# The good old days



## Backcountry 16 (Mar 15, 2016)

Who here remembers whenever you went to the beach with a cut on your body and the saltwater would help heal it not make you lose a limb or your life. How about standing in the car as it drove down the road, not the best example but I remember summertime trips in the motor home where my step dad would be driving down 75 drinking a Busch beer and whenever it was empty my mom would go to the fridge and get him another. I never saw the beer affect him the early times whiskey was a different story but he only drank that at night and never behind the wheel and was never a mean drunk and was the best step dad anyone could ever have and treated me like his own. What do you miss from the (good old days)?


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

There has always been bacteria in the water.


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## Backcountry 16 (Mar 15, 2016)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> There has always been bacteria in the water.


Agreed but nothing like there is now whenever I grew up in Ft Myers Florida the population was approximately 40k now our population is 750k more failing septic systems and fertilizers entering the water than back in the 70s and 80s when I was a kid. I understand you can't do anything about population growth especially down here as it's warm year round and the beaches just hate seeing what my hometown has become.


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## Indy (Aug 21, 2015)

I remember the good old days. Not many people around. Stores closed at noon on Saturday. I grew up in a small town. Dunedin. Now you can’t buy a house in dunedin. Way to expensive. Used to go fishing and catch a lot of fish. And yes we would go to the beach and soak our cuts and not catch any diseases that could cost you your life. The good old days.


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## georgiadrifter (Jan 14, 2009)

I remember as a kid...my father would get me up at the butt-crack of dawn....and we’d head out the Tamiami Trail. This was the early 60s. We would pass a place called “Frog City” I believe. The Seminole indians we’re still living in chickees that you could see from the road. He was always after largemouth bass but I can remember large schools of juvenile tarpon swimming in canals about 20-feet wide.


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## Monty (Jan 10, 2018)

Backcountry 16 said:


> Who here remembers whenever you went to the beach with a cut on your body and the saltwater would help heal it not make you lose a limb or your life. How about standing in the car as it drove down the road, not the best example but I remember summertime trips in the motor home where my step dad would be driving down 75 drinking a Busch beer and whenever it was empty my mom would go to the fridge and get him another. I never saw the beer affect him the early times whiskey was a different story but he only drank that at night and never behind the wheel and was never a mean drunk and was the best step dad anyone could ever have and treated me like his own. What do you miss from the (good old days)?


I miss grabbing a shotgun and joining my brother who would drive my dad's truck about 5 miles out of town and we'd squirrel hunt. There was no posted land, it was all Paper Company pine tree land, You could just about stop anywhere. Now that land has homes on 5 acres all over it and posted signs. Most of the time , we never killed anything, because I couldn't sit still and we knew nothing about scent control for deer hunting and had no money for deer stands (if any were made, we didn't know it). But we made lots of memories.


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## hipshot (Sep 29, 2018)

Just conjecture here................

Perhaps we are contributing more contaminants to the ecosystem than we used to; might we be overwhelming the system's ability to cleanse itself?

Perhaps we are eroding our immunity to the contaminants in our environment; might all of the drugs we take now, and the fact that today's young people spend less time outdoors than the young people of the forties and fifties, and even the sixties, be a factor?

Just wondering...........


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## makin moves (Mar 20, 2010)

2 strokes!!!!!!!!


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## Backcountry 16 (Mar 15, 2016)

hipshot said:


> Just conjecture here................
> 
> Perhaps we are contributing more contaminants to the ecosystem than we used to; might we be overwhelming the system's ability to cleanse itself?
> 
> ...


Could be. Also too much anti bacterial soap.


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## FMH (Aug 24, 2015)

I'm sure Capt. Lemay will remember driving to the Crandon Park ramp in the 70's launching and fishing the bay for under $6.00 (launch fee, causeway toll and shrimp included). After you came in and put her back on the trailer there were several washdown hoses on the east side of the parking lot where you could wash the skiff (for free!!). The garbage cans at the ramp were emptied regularly and it was a pleasure to launch there. The last time I launched there about 2 years ago I was traumatized when I got back to the ramp around noon. There was garbage strewn all over the place, trash cans overflowing, loud music and rude people loading their boats AT the ramp. Never mind the hundreds of boats at Masta Point which used to be a great bonefish flat. Haven't been back since...….


