Lost my fishing buddy

John wrote:
My deepest condolences also to you in this time of grief.

My Dad was my fishing buddy also. Yesterday and today I spent time with my
grandsons telling them about some of Dad's fish stories. As these boys
laughed and enjoyed the tales the memories made me teary eyed just like
reading about your dad's stories did.

Best wishes.
John
"Olebiker" wrote in message
ups.com...
Let me see if I can type this without the tears shorting out the
keyboard. My Dad passed away last week at 82. He was buried with his
fishing license in his pocket along with his buckeye.

The best times I ever spent with my Dad were fishing. One morning, in
particular, stands out. It was shortly after daylight and we were in a
quiet bay on Taylorsville Lake in Kentucky. There was a light mist
coming off the water and almost no breeze. A beagle hound was running
a rabbit on a hill covered in broom sedge just above us. Dad caught
about a 2 1/2 pound bass on a spinnerbait, unhooked it, and dropped it
back in the water. He turned around, grinned at me and said, "I wonder
what Jesus is doing with the boys He DOESN'T love this morning."

The theology may not be the best but the sentiment certainly was right
on.


I'm sorry for your loss, my father just passed away, five days before
Christmas. My Dad never understood why his two son's loved Northeast
offshore canyon fishing, he was an inshore guy and never wanted to go
along, he just didn't understand what we liked about it. That was until
he came along on a trip several years ago. We headed off to Block
Canyon for an overnight trip. I was in the tower when I spotted a Blue
Marlin on the surface, we were trolling. I let everyone know as I
steered the boat in the direction of the fish, when my friend on the
bridge spotted the fish I climbed down. I pointed the fish out to my
Dad as we passed, we were no more than 20 feet away, the fish grabbed
one of the lures and took off with it, my Dad was shocked when the fish
began jumping so close to the boat, he had never seen anything like
this in his life. We lost the fish but my Dad kept talking about it, he
was like a young kid again. Later that night he got to see my brother,
his youngest son, fight the largest Bigeye tuna I have ever seen, only
to see the fish lost at the stern due to a blown gaff after a fight
that lasted over an hour on a stand up fifty. He saw schools of Squid,
Sharks and Mahi Mahi swim around the boat all night, he never imagined
their could be so much life out there. He never slept during the trip,
I think he was afraid he'd miss something. We caught our share of Tuna
and Mahi Mahi that night and headed back the next morning, Dad was
still yacking away, he'd just never experianced anything like this in
his life. Dad talked about that trip for years, he never again asked
what we liked about Canyon fishing. I think Dad wished he'd tried it
sooner, when he was younger, he could have had a lot more great times
with his son's.

So when I feel bad about our loss, I think about that trip, the look on
Dad's face, the great time we had. Let's hope their's an after life,
and the fishing's as good, I look forward to seeing that look on Dad's
face again.

John