New Book Has Been Published!
Excerpt/Biography
Romaine Willis grew up in Salter Path with the traditional occupation
of being a commercial fisherman with his dad and brother and all the
other fishing families of the village. He is now 70 years old and
lives in Sneads Ferry, NC with his wife Dollie and their 3 grown
children: Terry, Mike and Denise and their families.
Here is an excerpt from 'Remembering Back Yonder', a story Romaine titled "Fishing with Daddy and Buddy":
My name is Romaine Willis. I was born on Bogue Banks in a small fishing village called Salter Path. I had an older brother and sister. My father and brother were commercial fisherman like most of the other men of the village. The best I can remember, there was only about 300 people that lived there when I was a youngen. There are some stories that God has brought back to my memory when I was just a little boy. They are not written in order; I am writing these as God brings them back. I want to start by thanking God for bring them back to me. I will start by how we used to go fishing.
When I was about 7 or 8 years old my dad had two skiffs. They were about 16 feet long and about 4 feet wide. On each skiff we had about 150 yards of cotton nets. Later on we got some new nets made out of gill twine. What made that so bad was that after fishing all day we had to come home and wash the slime and mud out of them. On one skiff we had an old 3 horse stern engine. I don't remember how we got her. Anyway we would tow one skiff behind the one with the engine on it. I remember we would get up early in the morninbg before sunrise. Ma would cook breakfast such as it was. Sometimes we would luck up and have some ritter beans. Sometimes we would have biscuits and sometimes we would have turn cakes. We didn't have much but we didn't go too hungry.
After we got through eating we would take what bread was left over and a jar of ritter beans and go to the shore. After we would get the engine started (if we could get her started) we would leave for Dog Island or maybe Long Island. On the way we might slow down and check out Rock Point or maybe Bills Point. When we decided where the best place was we would stop the engine. (I still ain't figured out yet why we stopped the engine )but Daddy and Buddy (that was my brother) would start shoving down the back edge of the reef. We were always looking in-shore toward the marshes trying to see some mullets jumping. Sometimes it would be a long time before you would see any.
When we would see some jumping we would usually wait till we would see them pretty steady. When we decided we had seen enough jump we would put the skiffs side by side. I would jump overboard with the staffs and they would make a circle and meet when they gave out the net. I want to stop right here and tell you that the water was cold first thing mornings. After they did that we would each get and meet each other making the circle smaller until it was so small it would trap the mullets. Sometimes there would be some so big we would have to jump on them and break their necks.
They were too big to marsh in the net. After doing this a few times before dinner time (it would seem like forever), it would finally get dinner time. Our lunch menu was that jar of ritter beans and left over bread. We had a three place settings of dinner ware consisting of a brown paper sack tore in three pieces. Then we would divide the beans and bread. We didn't have any ice back then so we had to drink hot water. That sure was good! The way we kept the sun off the mullets we caught was we would go ashore and break some mirkle bushes and keep bailing the cool water out of the sound on them. As I am writing this, words can't express what I am feeling. Every now and then a tear will well up in my eyes. It is not because I am sad but because they are good memories. I know it is just God's way of blessing my heart. It does make me sad to think I am the last one of my generation. I want to add here I had a wonderful mom and sister and brother and daddy.
My name is Romaine Willis. I was born on Bogue Banks in a small fishing village called Salter Path. I had an older brother and sister. My father and brother were commercial fisherman like most of the other men of the village. The best I can remember, there was only about 300 people that lived there when I was a youngen. There are some stories that God has brought back to my memory when I was just a little boy. They are not written in order; I am writing these as God brings them back. I want to start by thanking God for bring them back to me. I will start by how we used to go fishing.
When I was about 7 or 8 years old my dad had two skiffs. They were about 16 feet long and about 4 feet wide. On each skiff we had about 150 yards of cotton nets. Later on we got some new nets made out of gill twine. What made that so bad was that after fishing all day we had to come home and wash the slime and mud out of them. On one skiff we had an old 3 horse stern engine. I don't remember how we got her. Anyway we would tow one skiff behind the one with the engine on it. I remember we would get up early in the morninbg before sunrise. Ma would cook breakfast such as it was. Sometimes we would luck up and have some ritter beans. Sometimes we would have biscuits and sometimes we would have turn cakes. We didn't have much but we didn't go too hungry.
After we got through eating we would take what bread was left over and a jar of ritter beans and go to the shore. After we would get the engine started (if we could get her started) we would leave for Dog Island or maybe Long Island. On the way we might slow down and check out Rock Point or maybe Bills Point. When we decided where the best place was we would stop the engine. (I still ain't figured out yet why we stopped the engine )but Daddy and Buddy (that was my brother) would start shoving down the back edge of the reef. We were always looking in-shore toward the marshes trying to see some mullets jumping. Sometimes it would be a long time before you would see any.
When we would see some jumping we would usually wait till we would see them pretty steady. When we decided we had seen enough jump we would put the skiffs side by side. I would jump overboard with the staffs and they would make a circle and meet when they gave out the net. I want to stop right here and tell you that the water was cold first thing mornings. After they did that we would each get and meet each other making the circle smaller until it was so small it would trap the mullets. Sometimes there would be some so big we would have to jump on them and break their necks.
They were too big to marsh in the net. After doing this a few times before dinner time (it would seem like forever), it would finally get dinner time. Our lunch menu was that jar of ritter beans and left over bread. We had a three place settings of dinner ware consisting of a brown paper sack tore in three pieces. Then we would divide the beans and bread. We didn't have any ice back then so we had to drink hot water. That sure was good! The way we kept the sun off the mullets we caught was we would go ashore and break some mirkle bushes and keep bailing the cool water out of the sound on them. As I am writing this, words can't express what I am feeling. Every now and then a tear will well up in my eyes. It is not because I am sad but because they are good memories. I know it is just God's way of blessing my heart. It does make me sad to think I am the last one of my generation. I want to add here I had a wonderful mom and sister and brother and daddy.
