Fishin with Dad

[Btuvi]

FISHING WITH DAD

There have been times in my life when my Dad took me fishing, when I went fishing with my Dad, when we went fishing together, and when I took him fishing.

I grew up on the water and have a sense of ?fishing? from the earliest age. This ?sense? is backed up by family stories about when I caught my first croaker, or hooked a large oyster shell and fought it for the longest time, or the time I jumped overboard to play with a hooked fish in his environment. That caused a stir.

My actual earliest memory is when I was four and my Dad took me fishing and I caught all the fish and my Dad caught nothing. He was busy baiting my hook. He was attentive and helpful in every way. We both had a ball and created a wonderful memory.

At age 10 I went fishing with my Dad. This was a different story. My Dad tried to fish and was frustrated when I got a backlash with every cast and he had to help me unravel it. I couldn?t seem to do anything right and everything I did interfered with what he was doing. I stopped going with him.

In my late teens we started fishing together. I knew something about it then and we fished as equals. Once we went fishing on the Gulf pier in Pensacola. There was a father and son team fishing close to us. The father fussed at his kid all the time. The boy could do nothing right. Finally fed up he walked away from his Dad and fished near us. My Dad helped him when he got snagged or had some other problem. He was attentive and helpful.

At one point my Dad said, ?Son, I hope I didn?t treat you the way that man treats his son when you were that age.? I told him he had and that was why I had stopped going with him. He was surprised and hurt.

I took my girlfriend for her first fishing experience when I was in my early twenties. I asked my Dad to come along. The girl could do nothing right. I got frustrated and fussed at her because she was keeping me from fishing. She was miserable and so was I. Finally my Dad said, ?Son, do you remember when we fished the Pensacola pier and met that father and son team?? I said, ?Yes, I do.? I put down my rod and focused on helping the girl have a good time. I was attentive and helpful. I didn?t catch any fish that day. But sharing my girlfriend?s excitement as she caught fish made the trip a wonderful success for both of us.

My father?s timely reminder taught me an important lesson. I could fish or I could help a novice. I couldn?t do both. That lesson has stayed with me and has been most beneficial. I have had at least as much fun helping others as I have had catching fish myself. Sometimes more.

Thanks, Dad.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Fishin with Dad

My hero, when I was a kid, was my grandfather - my mom's dad. He lived on a salt water pond in Rhode Island that had access to the ocean, via a breachway. We spent all of our summers there, and spent most every day fishing, crabbing, digging quahogs (clams), water skiing and going to the beach. My grandfather patiently taught us how to do all of those things.

My brother and I each had a small skiff with a small motor. I think I remember one being a 5.5 hp Johnson and the other being a 7.5 hp Evinrude. My sister was more of a sailor so she had a 14' sailboat, which was named after her. The 'big boat," my grandfather's 14' cold molded mahogany runabout, had an Evinrude 18hp, then a Johnson 28hp, a Chrysler 35hp, and finally, a Johnson 40hp. The motors grew in size as we did, and more horsepower was needed for water skiing!

Among the things that I remember are the smell of the "salt air" and photos of striped bass that were as big as we were at ages 5 or 6. I also remember huge fluke, caught "outside" (in the ocean) just like the stripers, bushel baskets full of blue crabs, clams, mussels, and whatever else we might happen to catch that was edible. And when my grand-dad made clam chowder (always broth chowder, never milk), the rule was that you never touched it until the second day! He would make it, put it in the fridge and leave it for at least 24 hours to let the potatos, onions, etc., soak in the flavor of the broth. If you touched that chowder too soon, there was an uproar in the house!

For dessert, there was usually an apple pie with "store cheese," which was nothing more than extra sharp chedder, but we thought was some sort of special cheese that could only be purchased in that town! We also loved trips to the old fashioned country store where my grandfather bought the cheese, along with the rest of the store-bought groceries. The usual routine was to stop at the store, shop and be rewarded for being good by being allowed to pick out two cents worth of penny candy, which at that time really cost a penny!

When I think of all of this, I think of the movie "Summer of 42," minus all the drama. If anyone has seen it, and remembers the softly lit scenes of old fashoned cottages, sand dunes, and the simple life of the time, that's pretty much what our experience was. The only difference was that our adventures began about ten years later.

The best part of it all, is that neither my grandfather or my parents were wealthy by most standards. We were able to do all of these things simply because it was a different time and a different economy. My grand-daddy bought his property in the 20's for about $50 a lot, and he built his own house - twice, because the 1938 New England hurricane knocked the first one down, and washed it away! I have no memory of what gasoline cost at the time but I would guess about 20 - 25 cents a gallon, and everything else was inexpensive.

Every time I take my young son out in the boat to show him the alligators (which he calls hal-i-gators), how to fish, and how to enjoy the water, I think of my grandfather and what he gave to me. My son is actually adopted and so was my mother, so I can't help but reflect on the specialness of the relationship - I am very simply reminded of why I took this child into my life, every time I think about how special that old man was to me.

 

[Btuvi]

Re: Fishin with Dad

Jay, what great memories. Allow me to refer you to Uncle's Boats in Dumbest tricks - or whatever it's called.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Fishin with Dad

LOL - already read it - see my post there. The comments that I made about getting "busted" for running down the beach for clamcakes, was in the place that I just spoke off.