Spearing suckers in the Pelican River, 1949

Spearing suckers in the Pelican River, Shoreham MN, 1949 or so??

A while back, I posted a Google Map of Shoreham, MN, where we had our lake cottage from about 1946 until  after my dad died in 1968.  This shows my friend Michael spearing suckers on the channel (part of the Pelican River) between Lake Sallie and Lake Melissa.  The building in the background is the Shoreham Hotel.  It's possibly mid-June or so, and the trees are just beginning to leaf out.  The ice didn't melt on the lake until the end of May, and we never went down to stay until then. It couldn't have been too cold, because Mike is wearing just a flannel shirt, no jacket.

Mike would put any suckers he speared into the empty bucket behind him.  His grandmother would smoke the fish, and their whole family loved them.  I had never eaten smoked anything, so the idea of eating a sucker (a big bottom-feeder) was totally repulsive.  I still feel that way about crab, another bottom-feeder, although I've gotten over a similar prejudice against catfish (we called them bullheads, and my dad never kept them if we caught one.)

Mom and Dad gave me the little camera for either Confirmation or 8th Grade Graduation.  I still have most of the photos I took.