Category Archives: Coleman GA

Each time I’ve been through Coleman, I’ve seen these “fish bait trees”. The Catalpa tree (Catalpa bignonioides) hosts a caterpillar which is widely considered one of the great fish baits of the rural South. When I was growing up, these trees could be found on nearly every farm, but today they’re increasingly rare. By the way, Catalpa originates from Catawba, a tribe of Native Americans who lived near the present-day North Carolina/South Carolina border. The Catawbas were known as one of the most fearsome tribes of their day.