Boats of all makes and sizes are usually in the Little Manatee and the Alafia. I see more kayaks and canoes than boats, which makes me think that we are back in the days before boats had engines, and the only transportation out or to Ruskin was by ferry or riverboats.

This situation has occurred because of our economy with gasoline hitting an all-time high price of $4 or more per gallon. Anglers can no longer afford to fill up their gas tanks.

Before the railroads, automobiles and boat engines, the sole transportation in this area was oxen, ­horses along trails and some canoes that the Indians had made from ­hollowed logs. Marine ­engines were available in the 1900s, but most boats were operated by poles or sails.

In 1906 Rob and Henry Selner owned a boat called the “Arrow,” powered by a 16-horse Globe ­engine. Compare 16-horse to ­today’s engines which have two of 250- to 500-horsepower. The Selners used their boat to take butchered hogs to the Tampa ­market and to pick up supplies.
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In 1911 A.P. Dickman had a boat named  “Kilkare” because when a snake would crawl aboard they would kill it, because they cared.

This story was told to me by Esther Dickman, grandmother of Paul, Ned, and Glenn, A.P., was the great-grandfather who had the first boat named “Kilkare,” that had an old Kermath engine.

When Paul Sr., was 14 years old he used to sleep on the engine box and was forever repairing the engine, and when he grew up, he got a degree as an engineer.

The Kilkare was a 35’ boat with the engine mid-ship, a passenger cabin in the bow and the cargo was transported on the aft deck space. Around the year 1915 this Kilkare burned at the dock one-half mile below the railroad bridge on the Little Manatee River.

Since the first boat named Kilkare, the Dickmans have had a boat through generations and each year it has become larger. I am not sure if we now have number 9 or 10. We would visit Paul and Esther when I was in television and my husband in pharmaceuticals in Tampa, and that is when we bought our places on the Little Manatee River about 50 years ago.

O.L. Williams probably owned the largest boat around in those days with a 24-horsepower Frisbie engine. He owned the Oyster Plant off Shell Point, the hotel and farmed around the mouth of the river.

The pioneer boaters of this area  are Dan Graves, Paul Dickman, Malachi Denson, Norton and O.L. Williams, Tom Saffold, and Charley Jahn.

Those who could not afford an engine were using sails. It was around 1918 when cars and the railroad came into the area, putting the boats out of the transportation and freight business.

I was told that the only road in Ruskin that a car could drive on was from Ruskin all the way south on Cockroach beach; the sand was hard and the ride smooth. The beach is now gone.

On the list of great fishing gear that you can purchase today in 2008 is a pole to push your boat and save the seagrass...New?? I say not, as the ol’ timers used a pole long before engines were invented. Now today 2008 canoes are used to fish the shallows and to save gas. NEW, no, they are NOT, the Indians had canoes when we discovered America. It seems “what goes around, comes around.” History does repeat itself.

Bluegill have invaded our freshwater fishing area; the hot weather has brought them in schools. Great for those who have no boat and are fishing from the bank in lakes, and ponds.

Simmons Park on 19th Avenue in Ruskin is a popular summer getaway -- save gas, fish, picnic, camp, hike, swim, or just sit and watch the world go by.

Sunshine Skyway pier is not far away if you are not taking the boat out. Enjoy saltwater fishing. Spend the day. Catches have been made this week from cobia, trout, redfish, drum to tarpon.

Sheepshead have been king around the piers with a number of catches. Largemouth bass have been teasing some anglers in the upper Manatee. For some reason they were not hungry this week and there were no reported catches.

Redfish are still on the move in all parts of our waterways, with anglers making catches from the Alafia River, Manatee, Cockroach Bay, and south waterways.

The avid seasoned anglers are fishing each day rain or shine and say if you like to fish, you will go fishing. Some days you come in with nothing, and other days you will hit the jackpot with a variety of catches.

-- Aleta Jonie Maschek is a ­member of Florida Outdoor Press­.

© Copyright 2008 by The Observer News Publications and M&M Printing Company, Inc.

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