FSalem By Jim Daniels September 1953
was up and dressed at 3 am, but had not slept at all. How could a 10-year old boy sleep when he was about to go on the biggest ad- venture of his life? I was going fishing with the men of the Salem Fishing Club. The fish- ing club was a group of tobacco farmers from Salem Crossroads in lower Florence County and, once tobacco season was over, the farm- ers could focus on important things like fishing.
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A waterman from Little River was hired to build a boat. A seine net was ordered from a fishing supply company. My uncle began build- ing a trailer in his welding shop using a car axle and other scrap iron. Washing machine rollers were welded on the trailer bed so that the flat bottomed boat would roll on and off. I was surprised at how well they worked.
The wooden boat was about 25-feet long, had an open bow, and carried a crew of five. We arrived at the beach in Surfside at about 6:00 am. I ran from the pickup to the top of the dunes. The sun was just starting to rise, but it was light enough for me to get a good look at the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. What I remember most was the smell. It smelled fresh, salty and fishy. Sometimes, I
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still get a whiff of that smell when conditions are just right.
A look-out was posted upon the beach
(north of us) and his job was to spot schools of migrating fish and signal the boat crew to launch. After a couple of hours with no fish being spotted, it was decided to take a blind haul. The boat was rowed out in a semi-cir- cle and the net was allowed to set for about twenty minutes before being hauled in. We caught all kinds of fish and crabs, but most amazing was a small octopus. We ate a lunch of fried fish with pickles and Clausen’s Bread. Some local fellows ate the crabs after boiling them in a tin bucket. After much inspection, the octopus was put back in the ocean.
That afternoon we were able to get the net
around a large school of spots and caught so many we had to pull the net out with the carry- all. I never saw so many fish before or since. It took three hours just to pick them up off the beach. I don’t remember much about the trip home, because I fell asleep. A year later, Hur- ricane Hazel came, in October 1954, and that put an end to the fishing club by flooding the carry-all and washing away the boat and net.
ishing Club
Nelson Turner, Lonnie Daniels, & Luther Poston
Salem Fishing Club
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