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## Guest (Aug 17, 2019)

makin moves said:


> 2 strokes!!!!!!!!


AMEN, preach on preacher!!!


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## devrep (Feb 22, 2009)

hipshot said:


> Just conjecture here................
> 
> Perhaps we are contributing more contaminants to the ecosystem than we used to; might we be overwhelming the system's ability to cleanse itself?
> 
> ...


spot on. not to mention there are a lot more people in the water. there are also more invasive species and diseases being brought here from other places.


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

The water is cleaner now then 40 plus years ago in the West Palm Beach area. They use to dump sewage in the intercoastal and ocean back then.


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## 17376 (May 5, 2017)

Yes we use to go into the water to heal cuts. Maybe it’s all the antibiotics they feed us to “heel” us. How about good ole penicillin. That was good for everything and now we don’t even use it.


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## Les_Lammers (Feb 17, 2007)

Indy said:


> I remember the good old days. Not many people around. Stores closed at noon on Saturday. I grew up in a small town. Dunedin. Now you can’t buy a house in dunedin. Way to expensive. Used to go fishing and catch a lot of fish. And yes we would go to the beach and soak our cuts and not catch any diseases that could cost you your life. The good old days.


I lived in St. Pete in the 60's. Florida will never be the same.


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## Ben (Dec 21, 2016)

Fire flys
Going east of 41 and the temperature getting cooler because there were lots of woods and cypress strands
All snowbirds gone after Easter and not returning until November 
SW FL being DEAD in August and September 
Huge schools of reds off the Burnt Store bar
LOT’s of clean blue crabs
HUGE bass in crystal clear water of Cape Coral canals
Scallops in Pine Island Sound


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## fishnpreacher (Jul 28, 2018)

The good ol' days....No air conditioning, Sleeping with the doors and windows open. We had screens, and just a hook and eye latch on the screen doors, We had an old truck parked headed down hill so we could roll it off to crank. ZEBCO 202, Manns jelly worms, digging worms behind the chicken pen....

And the out house. I'm only 63, but I remember our first indoor toilet

I know the OP said "What do you miss?" Some of these I miss, some I'd rather not go back to.


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

Blue crabs on on the grass flats East of the Cutler Ridge power plant.
Pulling bugs from the rocks on the West side of Elliot and boiling them in a bucket of seawater.
Gigging frogs around the old camps in Big Cypress.
Picking crawfish from the waters of the limestone quarries and steaming them with corn on the cob and red spuds.
Wild orchids on the cypress trees at dawn in a tree stand..
Chopping the heart from a small cabbage palm and eating it with a drizzle of key lime.

That was a lifetime ago.


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

The mullet run--late 60-early70s.....paddling our Styrofoam sailboat out from the beach in Surfside and casting zara spooks to the tarpon...my brother and me were towed by a huge tarpon from 94th st. to haulover cut....people in The Harbor House condo called fire rescue we were so far out.....yup we lost it...but the mitchell 306 held together

nothing like the beach back then........bait runs were awesome


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

The head boats at Haulover docks $6 got u a fishing trip
popeye
capt.rudy
mucho k
mystery?


there were more


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## hipshot (Sep 29, 2018)

Camping at the old University Yacht Club dock on Elliott Key Friday to Sunday, and two other boats for company all weekend.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Port O’Connor when there was one store, only locals living there, and you could fish all day and only see one or two boats all Saturday.


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## EdK13 (Oct 3, 2013)

When people did as they said.


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## el9surf (Dec 23, 2008)

When I could intentionally go out and catch double digits of sea trout on fly on any given trip. Any grass flat 3-4 ft would do. Now there is no grass at that depth.


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## 8w8n8 (Sep 30, 2017)

… for the younger crowd, 10 years from now, these will be "The Good Old Days"!


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## flyclimber (May 22, 2016)

I do miss the Orange groves.


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

Girls had class.


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## Monty (Jan 10, 2018)

makin moves said:


> 2 strokes!!!!!!!!


