All the way down to our wade fishing spot in Trinity bay, the radio had been blaring with the strains of Elvis’ new song, “Don’t Be Cruel”. This latest release, of the very talented newcomer from Mississippi, seemed to be on every station and was and destined to be one of his hallmarks.

Somehow, through all the music, we, my Dad and I, finally arrived at our spot beside Crawley’s Bait Camp. Going down to the water, we walked through the yard of the bay house beside Crawley’s. In this same house, fourteen years earlier, my Brother, Harvey, told us that he was going into the Navy and I first experienced the tug of a speckled trout, in “[Trinity Bay – A Bigger Pull]”.

We walked out beside the, now, rickety, old pier, past its end and finally reaching the edge of Beazley’s Reef began casting out. Our rigs were pretty much standard, six foot, fiber glass, popping rods, direct drive reels and fifteen pound braided line. At the end of the line we attached popping corks, a three foot, leader and a small treble hook on the end of the leader. For bait we were using live shrimp, just purchased at Crawley’s. This is a proven rig that I have used successfully for over fifty years, catching all types of salt water, fish!

The tide was coming in, the water for mid June was cool and not five minutes after our first cast, both of our corks went under and for the next three hours, we were into some memorable trout fishing! The specs were all between one and two pounds, good eatin’ size and, after throwing the small ones back, we counted up our stringers, thirty fish. A good number to quit on since, this afternoon, my girl friend of three years, was flying home from vacationing with her relatives in Pass Christianne, Mississippi. I wanted to get back to our home in West University and get ready for my big date. We stopped fishing and set to the filleting of our catch.

Time for the big date and the minute I picked her up, I knew there was a problem. Talking it out, I found out that during her stay, Elvis and his entourage, body guards included, checked into the same motel and she had a couple of dates with him. She added that she thought it would be a good time to break up anyway.

End of story, no, but two years later, at ROTC camp at Ft. Hood, Elvis was there in Basic Training, in one of my friends Training Company. Elvis was a model trooper and I saw him many times from a distance, but we never met. To this day, hearing “Don’t Be Cruel” brings back memories and still ticks me off!