I rode down to the Satilla River Saturday morning and right after I got there a truck came in behind me with a small aluminum boat.
An older gentleman got out of the passenger side and walked over to me, shook m y hand and said “How are you doing Mr. Morgan?”
I had already looked at the tag on their truck and it was from Atkinson County, so I figured I didn’t know them and I asked him how did he know who I was?
He replied, “I saw your name on the tailgate of your truck.”
The gentleman told me his last name was Haskins and he was 84 years old. We stood and talked while the other guy (his son-inlaw) was putting the boat in and loading everything needed to fish with.
His phone rang and he answered it, had a short conversation and hung up.
Mr.Haskins said he had been married for 58 years and his wife was just checking to see if they had made it to the river okay.
He said he fished with a friend the other day who was a Baptist preacher and if they put both of them together, they still wouldn’t make half a man. He just was not worth a toot any more.
Mr. Haskins said he owned a store in Pearson for 33 years before finally selling it. I walked along the bank while they were fishing with crickets and minnows. I told them that I really didn’t want to leave until I saw them catch a fish.
He kept calling me Mr. Morgan, which was hard for me to hear coming from an 84-year-old man. Mr. Haskins finally caught a nice bream and his son-in-law caught a mudfish just a minute or two later.
I told them that I could leave now and wished them luck for the rest of the day.
• Wayne Morgan is freelance wildlife photographer and author.
