Fishing the South Fork of the Solomon River in Kansas is a family tradition
for Olin Hyde and his grandsons Owen (center) and Eli (left).
Following Family Tradition
by Brent Frazee
A passion for catfishing is passed down in these Kansas families.
River water nourishes Olin Hyde’s family tree. For as long as he can remember, his family has been fishing the narrow South Fork of the Solomon River that runs behind his farm in north-central Kansas.
Now 70 years of age, Hyde remembers his dad taking him fishing on the river almost every weekend. Two generations later, he delights in taking his grandkids fishing on the same river, not far from where he got his start.
“I’ve been fishing that river for at least 60 years,” Hyde said. “I grew up in town (in Osborne, Kansas) but we were only three blocks away. As soon as my mom and dad trusted me to go off by myself, I was fishing on the river.”
It was a great lifestyle, Hyde said, and it’s one he passed down to his children and now his grandchildren.
There are few things better in life, he said, than spending a few hours on the small river with one of his nine grandkids, trying to catch a few channel cats.
“Some of them don’t like the mud too much, so they don’t fish with me,” he said with a chuckle. “But the others really enjoy it. They’ll call me and tell my they’re headed to the farm, and they say, ‘We want to go fishing.’ I get the rods and the stinkbait out, and I’ll be ready for them.”
It’s a setting far from the world of big boats, expensive electronics and fancy equipment. It’s more like something out of “The Andy Griffith Show”—you know, where Andy and his son Opie, walk to the fishing hole with their poles slung over their shoulders.
The South Fork of the Solomon near where it meets with Waconda Lake (or Glen Elder as it often is called) is just a tame prairie stream. It has suffered during recent drought years, dropping to just a couple feet deep in spots. But the channel cats hold in the holes, and that’s where the family fishes.
“We’ll just go from hole to hole, and we’ll usually catch some channel cats,” Hyde said.
A Family Tradition
The fishing is best after a heavy rain, when Mother Nature will recharge the river, and the channel cats will move from the reservoir into the tributary.
Hyde’s daughter, Trish Oviatt, developed a love for fishing on that small river. Now she has passed down a love for fishing to her two sons, Owen, 11, and Eli, 10.
She has fond memories of her childhood, when she would traipse along with her dad and granddad to go fishing. She and her sister Maria and her brother Tony, who has passed away, would fish almost every weekend, either on the river or farm ponds. Sometimes those trips turned into large family outings.
“I remember one time when we were fishing with my cousins and grandpa,” she said. “One of the boys grabbed a frog, and he went right over to his sister, who was sunbathing, and dropped it on her. Needless to say, she wasn’t too happy.”
Trish’s husband, Heath, was brought up in a neighboring town, and he, too, loved the outdoors, fishing and hunting with his dad and grandad. They married and settled in Lyons, Kansas, but they still return to their roots to make sure their kids are exposed to the outdoors lifestyle with family.
“Most of the channel cats are a pound and a half to three pounds. Nothing huge,” Hyde said. “But the kids love fishing for them.”
More Family History
Matt Fox’s family was brought up in Indiana. But it eventually dug up its roots and replanted them in the Kansas Flint Hills.
“My grandfather was a big upland gamebird hunter,” said Fox, who lives in Council Grove, Kansas “He hunted in the Flint Hills a few times and just loved it. He moved the family here, and I’m glad he did.
“We have an outdoors lifestyle. We’re doing something outdoors every season, whether it be hunting quail or deer in the fall, catching crappie or hunting for morels in the spring or running limb lines for catfish in the summer.”
Fox’s five-year-old son Knute is enthusiastically following in his dad’s footsteps. He tags along with his father on trips big and small. He already has helped his dad land big halibut in Alaska and big brown trout on Arkansas’ White River. But what he talks about most are the big flathead catfish he helps his dad catch on the Neosho River, not far from where the Foxes live.
“We like to fish on the Neosho River, and Knute catches the bait,” Fox said. “Then we go out and catch some big flatheads and channels. Knute always talks about wanting to go out and catch a river monster.”
Family Honors
Both the Oviatt boys and Knute Fox were recognized for their achievements in the Summer Long Family Fun Fishing Contest run by Phil Taunton of Council Grove, Kansas, a longtime advocate of getting kids and families outdoors.
In the national contest, Taunton has the families email a photo of their catch and a short essay expressing their love of fishing. He received 760 entries from several states last year and many stories about families passing down a love of fishing from generation to generation.
“It’s fun to see how many kids and their families are developing a love of the outdoors,” said Taunton. “We’re going into our fifth year and our entries go up every year.”
This year’s contest, open to kids ages 17 and under, will begin in June. Weekly prizes will be awarded in several categories.
For more information, contact Taunton at youthfishingks@gmail.com.
(Brent Frazee is an award-winning outdoors writer from Kansas City, Missouri. He was the outdoors editor for The Kansas City State for 36 years before retiring in 2016. He continues to freelance for websites, magazines, newspapers and other outlets.)
