I adore this song. Henry Thomas has such a great voice and those pan pipes between verses are the perfect touch.

I play it in A with a lot of sus2's thrown in for the A's and D's.

  A
  Went up the hill about 12 o'clock
    

D
  Reach right back and got me a pole
    

A
  Went to the hardware got me a hook
    

A                      E       A
  Thread that line right on that hook
    

A
  Said, you been fishing all the time
    

D                   A
  I'm a-going fishing too
    

A
  I bet your life, your loving wife
    

E                       (bass walk-up back to...)
  Catch more fish than you
    

A
  Any fish bite, you got good bait
    

D
  Here's a little something I would like to relate    

A
  Any fish bite, you got good bait
    

A                    D
   I'm a-going fishing, yes, I'm going fishing,
    

A           E       A
  I'm a-going fishing too
  

(If you can whistle the melody between verses, everyone will love you.)

I also wrote a couple of lines to fill out that last verse.

  Put on the skillet, never mind your lid
  Mama gonna cook 'em with the short'ning bread 
  Eat 'em down by the river side
  Lay in the sun an' rest my eyes