Outdoor Life With Tess Maune: Carrying On The Fish Gigging Tradition

Fish gigging is a deeply rooted tradition in parts of Northeastern Oklahoma, where on any given night the creek banks just outside of Jay are packed with people and filled with laughter.

“It's fun for everybody," said lifelong fish gigger Ron Weise. “Trying to keep it alive, we've worked hard at it for a long time.”

The best gigging is after dark, but the fun still starts before the sun goes down with kids fishing and catching crawdads, while everyone else gets ready for what the end of the night will hopefully bring.

“We cook taters, we cook fish and we sit around and have a good time,” said Ryker Weise. 

But before a fish fry, we have to get the fish. Actually... gig them. That's a primitive way to harvest certain fish, using a long wooden handle with three prongs at the end.

It's a lifestyle that goes back four generations in the Wiese family.

“I remember loading up with dad and my grandpa,” Cale Weise said. 

Now Cale is loading up the boat with his own two kids, eight-year-old Laiklyn and 10-year-old Ryker, a two-time Green Country Giggers Association Youth Tournament champion.       

“Last year I had 46 fish in 45 minutes,” said Ryker. 

This is a family of pros, who packed their patience teaching News On 6’s Tess Maune, a first-timer, how it's done.  

Tess had multiple failed attempts and even threw the handle in a few times, but with some top-notch coaching from Ryker and Cale, she gigged her first fish.

“As it turns out, I’m not a natural,” Tess said. “These guys make it look easy, but I learned it’s not as easy as it looks.”

The Wiese family does this several nights a week and they go all out each time, throwing a big fish fry right on the bank of the creek. 

“You're fixing to have the best part of the whole deal,” Cale said.

It starts with Cale and his dad are doing the hard work, cleaning every fish we got. They use a technique called “scoring.”

“You're basically cutting up the bones small enough that they'll fry up so when you eat 'em, you're eating the bone, but they're small enough they just crunch up,” said Cale. “It's very important to me, I don't like to see fish wasted in any way, shape or form.”

And nothing went to waste on this night.

The idea was for Tess to give fish gigging a try, but she left with the understanding, that the gigging is really just a small part of it.

It's about making memories with those who matter most and carrying on a tradition that means so much.

“Every time we go, the whole family's invited,” Cale said. “Take a kid giggin' or in the outdoors... anything to do with the outdoors, if we don't take the little ones, it's not gonna make it.” 

The Green Country Giggers Association is celebrating its 50th year anniversary and hosting its Annual Fish Gigging Tournament on April 8th and 9th on Lake Eucha in Delaware County.

Please Hyperlink “Green Country Giggers Association”

https://www.facebook.com/Green-Country-Giggers-Association-1526506277616273