Good one. 
Nothing like being in a line of boats all headed out of the Steinhatchee River early in the morning and smelling their Evinrude 2 stroke oil exhaust.


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## Les_Lammers (Feb 17, 2007)

flyclimber said:


> I do miss the Orange groves.


I went to Navy boot camp 1970 in Orlando. It was surrounded by orange groves.


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## 8w8n8 (Sep 30, 2017)

… when hooks, lures, swivels, split-rings, etc..., were located in the tackle box, not hanging off a face … and I'm not talking about a post or a ring … I'm talking one-person holding up the TSA line at the airport for an extra 15 minutes removing all the hardware from their mug ...

… oh ya, before TSA, too ...


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## Capt. Moose (Dec 12, 2015)




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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

a shoe box for your tackle which sat in the basket on your bike....cisco kid,zara spook and a yellow jig..........mitchell 300 or 304 or a gold compact reel or a green spinmaster?

best times in the world are w/ less


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## jonny (May 1, 2007)

topnative2 said:


> a shoe box for your tackle which sat in the basket on your bike....cisco kid,zara spook and a yellow jig..........mitchell 300 or 304 or a gold compact reel or a green spinmaster?
> 
> best times in the world are w/ less


My mom has fond memories of Cisco Kid coming to her school as a kid.


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## eightwt (May 11, 2017)

Catching yellow perch on a spreader baited with minnies, thrilled with a double. Playing army. Playing baseball, the ball was usually wrapped with electric tape and the bats mostly were held together with wood screws and the rest of the electric tape. Catching lightning bugs and putting them in a glass jar. Wiffle ball. A homemade barometer made with hair from my sister and an empty gallon milk carton. Trying to learn how to cast a baitcaster by thumbing the spool. Ghoulardi (google it). Curb feelers. Flathead engines. My grandfathers homemade wooden boat. Using a church key to open a can of beer or soda. Steel roller skates. Reversing long distant phone charge. Mass in Latin. Glenn Miller.


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## Indy (Aug 21, 2015)

I remember the smell of the orange groves when the trees bloomed. I haven’t seen lightning bugs in years. Young people today have no idea. We didn’t have a/c in our house until 1970. Those were the days.


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

the smell of baking bread from the Holsum plant in miami

taking an orange crate,2 x4s,pair of metal skates.nails and string and then making a "go cart" that was then pulled by your buddy peddling his bike .......EPIC wipeouts when that string broke


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## Net 30 (Mar 24, 2012)

The lower Keys before they built the _new_ 7-Mile Bridge.


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

Net 30 said:


> The lower Keys before they built the _new_ 7-Mile Bridge.


like pulling in your side view mirrors on the SUV......I remember when the cherry picker truck from the city of KW speared the propane tank on the swing span and blew the bridge keeper up 2wks shy of his retirement


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## anytide (Jul 30, 2009)

having just a _plano_ tackle box.
with the plastic worms melted inside the trays....
buying fishing rods in Eckards drug stores.. eckards super rods.
a crisp $5 bill and the Kmart tackle isle all to myself.. 


tandem trout touts
salty dogs
bagleys bang o lure
zara spooks when they were solid and cost $2.35
bomber long A's


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## EdK13 (Oct 3, 2013)




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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

anytide said:


> having just a _plano_ tackle box.
> with the plastic worms melted inside the trays....
> buying fishing rods in Eckards drug stores.. eckards super rods.
> a crisp $5 bill and the Kmart tackle isle all to myself..
> ...


don't forget the dalton specials at eckerds


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## hipshot (Sep 29, 2018)

Sneaking into Fairchild Tropical Gardens at night (about 400 yards from the house) and playing catch & release with MONSTER snook (now that the statute of limitations is up).


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## Fishflatmike (Apr 16, 2018)

I miss the incredible amount of fish and bait that was seemingly everywhere. As a kid I would ride my bike to the Sanibel pier with a fishing pole and some treble hooks. Cast the empty hook into the green backs and snag my bait. After that, hang on! Snook, mackerel, trout, snapper all day long. Didn’t keep more than a fish or two. We didn't manage the resource as we should have back then, so the populations of fish were devastated. Later in life I shared my passion for fishing with friends. They bought boats and then they took me fishing. I so was disappointed. I FAILED to teach them to only take what they needed. They caught so much bait that the live wells were over full and the bait were dying. So much waste. This was acceptable to them. They were using the dead bait for chum. But killing what amounts to thousands of bait fish for chum depletes the resources.

