Andrew Scott Bassett
- Sep 26, 2020
- 4 min read

Even Fish Have Musical Tastes

Updated: Sep 30, 2020

In my new novel, 'Fishing for Something', I have a scene that has to do with the preferences that fish have for one style of music over another. The scene is based on actual events that happened to my brother and I when we were vacationing on a houseboat on Lake Powell. In real life, my older brother and I were attempting to catch fish off of the side of the houseboat on a very hot summer day. We had been told by our elders that the lake was full of catfish just ready to give their lives for our evening supper. Several hours passed, and we had barely a bite on either of our lines and with the sun beating down, we were becoming more desperate by the minute. Glenn, my brother, thought that the fish didn't appreciate our choices in music. He had been playing 8-tracks. Yeah, I said 8-tracks, of his favorite 70's rock groups: Eagles, Steve Miller Band, Elton John, Wings, Alice Cooper, and many other tunes were bouncing across the waves of the lake that summer day. The whole time, we were bopping and rocking to the crocodile rock. We began to think that there were no fish in the lake. What to do, what to do? My brother and I wondered if we turned the tunes off, would they bite? Nearly an hour of silence later, and still no fish. Maybe the adults had lied to us, maybe there just weren't really any fish in this otherworldly lake. Then, one of us got the brilliant idea that maybe like our military father, the fish just simply didn't like rock and roll. Dear dad was a connoisseur of country from way back. Glenn and I began to look through the collection of tapes. Too many years have passed since that fateful day so I can't recall which one of us came across the music that would always haunt us from that day forward, as we entered our own version of the Twilight Zone.

Glenn put an 8-track on and then we both waited to see. Why we picked the greatest hits of Eddy Arnold, I'll never know. It could have been because of his soothing, mellow style of songs. It might have been the yodeling that frequented many of his classics. I'm not really sure to tell you the truth. All I can tell you is what I witnessed that day, so many years ago. In a matter of only a few minutes our poles started to bend and our fishing lines were attacked like an army was invading. Eddy Arnold seemed to have the ability to yodel fish right out of the water and into our boat. Of course, we challenged the authenticity of the strange happenings by turning Eddy off and throwing our rock and roll tapes back on. But guess what? Each time we did the fish stopped biting and the poles went back to being straight. We experimented over and over again. Eagles tape in and Eddy Arnold out, and nothing. Eagles tape out and Eddy Arnold tape back in, here come the fish. My brother and I half expected to see Rod Serling describing our events from a small raft at the side of our houseboat. The entire time we were on the houseboat that week it worked the same way. Neither Glenn or I have tried it since. My guess is we don't want to give up the magical memories of that week on Lake Powell by trying Eddy out on the open water and having the fish not storming our lines like all those years before. We caught lightening in the bottle that week, and rarely can you catch lightening twice. But I will say thanks Eddy, and I know many reading this or my book will question the truth of the story. It's kind of like saying you saw Bigfoot, only you for sure know if you did or not. I can't say I have listened to Eddy Arnold much since way back then. I can say I have listened to many of the old rock and rollers that were so miserable at helping us catch fish on Lake Powell. But even today, when I hear the name Eddy Arnold, I smile and recall a time with my brother when we both were fortunate enough to have entered, the Twilight Zone.

Here Are Some Of The Greatest Songs About Fishing, Not Necessarily Will They Help You Catch Fish, Like Eddy did, but you'll have a good time either way.

In No Particular Order:

"Bad Day Fishin"- Billy Currington Country

"Gone Fishin" - Louis Armstrong & Bing Crosby Pop

"Talkin Fishin Blues" - Woody Guthrie Folk

"I'm Going To Go Fishin" - Dr. John Blues & Pop

"I'm Going To Miss Her" - Brad Paisley Country

"With Every Wish" - Bruce Springsteen Rock

"The Fishin hole" - Andy Griffith Country

"John The Fisherman" - Primus Rock

"A Pirate Looks At Forty" - Jimmy Buffett