunfish are smaller than bass, generally about eight inches long. They spawn in the spring. Shallow, saucerlike nests are fanned in the sand and gravel. The male guards the nest. There are hundreds of species.
Bluegill (a.k.a. Bream). Bluegills are small fish about as big as your hand. They can be caught in large numbers in our lakes using crickets, worms, and artificial flies.
Redbreast Sunfish (a.k.a. Bream, Shellcracker, Yellowbreast Sunfish). They are the same size as bluegills and are often found in cool rivers.
Warmouth (a.k.a. Goggle-eye, Redeye, Rock Bass). The warmouth looks similar to a bream but has a larger mouth. They live in lakes and streams and are usually found near shorelines. Maximum length is about eleven inches. They will strike almost any bait and are hot good fighters.
THE SUCKER FAMILY (a.k.a. Hog Sucker, Redhorse Sucker, White Sucker)
The sucker is a carplike fish. It is a freshwater fish found in streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes. Suckers spawn in the spring with a definite upstream migration. Their mouth is directed downward rather than forward. They feed on aquatic plants, insects, worms, and mollusks.
THE TROUT FAMILY
Trout are related to salmon but are smaller. Trout are usually found in fresh water. They require clean, cold water to successfully spawn. Wild trout are spawned in the streams. Trout are also raised in hatcheries and are released in suitable fishing waters. The state of Georgia classifies all of the streams in Rabun County as trout streams.
Brook Trout (a.k.a. Brookie, Mountain Trout, Native Trout, Speckled Trout, Speck). Brook trout have light olive-green worm-tracked markings on the upper parts of their body and white on the leading edges of their belly fins. Wild Southern Appalachian brook trout rarely exceed twelve inches in length. Hatchery brook trout can be raised to over sixteen inches in length. Brook trout thrive in water below sixty-five degrees. They spawn in the fall. The female fans a nest with her tail, and when the nest is completed, she spawns with the male. Afterward, she covers the nest with fine gravel. Brook trout eat insects and small fish. The brook trout is actually a member of the char family and is the only trout native to the Southern Appalachians. When they are hatchery-raised, they are called brook trout, and when they are wild, they are called speckled trout.
Brown Trout (a.k.a. German Brown, Speckled Trout). Brown trout ar
e marked with large, lightly bordered red spots. They are brownish in color with a golden yellow belly. Wild brown trout can grow to a length of thirty inches in the Southern Appalachians. They require cold, clean water, especially for spawning. They spawn during the fall in the same way as the brook trout. They eat insects, crawfish, and small fish. The brown trout are native to Europe and were introduced to the Southern Appalachians about a hundred years ago.
Golden Trout. The golden trout, found in some commercial trout ponds in this region, are albino trout. They are the products of a hatchery, and they are not the same as the wild golden trout found in remote areas of the western United States. They are popular in some commercial catch-out ponds because of their unique coloration.
Rainbow Trout (a.k.a. Bow). Rainbow trout have a dark olive back with black spots all over their bodies. They have a broad, red, lateral band extending down the side from the cheek to the tail. Wild rainbow trout in the Southern Appalachian region rarely exceed sixteen inches in length. They spawn from February to April, depending on the water temperature, in the same manner as brook and brown trout. They eat insects and small fish. The rainbow trout is native to the West Coast of North America and was introduced to the Southern Appalachians within the last hundred years.
OTHER FISH
Crawfish (a.k.a. Crawdad, Crayfish). Crawfish are not really a fish, but a crustacean that looks like a miniature lobster. Crawfish make excellent bait for trout, bass, and most game fish.
Eel. An eel is a long slender fish that looks like a snake with a fin on top and bottom. Eels spawn in the ocean and swim up rivers and streams to live. They have sharp teeth, are olive brown in color, and have no scales.
Hornyhead (a.k.a. Knottyhead). This small fish grows up to ten inches long and has little hornlike spikes on its head. This fish is not particularly good to eat and is usually caught by accident when trout fishing. It is the adult member of the chub and minnow families.
Minnows (a.k.a. Dace, Darter, Chub, Shiner, and True Minnow). These are the small fish that live in lakes and streams. They are often used as bait for bass and crappie. They are usually small—less than three inches in length—and are silver in color.
Sculpin (a.k.a. Craw Bottom, Molly Craw Bottom). Sculpin live on the bottom of the creek between rocks and are brown in color. They have a big head and a narrow tail. They are small, with the largest reaching about four inches in length. They make good bait for brown trout.
PERSONALITY PORTRAITS
“It was a happy time to live …”
Imagine rising well before daylight to do the chores around home so that when daybreak came you could begin working in the fields or garden. As Annie Chastain said, “We’d walk in there in the morning and hoe corn ’til the sun’d be just about gone down.” Then you would walk back home, do the evening chores, eat supper, and go to bed shortly after dark. They rarely complained, and, looking back, the majority of them remember it as a happy time in their lives—a time when people were closer to one another, more neighborly. As Lillie Nix says in one of the following sections, “If people loved one another, they wouldn’t want to harm each other, but would want to help each other, like they did back in my childhood days.” The people featured in this personality section grew up in a time when folks were resilient, hardworking, generous, and self-sufficient. They relied on God, the land, and their own industriousness for survival.
They worked from daylight to dark with extremely limited technology, in isolation from the world outside these mountains, and with none of the modern conveniences. As Billy Long said, “I don’t know but what people could get along just as well back then as they do now. Of course, they didn’t have all the utilities and conveniences they have today”
On the following pages, Annie Chastain, Billy Long, and Lillie Nix describe how hard work, family, and faith in God have allowed them to have happy lives. They all describe the differences between then and now and share their wisdom for making the world better by incorporating some of the old ways into our modern-day lives.
