A tribute to my late father.

[TapOut64]

Four weeks ago today I lost my father to lung cancer at the age of 75. (yes, unfortunately, he was a life long smoker) Today I finished my tribute to him in my family room.



A closer look at the cross stitch that he made himself.



And a picture of him in 1992 with a 14" crappie that he was quite proud of.



I used one of his rods and his Mitchell 300 reel with one of his bobbers, split shot, and hooks as this was his primary way to fish for crappie. For me I used a Mitchell 301 that he got me in the 70's with a 1oz sinker and my primary jig that I use for tight lining.

My father spent 20 years in the Air Force and introduced me to crappie fishing in the late 60's while he was stationed in Wichita, Kansas. We spent fours years at Aviano Air Force Base in Italy from 70-74 after which he retired from the Air Force and we moved to Sharpsville, PA and fished Shenango Reservoir together for the next 9 years until I joined the Coast Guard. We only fished from shore as he did not get a boat until after I joined the Coast Guard. I have found out from the Pennsylvania forum that Shenango Reservoir is one of the better crappie reservoirs in the state. I never knew how good I had it living only 10 minutes away. My father's boat had "Crappie Only" written on the back of it and to this day it's my motto as well.

I'd like to thank Crappie.com as I fish every weekend and I would always take pictures and post a report in the Virginia forum and send him a link to my thread as he was unable to fish in his later years due to his failing health.