Featured photo by Glynn Harris: A crowd gathers to watch the weigh-in at a Caney Lake Bass tourney, won one year by Gene Amons, a deaf angler.
As an outdoor writer, I have been blessed to get to interview some famous folks and others, not so famous who have impressed me the most. Twenty-plus years ago, I had the privilege of interviewing a bass angler who was born deaf and without the ability to speak.
I was tournament director for an annual event held on Caney Lake each July 4th weekend when Gene Amons won the event. I wrote a column about my interview with him and here is a summary of that interview.
Sometimes it’s just too noisy out there on the lake. Jet skis roaring by; wind whipping up waves that slap incessantly against your boat; the raspy cawing of a fish crow or the squawking of a heron. The din can cause an angler to lose his concentration while trying to entice a bass to bite.
Overall winner of the tournament that weekend with a bass weighing nearly 8 pounds was Gene Amons, a retired machinist from Georgetown.
When Amons won the event this year, the journalist in me came to the forefront; I wanted to interview him because I felt his story would be an interesting one. There is one problem; how do you interview someone who cannot hear or speak?
Amons has never heard a jet ski; waves slapping against the boat; a crow or a heron. He was born deaf and lives in a world of total silence.
Thanks to modern technology, I found myself with a wealth of information about this remarkable man and why he is so successful not only on the lake but in the woods hunting deer and squirrels as well.
I learned that Amons and his wife, who is also deaf, have a telephone and they communicate by way of a relay operator. I dialed 711, give the relay operator his number and within a few seconds, I was conversing with Amons via the relay operator. She typed in what I had to say, which Amons read on a screen next to his phone. He then typed his response which the relay operator read back to me, and so it went. It was not the easiest interview I ever conducted but undoubtedly, the most intriguing. Here is some of the information I learned during the interview.
Amons was introduced to fishing by a deaf friend who took him on a crappie fishing trip. At that point, Amons had no idea that deaf people could be successful at fishing. Perhaps it was fate that caused Amons to inadvertently catch a bass that day.
“My friend told me to throw it back; it was a ‘trash’ fish. However, there was something about catching that bass that excited me. Later,” Amons said, “I started fishing for bass on a creek back home. I figured I was getting pretty good at it when folks would begin asking what the ‘deaf’ kid was catching all the bass on.”
Amons is also an avid deer and squirrel hunter, having taken his limit of six deer each year for the past 15 seasons. He often comes out of the squirrel woods with a limit.
I asked Amons why he thinks he is so successful as a bass angler and hunter.
“I have always enjoyed success in both fields. The success comes from confidence and perseverance. Lures come and go; fish come and go; patterns change and the days get long. It is the confidence in my ability to adapt that allows me to stay on top of the game. I enjoy the reaction of folks when they think about how much they depend on their sense of hearing and their reaction at seeing how a guy without it can succeed.”
The interview was admittedly a challenge but the end result far exceeded my expectations. No doubt, Gene Amons is a skilled angler and hunter but even more, he is, quite simply, a remarkable human being.