Mr. Norman Yandell is a resident of Long Beach, Mississippi, a net-maker, creator of Norm Bait handmade lures, and a lifelong fisherman on the Gulf Coast. Yandell was born on August 12, 1934, in Gladewater, Texas, to Jessie Andrew Yandell and Minnie Quave Yandell (born December 25, 1918, in Poplarville, Mississippi). Yandell moved to the Mississippi Gulf Coast as a young boy, residing with his mother and his stepfather Earl Holley (born January 1, 1916). His father was a self-employed sign-painter, and his stepfather was a net-maker who retired from the United States Army. Yandell attended St. Stanislaus Elementary School, and he was graduated from Gulfport High School in 1954. Yandell served in active duty in the United States Navy for two years, in the United States Air National Guard for three years, and in the United States Navy Reserve for six years. He began working for Mississippi Power Company, Southern Company Service, in Gulfport, Mississippi on January 2, 1957, from which he retired in 1988. On June 13, 1975, he married Tonda Kae McCarter (born June 26, 1946, in Union City, Indiana). They have five children: Yandell’s children Adela Yandell Saucier (born April 8, 1956), Tammy Yandell Frierson (born December 31, 1957), Karen Yandell McConnell (born October 16, 1960), Kenneth Earl Yandell (born May 18, 1962) and Yandell’s stepdaughter Shelley M. Rickey (born July 15, 1967). Some of his interests and activities include fishing, woodcarving, creating and producing wooden, hand-carved Norm Bait Lures (1988 through 2005), creating limited-edition, lure-collections items, making fishing nets, and teaching the art of cast-net knitting. At the time of this interview, he was teaching net-making at the Biloxi Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum. Among his awards and honors are Honor Man of Navy Boot Camp Company 1956, Jaycee of the Year 1966, and Biloxi Volunteer Recognition Award 2011. Yandell has spent a lifetime fishing along the Gulf Coast of the southern United States.

Scope and Content Note: 
He talks about fishing in the Gulf of Mexico 1930s through 2010s, fishing with nets, fishing with poles, baits, species of seafood caught, barrier islands, net-making, BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in 2010 and its effects on sea life in the Gulf of Mexico, Norm Bait handmade lures, Hurricanes Camille (1969) and Katrina (2005), BP's Vessels of Opportunity program, pollution by DuPont in Bay of St. Louis.