When my husband, Roy, and I were living on the Texas coast we often had neighbors drop by to fish under our lights at night. We often told fish stories – I mean, what fisherman doesn’t? One night, when our neighbors came by to fish, a faded reminiscence of the sublime Sisterhood of the Secret Fish Call worked its way into the conversation.
Roy and I often fished with Roy and Gwen Zettel. The guys had been fishing together longer than we women and had already adopted their private ritual of catching fish – just the right rod and reel, the precise bait or lure to snare their fish prey. Gwen and I usually went along with their decisions, but there was one time drift fishing Christmas Bay, when the Sisterhood of the Secret Fish Call was founded.
The heat that day was stifling, the breeze powering the drift had died and the four of us were sitting in the boat holding motionless rods. Even sacrificing part of our Cokes to the “fish god” ritual failed. (That ritual is fodder for another story.) We needed to catch something or go home. Not wanting to leave empty-handed, we lady anglers created the Sisterhood of the Secret Fish Call.
If you can whistle for a dog, there must be a fish call, we reasoned. We tried “Here, fishy, fishy,” and even Gomer Pyle’s, “Shazam.” Nothing – but ridicule from the guys. But we persevered, and the magic “doodle-e-bop” emerged. Laughter from the guys, but we ladies were intent on finding a fish-finding solution.
Then it magically happened. Without warning, my rod doubled over, line sang off the reel, and I finally landed an eight-pound gafftop. The fishing resumed – the sisterhood using and the guys doubting – the fish call. Gwen intoned “doodle-e-bop.” Her rod doubled over, and her fish battle was on. Still nothing for the guys.
“I’ll show you how silly that fish call is,” my Roy said, as he uttered the secret call. Then, for the first time that day, his rod doubled over, and he wrestled a black tip shark into submission.
After this, Roy Zettel sheepishly mumbled the secret call. But being a non-believer, and a man, he was skunked that day.
