Kenneth Arnold at first glance looked like a man lost at sea.
He carried a fishing pole and a bucket of lores and line down a Ben Franklin Parkway packed with thousands dressed for a July 4 concert and festival.
But this is exactly where the 67-year-old Army veteran wanted to be. After several hours fishing for striped bass on the Schuylkill River, he planned to find a comfortable seat and catch some tunes.
"I only caught small ones, so I threw them back," Arnold, of South Philly, said near a secondary music stage at 22nd and the Parkway. "Now, I'm looking for a seat. Concert starts soon."
He's been to the festival for a few years now. Later tonight, he'll catch a bus back to his apartment near 20th and Federal streets.
He's been fishing the Schuylkill in the area behind the Art Museum for almost 60 years, he said.
His father and uncle were boxers in the 1940s. His uncle, Billy Arnold, lost a fight to Rocky Graziano in 1945 that likely cost him a world title.
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Kenneth Arnold, the fisherman, served in the Army during Vietnam. But he shattered his entire right side in a parachuting accident and spent the war in Nuremberg, Germany.
"I had never left the country. I wanted to see the world," he said.
Now, he leaves South Philly a few days a week to fish -- shad in the spring, striped bass in the summer.
"I'm going to find a seat, put this stuff down and listen to some music," he said.
