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My granddad's town in Ohio still has a law about not singing while fishing
I was visiting family back in August and my uncle mentioned this old ordinance in Millersburg that says you can't sing or hum while you're fishing from the banks of the Killbuck Creek. Apparently from like the 1890s or something. I mean idk if anyone actually enforces it but we were joking about getting ticketed for whistling while reeling in a bluegill. Made me think of how many weird laws just sit there forever because nobody bothers to remove them. Has anyone else found a law in their area that's just funny to think about?
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samk771mo ago
...and that's exactly the kind of law you'd expect from a town that's probably still mad about someone catching a fish while humming "Camptown Races" in 1892. I mean, seriously, who thought "no singing while fishing" was a bigger problem than, say, not having a fire department or something? My guess is some grumpy old mayor got annoyed by a kid whistling and decided to ruin everyone's fun for the next hundred years. You just know there's a guy in Millersburg who still angrily shushes anyone who hums near the water, just out of pure spite.
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aaron_mitchell1mo agoTop Commenter
Honestly @samk77, I get the joke but there's actually some logic here - trout can hear pretty well underwater and loud noises really do spook them, so the 1870s rule made more sense than it sounds.
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jamieb801mo ago
Actually read an article about this last week - turns out the law dates back to the 1870s when they had a real problem with people scaring off the stocked trout by yelling and singing too loud near the fishing holes. Still a silly law to keep on the books though, you'd think by now they could trust folks to fish quietly.
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