—Kaye Carver Collins
ANNIE CHASTAIN
“I Really Love to Work in the Dirt.”
Because this is my last article as a high school senior, I wanted it to be a very memorable experience. With that in mind, I set off one day in 1997 with Jennifer Ramey, another Foxfire student, for Annie Chastain’s house to interview her about the tornado of 1932. She and her husband, Irvin, live in a modest white frame home surrounded by huge hydrangeas, delicate rosebushes, and eye-filling flowers. The minute she opened her front door, two things were very clear: her incredible warmth and goodness. She met us, both of us being complete strangers to her, at the door with warm hugs and friendly welcomes. As we entered her house, she immediately started a conversation with us that eventually led to this article. It was one of the easiest interviews I have ever conducted. Finally, Jenny and I had to leave to get back to class, but both of us hated to go. Once again, as we were leaving, we were both given warm hugs and invited to come back anytime.
A few weeks later, having encountered difficulties with my original topic idea and wanting to go visit Mrs. Chastain, I decided to change the topic and do an article just on her. She is eighty-three years old. Her white hair and a weathered face are a testament to years of hard work, working outside her home in housekeeping, farming, and cooking, while raising her family. Her kindness, love, and spirituality had helped her during adversities. I couldn’t think of anything more memorable than doing an article on such an incredibly sweet woman, a woman whose faith and religion show not only in her words but also in the way she treats others, whether they are strangers or friends. So, a few days after that, I went to her house again for the second interview.
This article is a combination of those two interviews. In it, Mrs. Chastain talks about the years she has spent farming, a tornado she experienced as a teenager, and a little about her Christian faith. I wanted my last article to be a memorable experience, and I can truly say that this one was.
—Lacy Hunter
I’ll just tell you about my farming. I went to the field with my older sister and my daddy when I’s seven years old. And we’s tending a new ground over yonder on Wolffork over there at Jess Tanner’s, a big old field up through there. My sister and daddy, they took me with them to tote water for them. Well, they sat down to rest and eat their dinner, and when they did, I picked up a hoe and started hoeing corn. That just ruirnt [ruined] everything. The next morning, I had to take me a hoe and go to the field and go to hoeing. I hoed from then on. Well, I even hoed some last year—I planted me some beans and hoed them. But back then we’d clear new grounds in the wintertime when it would be sometimes a-sleetin’ and a-snowin’ a little. We’d cut them bushes down and have us a big fire burning in that place. We made some awful good stuff. There wasn’t nothin’ back then to destroy it much like there is now. There wasn’t no bean beetles and things like that. We made good stuff back then in them new grounds. My daddy loved to work new grounds.
PLATE 157 “We made good stuff back then in them new grounds.”—Annie Chastain
We didn’t have no team to plow our crop with, and this here little lady who lived over here in Mountain City I forgot what her name was, but, anyhow, she had this big old steer, you know, and she told my daddy if he wanted to take the steer and feed it for its work, well, he could take the steer and use it to plow with. So he got it. It was so gentle ’til I’d get out and hook that steer up and just plow like everything. They said I kept the garden plowed up into dust nearly, because I liked to plow that thing. It went just like a mule, though; it’d step right on out with you.
We tended a field down on Wolffork. We’d walk down, well, they call it the Billy Branch Road now, but we called it Billy Mountain when we lived there because it was a mountain you had to go up. We would plant corn down in the valley on Wolffork, and we lived up in little Germany at the head of the mountain. We’d walk in there in the morning and hoe corn ’til the sun’d be
just about gone down. Then we’d go back and climb that mountain back home. Since we didn’t have no team, sometimes we’d hoe corn for other people, me and my older brother Eddie and Frances, my sister. We hoed corn for other people to get their team to plow sometimes, you know, when we’s farming. We always made a good garden, and we always had plenty of corn and stuff to do us during the wintertime to make our bread. Always raised us some hogs and had some cattle and had chickens and just a big of farm.
We lived over on Germany then, and that day [when the tornado came on March 24, 1932], it had been the queerest-lookin’, foggiest-lookin’ day, you know, just yallerish-lookin’. One of our neighbors’ boys was a-plowin’ the field for us, and it hadn’t rained or thundered or light-nin’ed or nothin’. That night, my daddy come in from work, and we eat supper and cleaned our table up and sat around a little while. Then they went to bed, my mama and daddy and my younger brothers did, and me and my younger sister that was at home, we was a-sittin’ up a-sangin’. We set up and sung ’til I don’t remember what time o’ the night it was, but it was over ’bout ten or eleven o’clock, I guess, and then we went to bed. Just about the time we went to bed, it started thunderin’; ooh, just sounded like it was rollin’ under the floor, and just a-lightnin’ like that. Oh, it was just a-lightnin’ so fast—just kept the place lit up. And my brother, I had a brother that was real nervous, and he said, “Mama, I can’t go to sleep with this lightnin’ a-comin’ through this winder.” So my mama, she got up and hung a quilt over the winder where he was sleepin’, and she started back to bed, and I remember her saying to my dad, “This here’s the worst storm we’ve ever had.” And it hadn’t got there then, you know, I mean, the bad part of it.
They say it started on Burton Lake, and, buddy, it was comin’—just like freight trains across that mountain. It come right through Germany over there and blowed Mrs. Jim Parker’s kitchen off. They had a kitchen on the porch, and it blowed it away and broke the top of the house. Never blowed it off, but it broke it and blowed his barn away—ever’ bit of his barn. It blowed Eula Parker’s and Gordon Dickerson’s houses off of the pillars.
Foxfire 11: Wild Plant Uses, Gardening, Wit, Wisdom, Recipes, Beekeeping, Toolmaking, Fishing, and More Affairs of Plain Living Page 33