Memories of the Bogue Chitto River: A Fish Story

The Bogue Chitto River begins at Brookhaven, Mississippi and flows into the Pearl River below Bogalusa, Louisiana. The Choctaw Indians called the river,"bok chito", which roughly translated means “big creek.” To pronounce the river's name correctly, it would sound like " bow-guh chit-uh". 

When we were growing up, hot summer days were spent swimming in the cool waters of the Bogue Chitto River.  Fishing, tubing or canoeing down the river were, and still are, favorite recreational events for anyone living in the area.

As a child, some of my favorite stories were of happenings on the Bogue Chitto. My grandparents lived in a sharecroppers house, beside the Bogue Chitto at Walker's Bridge, during the years after the Great Depression.  I heard the stories of having relief vouchers for sugar, coffee, and gasoline because these items were rationed. Living next to the river, they didn't go hungry because they always had fish to eat. 

My Grandpa talked about going fishing in a boat, in the middle of the river, and how a monster in the water had tried to turn their boat over.  Maybe it was an alligator, but the thought that a giant fish could be in the water was beyond my young mind's wildest imagination. 

Now, I know that the monster was probably a giant catfish.  The bigger the water that they are in, the bigger they grow.  I learned this a few years ago when a son-in-law caught "a monster" of a catfish in a local pond in the area. When he held the fish up to his chin, it still touched the ground.

My Uncle Sherman loved to fish and I, always, loved the story of him and his sons going fishing in the Bogue Chitto River.  It seems that Uncle Sherman liked fish, but didn't like the idea of sitting on a river bank all day waiting to catch them.  He preferred to "call"  them all up to the top of the water and pick them up.  In other words, Uncle Sherman was "telephoning"  the fish.

Before the dial telephones came along, they had the crank telephones.  The crank phones, when cranked in water, produced enough of an electric charge to stun the fish. The fish would float to the top of the water, and they would pick them up out of the water.  This is illegal and if caught you pay a hefty fine for "telephoning."

I don't know if getting caught would have stopped Uncle Sherman or not, but I do know what did.  I don't know if he was drinking that day, or just poor judgement on his part made him decide that he would go out in the Bogue Chitto in a galvanized wash tub and "telephone" the fish. But, I imagine he got the shock of his life along with the fish when he cranked up on that old telephone.  I, also, imagine that he wished he could call for help after he came around and realized what had taken place.

These are the stories that take me back to childhood and I wish I was on the bank of the Bogue Chitto watching the bobber dancing while I reminisce of fish stories and childhood memories.