First, let me put things in perspective - it's the mid 1970's ... my fishing buddy, Kenny, is about 5'6" tall - full beard & shoulder length (straight) reddish brown hair - stocky, muscular build of around 160lbs. I'm about 6'2" tall - full beard & shoulder length (wavy) black hair - 135lbs soaking wet.
We leave home with just enough money to buy gas to and from Douglas Lake, Tn - 3day license's each - a few dozen minnows - and enough snack cakes & soda's to last us the weekend. We tent camped in a "pup tent" (which is "just" big enough for a small "pup" - barely 5ft deep by 4ft wide). We're out on the lake in his fathers 14' aluminum boat/35hp motor - Crappie fishing. Down the lake comes two "locals" in their jon boat, passing about 30yds in front of us. The guy in the front of the boat, sitting facing the driver, lets out a loud --- "Gawwwdang - did you see that ? ...What the hell was that?? As they passed on and out of earshot of us - Kenny & I look at each other and, after a couple of seconds of revelation, & realizing it was us the guy was referring to .....we cracked up. After all the snickering & laughing & repeating of the man's statement of "amazement" (or concern ? ) had subsided, we got back to the serious business of fishing. After about another hour or so ... low & behold, here comes the Game Wardens. They pull up alongside - one was in his late 40's to early 50's & wearing those "trooper" type sunglasses (the big, mirror lense type) -- the other looked to be in his early to mid 30's, at most. We're digging into our wallets to get our licenses out, & hand them to the younger Officer, and pull up our stringer to show them what we had caught. Meanwhile, the other Officer is pointing towards our fishing rods & slowly counting ... one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight .... 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 .... (and again) 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. Officer Sunglasses looks at Kenny & asks - "How many fishing poles you got there, anyway" ?? Kenny points at each pole, as he counts off - one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight !! (I start wondering what they feed people in Tenn. jails) Officer Sunglasses states to us - "Did you know that you were only allowed to use 3 poles each in Tenn ??" I quickly answer - "No sir, we didn't" (before my ex-Marine MP friend could make any "fatal" remarks of his own). Officer Sunglasses then says - "Well, since you boys ain't catching 'em all ... I'll just let you off with a warning". We thanked the nice officers, and they motored on down the lake. After a few sighs of relief ... we started pointing & counting our poles, again..... and the laughing & chuckling started all over.
True story ... and only one of many "adventures" that my friend & I would get into, over the years. ..................... cp