Where the Coho Flash Silver
(Lloyd Arntzen)
In Port Hardy one morning I cast off my lines
The sea was all smooth and the weather just fine
And for Castle Rock I was headed away
Where the coho flash silver all over the bay
It was just before dawn when I reached the fish ground
And I lowered my poles and I let my lines down
And I lit up my pipe and I waited and prayed
To see the coho flash silver all over the bay
Well, the sun came up shining and so did the fish
All the bells were ringing -- what more could I wish
And the gurdies were humming; I was making it pay
Where the coho flash silver all over the bay
Well, they bit all that morning until well after two
They're so hungry they'd strike at an old leather shoe
"This has got to be heaven!" to myself I did say
Where the coho flash silver all over the bay
When I tied up that night, they asked, "How did you do?"
And I showed them silver darlings two hundred and two
They said, "Arnt, you're the high boat, the best here today
Where the coho flash silver all over the bay"
Now there's doctors and lawyers and bankers and more
And big wheels and promoters with their deals galore
But let me be a troller and king for a day
Where the coho flash silver all over the bay
"My father, Arnt Arntzen, was a commercial fisherman in
the Strait of Georgia near the coast of British Columbia.
I wrote the song in 1970 on the occasion of his 80th
birthday. He was getting on then. I used to notice him
in the winter, getting shorter and shorter. But at the
beginning of April, he'd start getting taller, because
he was busy getting the troller outfitted to be ready by
April 15, when he had to head out through the narrows.
I'd swear he had grown two feet. He was also a musician
-- he played guitar, flute, and piano accordion, and he
was a singer, although not a professional. Arnt also
loved to fish, and I wrote this song after he said that
someone should write a song about when the coho salmon
flash silver."
copyright Lloyd Arntzen
JN
oct96
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!