The largest panfish I ever caught was a shellcracker or redear sunfish. I was about 10 years old and fishing in the Crenshaw County Lake with my father. He had gone to the concession stand to buy our lunch of potted meat, crackers and soda waters (that’s soft drinks for you newcomers to the South) while I continued to fish. I was laying on the dam with my sun hat half covering my face when I realized I couldn’t see my cork. With a quick raising of my pole I set the hook in one of the scrappiest fish that swims for its size.

A one-and-a-half pound shellcracker is a trophy to any 10-year-old, or anyone else for that matter. I was on the edge of a large shellcracker bed.