The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1952-06-12
HAL
BOYLE
SAYS
BY HAL BOYLE

NEW YORK R-- Millions OF
American husbands are going forth
now to ply the nations streams
with rod and reel.
And guess who's going along,
too? Mama.
The lady fisherman is a rising
figure in the worlds eldest sport.
Just why is beyond me. / have
become reconciled to the fact that
baseball no longer could get by
without the financial benefit of
lady rooters. Lady wrestlers / can
understand, as they get paid for
their hair-pulling mayhem.
But the why and the wherefore
of the enormous increase in the
number of lady anglers escape ME
altogether. Women are highly
practical creatures, and if there
is anything more impractical than
dangling a line in a stream and
waiting around for a fish to bite on
it, please name it. | can't.
Men know that fishing is an H.
logical business, of course, and
that is why it has appealed to
them for centuries. They enjoy ro-
mantle nonsense, and always have.
The more senseless a thing is the
greater appeal it has for many
men.
Fishing is a perfect escape from
reality for them. a chance to day.
dream under a summer sun. away
from the cares of husbandhood and
parenthood. And a fishing party
made up of the right kind of fell
lows never even bothers to drop
a hook into the water at all. They,
get out the jug and the cards and
settle down happily to the real
purpose of the trip.
This, of course, is perfect fish
ing. Everybody has a swell time,
including the fish, who pick up
few sandwich crumbs. Nobody gets
hurt.
Who really wants to catch fish
anyway? You have to take it home,
clean it messy job and
stow it in the refrigerator, where.
it smells up the rest of the food.
If you hook a record size fish, the
taxidermiSt charges you S42.50 to
stuff it. You hang it on the wall
then, where it catches dust until
the day it falls off and conks one
of your children on the head.
The entrance of women into fish
ing has changed it from an in
dividual manly sport into family
industry. Papa may not care
hang whether he catches what is
called piscatorial prize, but ma
ma does. She didn't go all that
distance for nothing. She wants to
bring something home.
She goes about the task as grim
ly as if her husband was bache-
ior again, hidden beneath the sur
face and trying to evade her lure.
That is why / believe more and
more wives like TO go fishing"
one veteran told me. Every time
they haul up a wet, dripping fish
it gives them the same thrill they
got when they first shared their
man. It's eerie, tell you.
This same old rascal has a the
DRY also why women often turn
out to be better anglers than their
husbands.
"A woman drops in her line and
the fish swims up, looks at it and
sneers, he said. Then he looks
up through the water and sees
staring down at him some frile-
haired monster overlooking a pair,
OF blue jeans. She is wearing dark
goggles and her nose is covered
with Jumps of Sunburn cream.
The fish breaks out laughing,
'Ho, no. no This is something
the other fish ought to see. He
opens his mouth. and turns his
head to call his buddies - and &C
cldentally the hook swings into his
mouth.
Il suppose a million fish a year
are caught just that way.