Introducing Phillip Gentry: Fisherman, Writer, Interpreter

When I was a toddler back in the mid-1960s, my parents were in the process of building a lake cabin on South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell. To keep me out of trouble, my dad built a chicken-wire fence to keep me out of the water. It took me awhile to figure out how to slip under the fence to get down to the lake, and that has been my life’s ambition ever since — slipping out of my daily confines and getting down to the water.

Some years ago I decided to become an interpreter. That is, I would find out all I could about the outdoors, particularly fishing, from the pros and experts and share what I learned with others. The day I met noted Pickwick crappie guide Brad Whitehead, he told me I wasn’t like other writers he knew. I took that to mean he recognized I was a fisherman first and then a writer. He was correct.

I’ve always been a crappie fisherman, even though I mispronounce the word. My goal with this blog is to keep interpreting. We’ll compare the way ya’ll do it and the way we do it, and we’ll all be better off in the end. E-mail me if you have some crappie ideas you want to share.

Phillip Gentry
pgentry6@bellsouth.net