Thread: Greatest Job Ever! report*

I’ve held a ton of jobs in my life. Some of them were good, some not so good. As a youth I trimmed Christmas trees. As a result, I cannot stand the smell of a live pine tree! I guided canoe trips on the pine river one year. That was fun. I was a ski instructor in the winter time as well as a Ski Patrol member. Again, that was a fun job. I did logging for a while, construction, and even spent four years training to kill people (Marines). Hands down though, the best job I’ve ever had is being a father.

Being a dad isn’t a 9 to 5 job. It doesn’t come with any fringe benefits. In terms of a dollar value, it actually costs you money. The payback however is being afforded the ability to shape and mold your child to be a good, polite, kind person. To be a better version of yourself. Your payback is the opportunity to watch them grow and develop.

For father’s day, I don’t want any gifts. I don’t need time to get away and do the special things I want to do without anyone around. All I really want is to continue to spend time with my daughter, pass on the things I enjoy, and hope that she will continue to enjoy doing them with me.

With the weather forecast being perfect, and it being Father’s Day weekend, I knew that the local boat launches would be packed. Throw in a large veterans fishing event scheduled for Sunday and a massive number of boats involved with pre-fishing at the mouth of the Saginaw River on Saturday, I knew that the key to success would be to get there early.

Abby and I left the house at 3:30am, made one stop for fuel, and made it to the boat launch at 5:45. We were greeted with zero people in front of us and a clear launch. We were on the water and at our fishing spot around 6:15. We picked up two walleye very quickly (before we had three rods set) and then proceeded to catch everything but walleye. I told her that we were way earlier than usual and the fishing would pick up after 8:30 in the morning. She couldn’t make it that long however and decided a nap was in order:


About the time of her nap, I moved out slightly and proceeded to play Chinese fire drill in the back of the boat. At one time I think I only had one rod in the water. By the time she woke from her nap, I had 11 walleyes in the box and we only needed 5 more to make our limit.

For the next hour we picked away, caught a bunch of small fish, and she caught her first Master Angler White Bass.



By 11am, we needed one more walleye to make our limit. We had put almost 40 walleyes over the rail, upgraded a lot of fish in our box, and had a great time. The sun was getting high, it was getting hot, and we were ready to be done. I told her we were missing something… “Music”. No sooner did I turn on the tunes when three rods took off. We boated three more walleyes, threw one in the box, and called it our limit. She helped me reel in the rods and, as luck would have it, one of the last rods had another fish. We were able to upgrade our box further and end our day on a high note.



We boated just over 40 walleyes, probably close to 100 freshwater drum, 4 perch, 3 white bass, 3 catfish, and used almost 6 dozen night crawlers. I got to enjoy a day on the water and spend time with my daughter doing one of my favorite activities. There is not a finer first mate out there.

Someday, I hope she will be taking me fishing on Father’s day, using what she learned, and putting me on tons of fish. Until that time, daddy knows how to find them and how to catch them!