The daily bait business

MISHAWAKA, Ind. -- "Hey, old man," calls out a friendly fellow wearing a soccer T-shirt and battered baseball cap as he ushers his grandson into the bait shop.\n"Hey, you're not only old, you're ornery," counters Dick Parker, quasi-fishing expert, owner and operator of Parker's Central Park Bait and Tackle.\nAfter some brief, good-natured sparring and a container of night crawlers, the two fisherman -- one young and one not so young -- are off to the river, and Dick Parker is off to a fresh bait room.\nParker is one of those lucky individuals who was able to work a mid-life career change so his avocation became his vocation.\nAn avid fisherman most of his life, he's his own boss in the daily business of dealing with fish, the people who try to catch them, and the equipment they use. He doesn't have to go anywhere to find an active social life. It comes through his door everyday of the week.\n"I have a lot of the same people come in every day or two. There are two to three dozen retirees in here about every day. Sometimes it's just to visit," Parker said.\nSometimes it's to buy lures, bait, rods or poles. Sometimes it's to renew a fishing license. Occasionally, it's to weigh a particularly large catch.\nA white-haired, white-bearded man in a T-shirt and battered baseball cap comes in and leans over the counter exchanging fish stories. He doesn't have much of a tale. \n"I just caught one sucker yesterday. That was about all," he said.\nParker hears it all. But as a fisherman, he's not one for telling fish tales. He just shrugs -- he believes in honesty. And though he is knowledgeable about fishing, he doesn't push opinions or advice unless asked.\nThe obvious question? How to be a good fisherman.\n"It's about 50 percent luck. The best thing you can do is to keep a diary -- where you caught the fish, the temperature of the air and of the water, what bait you were using, how you were casting. Keep a record, and try to match those conditions. I know guys who keep these logs, and they can go back 20 years," Parker said.\nTen years ago, Parker was a truck mechanic and had been for 25 years. He also trucked his fishing tackle along to flea markets, where he did quite well. Then, this little shop went on the market, and Parker took the bait.\n"I'd known the owner for about five years. He had health problems and wanted to get out. I bought it two weeks before the steelhead made it to Indiana."\nBeing in the bait and tackle business near the St. Joseph River during prime steelhead and salmon season in October and November was fortuitous.\n"The shop already had a good reputation as being on of the best bait stores in the area. It's been in business for 40 years," Parker said, adding that he's the fourth owner.\nSummer days are busy days, but nothing compares to the running of the steelhead every fall.\n"Last year, I wrote licenses for fisherman from 13 states. I do more business from late October until November than I do all summer. My sales almost double. When the steelhead are running, I'll unlock the doors at six o'clock in the morning and have 10 guys waiting for me."\nAlthough he's open seven days a week, he has a certain amount of flexibility, thanks to his two employees; his sister, Sandy Arnicar, and his ex-wife, Marianne Parker. The two women take turns, every other day, every other weekend.\nA boy who could be 11 or 12 comes in for night crawlers. He's wearing a T-shirt, no baseball cap.\n"He's a brat," Parker said, winking at the boy who's been coming into the store for about six years. As the boy heads out the door, Parker calls, "Are you gonna behave yourself today?\nThe boy smiles, nods and heads across the street for a morning fish.\nNeighborhood youngsters pop into the store throughout the day. They aren't always fishermen. Parker keeps a stock of potato chips and snacks and a vending machine for soft drinks. In just 10 years, he's already seeing a second generation.\n"Customers bring their kids in. You hope that when they have kids, they'll bring them in and it'll carry on," said Parker.\nHe remembers when he was a kid and went fishing for the first time. He was 7, and he and a friend sneaked out to the river.\n"I cut my thumb on a pocketknife that I wasn't supposed to have on the riverbank where I wasn't supposed to be. I had to go home and tell my mom, and she took me to the emergency room, where I got seven stitches," Parker recalls. "From that day on, I just had to tell my parents where I was going. I spent a lot of time on the river. It kept me out of trouble."\nToday is a slow day -- a rare early summer morning because it rained, and fishermen tend to maintain a wait-and-see attitude if rain is in the forecast. \n"If a fisherman has to wait, he'll do those chores he's been putting off," Parker said. "They'll be in here later this afternoon."\nAnd so will Parker.\n"I enjoy this more than anything I've ever done in my life," he said. "I always like being around people."\nAnd, to Parker, fishermen are the best kind.