Sorry for the downer post, but I miss seeing the acres of bait on the water.


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## anytide (Jul 30, 2009)

motor oil in a can.
roadside stuckeys store with the steep gable roofs.
when beef jerky was cheaper than ribeyes.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Red and white Hogie shrimp tails, paddle tails, Cocahoe Minnows and a gold and silver Johnson Sprite spoon were all you needed to catch dinner

Running out with a halogen Q-Beam and no maps, fish finders or GPS

Gigging flounder with a single mantle kerosene hand pump Coleman lantern with a wire coat hanger/water hose handle and tin foil on the rear for a reflector 

When people had respect, common sense and courtesy

When guys weren’t bigger bitches than women


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## yobata (Jul 14, 2015)

flyclimber said:


> I do miss the Orange groves.


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## Donald Gaines (Aug 5, 2019)

Backcountry 16 said:


> Who here remembers whenever you went to the beach with a cut on your body and the saltwater would help heal it not make you lose a limb or your life. How about standing in the car as it drove down the road, not the best example but I remember summertime trips in the motor home where my step dad would be driving down 75 drinking a Busch beer and whenever it was empty my mom would go to the fridge and get him another. I never saw the beer affect him the early times whiskey was a different story but he only drank that at night and never behind the wheel and was never a mean drunk and was the best step dad anyone could ever have and treated me like his own. What do you miss from the (good old days)?


Everything


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## Pbertell (Apr 22, 2015)

Remeber all the stories of my bro-in-law catching grouper off the seawalls in the gables, getting dropped off at the party boat in the morning picked up at night with a load of fish when he was eight. Coco Plum was Tahiti beach - no houses just beach and forest... 

I started fishing (not originally fr Fl) 23 or so years ago and didnt realize it then but i was fishing the good old days... beautiful grass in the bay and lots of bones.... 
Got to enjoy every day!! We could have been born in Syria...
Still have a couple two strokes if anyone wants to reminisce....


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> Red and white Hogie shrimp tails, paddle tails, Cocahoe Minnows and a gold and silver Johnson Sprite spoon were all you needed to catch dinner
> 
> Running out with a halogen Q-Beam and no maps, fish finders or GPS
> 
> ...


And if you knew someone with a fiberglass boat you were something...we had a 12’ aluminum Polar Kraft flat bottom on a wooden hay trailer and a Johnson 25. Bay, lake, river, whatever!


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

The good ole days. My Grandpa and couple of buddy's with dinner.


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

leatherback


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## Sardina (Feb 16, 2019)

Drinking water out of a garden hose in the summertime while roaming the neighborhood with the other kids playing outside all day long without anyone calling DHS. Gun racks in the windows of pickup trucks, with shotguns and rifles in them, parked pretty much everywhere—including my high school’s parking lot—and nobody losing their mind let alone their life. Movies that were intended to simply entertain; cast with actors that recognized nobody cared about what they thought about the real world. Respect for others. Common decency, honesty, and integrity. Two genders. You know, just miss America. I feel like I have got to visit her a few times in recent years when I traveled to central Kansas, northern Utah, west Texas, and southern Louisiana, but she sure is hard to recognize in Oregon these days.


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## Net 30 (Mar 24, 2012)

The Boynton Beach Inlet Charter Fleet of the 1960s that was on the south side of the inlet at the end of the seawall....long gone now. My grandfather would drive us to the inlet every day at 3pm to watch the charter boats come in. All beautiful, pastel colored wood sportfishing boats with gentlemen captains dressed in khakis and wearing captains hats. The mates would hose down the sidewalk behind their boats, open the fish boxes and slide their catch up into the walkway for all to see. 

Magic times that fascinated me as a child and created memories I cherish to this day.


