Thread: Last Fishing Trip

Folks, if you didn't see this on the main forum, it was worth reading to me. Got me to thinking a lot. Thought I'd share it here as well.
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/georg...hing-trip.html

Thanks for sharing what's been locked up in my heart for some time. I have a 95 year old father-in-law that's been a fisherman most of his adult life. He work on the water skippering boats in the oilfields of South La. He was heavy into saltwater fishing which was the only real fishery around here at the time. He got into bass fishing when no one new what a bass was, they were called green trout by locals who accidentally caught them brim fishing. He was introduced to bass fishing by reading Field and Stream that some of the oilfield people brought out with them. He made friends readily and soon had a bunch of out of state buddies who came down here just to fish with him. He had little money to spend on fishing supplies, he had 13 kids to feed, but he always found a way to get on a fellows good side and secure some tackle from them. He learned to repair and repaint old plugs which were his favorite to use, especially top water ones. I remember dropping in at his house to visit his beautiful daughter (my wife) and see him unload a cooler full of 3 and 4 pound bass. Now when I say full, I'm talking to the brim and that was just a morning fishing trip. These were times before limits and no one had a clue what catch and release was. These fish were food for the family.

Now all he can do is remember and tell stories. I wish there was a place nearby to take him fishing that wouldn't require a long car ride or boat ride. A nice pier would be great but I'm afraid it hopeless unless I could find someone with a private pond nearby.

So as the original poster put it, enjoy every minute you're out there and enjoy everything. Linda and I do every time we go. It's more than fishing to us, it's being together building memories for we both know there is a time when we to will have to hang up our rods one last time. That will be a sad day in our lives but then we will have the memories.

"gene"

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Thanks for the link.. Most people just take it for granted and don't even think about it. There are many times where I am out on the lake wishing my Dad was still around so we could fish together, so many memories made, but so many missed also... A while back I was able to take my friends dad out to the lake with me, who was also my dad's best friend most of his life. It was a real treat to me to be able to teach an old dog new tricks. He went shopping after we got home and bought him an 11 ft rod and a bunch of jigs and jigheads so that he would be ready for the next trip. It is a great feeling to take an elderly person fishing, just seeing them enjoy themselves, even if the fishing is slow.