Funky bass savant Les Claypool, probably best known as the funny front man / bass player / singer of 90’s funkmetal madman rock trio Primus, is a passionate fisherman.

He started fishing with his father as a young kid in El Sobrante, California.

When I was growing up we didn’t have any money. I come from a long line of auto mechanics and what we did on weekends was that if I wasn’t digging or something with my dad or fixing some deck or remodeling a bathroom or whatever, we were out floating around in San Pablo Bay trying to catch sturgeon or we were out in the ocean, salmon fishing. Every year we would take camping vacations in the same spot. What do you do when you camp? A lot of fishing.

There’s an aquatic theme and references to fishing in many of his lyrics for Primus and side projects like Sausage, Oysterhead, Les Claypool and The Holy Mackerel, The Frog Brigade, Colonel Claypool’s Bucket of Bernie Brains, … Songs and artwork about water and sailing, fish and fishing are all over Les Claypool’s discography.

Hemingway wrote a lot about fishing and bullfighting. Bukowski wrote about booze and horse racing. And I just write a lot about fishing. A lot of people would call it an obsession, because it’s in everything, but I just write a lot about fishing.

Fly Fishing Around The World
Les Claypool appeared on an episode of ESPN 2’s Fly Fishing Around The World, a television program that features guest-celebrities fly-fishing. The show cuts relaxing and amusing footage with introspective interviews, all shot in the peaceful surroundings of lakes and rivers.

Les joins host John Barrett on a fly fishing trip to Henry’s Fork in Idaho in these 2 episodes of Fly Fishing Around The World

South of the Pumphouse

Les Claypool wrote a novel, titled “South of the Pumphouse” in which he tells the dark tale of two brothers and a redneck-friend on a fishing trip, drugs, misconceptions and a murder.
This link will take you to a podcast in the Authors On Tour series of Les Claypool reading excerpts from the story, telling fisherman stories and doing a QandA during the presentation of his novel.
ClaypoolPodcast.mp3

Most of my friends, they don’t know or care for what I do. One of my fishing buddies is George Siefert, who was the coach for the 49ers in all the Super Bowls and all that stuff. And you know what? When I hang out with him, we talk about fishing, because he doesn’t give a shit about what I do, and I don’t give a shit about what he does because I don’t pay attention to football. So he’s just George, and he knows where the salmon are.

Fisherman Chronicles
The Fisherman Chronicles is a three-part story, a series of songs over the course of various Primus albums about fish, fishermen and fishing experiences.

John the Fisherman (Fisherman’s Chronicles, Chapter I)

John the Fisherman tells the tragic tale of a young boy who spends his childhood dreaming of being a fisherman.

When he was young you’d not find him doing well in school,
His mind would turn unto the waters.
Always the focus of adolescent ridicule,
He has no time for farmers daughters.
Alienated from the clique society,
A lonely boy finds peace in fishing.
His mother says john this is not the way life’s supposed to be.
Don’t you see the life that you are missing?
And he says…
When I grow up I want to be,
One of the harvesters of the sea.
I think before my days are done,
I want to be a fisherman.

Now years gone by we find a man that rules the sea.
He sets out on a dark may morning .
To bring his catch back to this small community.
He doesnt see the danger dawning.
Four hours up, oh the ocean swelled and swelled,
The fog rolled in it started raining.
The starboard bow. oh my God were going down!
The do not hear his frantic mayday.
And he says
When I grow up I want to be,
One of the harvesters of the sea.
I think before my days are done,
I want to be a fisherman.
Ill live and die a fisherman.
Calling john the fisherman.

Fish On (Fisherman’s Chronicles, Chapter II)

“Fish On” tells three stories of Claypool’s own fishing experiences, about a fishing trip on Muir Beach, about Les’ father catching a six-foot long sturgeon in San Pablo Bay and about Les fishing for sharks and stingrays in Bolinas Lagoon.

Primus - Fish On

Felt a pang late one afternoon
I was fishin’ off Muir beach
With Larry LaLonde
Grabbed a tuna salad sandwich
And I started to chew
Pretty soon Ler’s yellin
Fish on. Fish on

I was just a little pup
And it was derby day
Was dad and me and Darrell
Out in San Pablo bay
Taco flavored Doritos
And my orange life vest
Dad caught a hundred pound sturgeon
On twenty-pound test
Now he fought that fish for an hour
And a half
Darrell’d say “Jump ya sons a bitch!”
And he grabbed for the gaff
When we got him in the boat
He measured six feet long
I was so danged impressed I had
To write a song called
Fish on

T’was a bright and sunny day
It was me and Todd Huth
Fishin’ shark & Stingray
Out of Bolinas Lagoon
Well hey, hey, hey I’ll be screwed,
Blued and tatooed
Looks like I got me one of them fish on
Fish on.

The Ol’ Diamondback Sturgeon (Fisherman’s Chronicles, Chapter III)

“The Ol’ Diamondback Sturgeon” tells the adventure of a sturgeon that ends up hooked onto a fishing line.

The old diamondback sturgeon came swimming along
Minding his business one day
Rooting and slipping and urging to spawn
In the mud flats of San Pablo bay…
Picked up a scent and he followed his snout
Found what was to his surprise
Was a morsel, a tidbit, a tight piece of grass shrimp
Was there right before this buck’s eyes…
The diamondback approached and he opened his mouth
And sucked up this savory fill
But then suddenly to the diamondback’s surprise
Through his lips (?) cut the cold barbed steel…
In panic the diamondback swam to the north
Swam to the east, west, and south
But the harder he swam he still could not break free
From the tugging that pulled at his mouth…
The old diamondback sturgeon came swimming along
Minding his business one dayyyyyyyy…..

I don’t think I’ll ever find what I’m looking for. I’m never content. I’m like the salmon going up the stream. I’ve got to keep moving forward.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 at 10:21 am and is filed under sporting musicians. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.