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## EasternGlow (Nov 6, 2015)

Net 30 said:


> The Boynton Beach Inlet Charter Fleet of the 1960s that was on the south side of the inlet at the end of the seawall....long gone now. My grandfather would drive us to the inlet every day at 3pm to watch the charter boats come in. All beautiful, pastel colored wood sportfishing boats with gentlemen captains dressed in khakis and wearing captains hats. The mates would hose down the sidewalk behind their boats, open the fish boxes and slide their catch up into the walkway for all to see.
> 
> Magic times that fascinated me as a child and created memories I cherish to this day.
> 
> View attachment 89158


That picture is awesome!!!


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

Net 30 said:


> The Boynton Beach Inlet Charter Fleet of the 1960s that was on the south side of the inlet at the end of the seawall....long gone now. My grandfather would drive us to the inlet every day at 3pm to watch the charter boats come in. All beautiful, pastel colored wood sportfishing boats with gentlemen captains dressed in khakis and wearing captains hats. The mates would hose down the sidewalk behind their boats, open the fish boxes and slide their catch up into the walkway for all to see.
> 
> Magic times that fascinated me as a child and created memories I cherish to this day.
> 
> View attachment 89158


Capt. MIke Zuback was a great one ,who passed away a few years ago, that I sorely miss. 

Calm seas my friend.


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## FMH (Aug 24, 2015)

The hundreds of land crabs you would see east of US1 in Dania and Hollywood after a good rain . Fishing the lights at the Hollywood Yacht basin for moonfish (lookdown) with my Orvis 50A and Fenwick Fenflea ultralight spin rod and 2lb test Ande mono.


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## FMH (Aug 24, 2015)

The hundreds of land crabs you would see east of US1 in Dania and Hollywood after a good rain . Fishing the lights at the Hollywood Yacht basin for moonfish (lookdown) with my Orvis 50A and Fenwick Fenflea ultralight spin rod and 2lb test Ande mono.


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## FMH (Aug 24, 2015)

The hundreds of land crabs you would see east of US1 in Dania and Hollywood after a good rain . Fishing the lights at the Hollywood Yacht basin for moonfish (lookdown) with my Orvis 50A and Fenwick Fenflea ultralight spin rod and 2lb test Ande mono.


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## FMH (Aug 24, 2015)

The hundreds of land crabs you would see east of US1 in Dania and Hollywood after a good rain . Fishing the lights at the Hollywood Yacht basin for moonfish (lookdown) with my Orvis 50A and Fenwick Fenflea ultralight spin rod and 2lb test Ande mono.


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

God help u when one of those crabs got hold of a finger.....


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## SomaliPirate (Feb 5, 2016)

Lightning bugs (though I still see a few in rural Marion)
Ford small block V8's
Big redfish on Mann's sting ray grubs on jig heads, and no need to be stealthy about it. 
Movies where the regular cishet white dude could be the good guy
20oz Cokes in returnable glass bottles
Round baitcasters
Being able to make prank phone calls without the threat of caller ID
Big ugly cathead tomatoes with the cracks in the side (I'm trying to grow these myself but it's a learning curve).
Hand built Makos out of Miami.


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

cishet...............had to look that one up.....so many words for normal is confusing!


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## Zika (Aug 6, 2015)

Tattoos only on salty fleet sailors
sandlot baseball games in the neighborhood
GI Joes
No cell phones
Kodak slide film
daily morning newspapers that didn't require bank loans for a subscription
'67 Mustang
No other boats in the tidal creeks
Tarpon fishing before Location X became Location Y-not

Oh yeah, and no damn social media!


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## SomaliPirate (Feb 5, 2016)

topnative2 said:


> cishet...............had to look that one up.....so many words for normal is confusing!


My place of employment is very "woke".


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

Keds PF Flyers
one speed bikes
original Hurricane rods
Dam Quick reels
slaps
10 cent cokes in glass bottles in chest machines
5 cent gum
60 cent /dozen live shrimp 
nuns fast pitch chalk(spots still hurt)
7/11 Slurpees
taking the bus to tarpon tackle
sun coming up at the beach nad yellow bucktail jigs
Haulover pier


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## kenb (Aug 21, 2015)

Don’t forget the Polaroid “Land Camera” with film that instantly self-developed.


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