I have spent many summers in the state of Alabama with my grandparents over the years. Every time I was there for any length of time I would make sure that my grandfather and I got at least one chance to hit the river.
Being a dairy farmer, it is extremely hard to get time away from the farm to do the things he enjoys most, fishing and spending time with the kids. Through the years we have had some great days on the river, filling the live well full of crappie and a few occasional bass. The crappie fishing is always the most fun. It doesn’t take much skill to hook a minnow and bobber, then just sit and wait. The real skill came in knowing when and where to go to catch them, granddad always had his secret places that the fish just seemed to jump into the boat!
I remember the last time we went fishing together. I was in my late 20′s, married and a couple of kids already here. We went down for a summer vacation and he was getting on in years by then. He was glad to hook the boat to the truck and hit the river. We got up that early morning, loaded the boat, got breakfast, and made our way in the darkness to the water. I remember him slapping me on my leg and laughing, he would always do that when you least expected it. Man did that sting! He would laugh and say what’s the matter son? I would grin at him and we would both laugh. Somewhere along the way we would stop at a filling station as he called them, and we would get a moon pie, Dr. Pepper and a pack of crackers. That was our fishing snacks that we used to take. We put in and headed to one of his favorite fishing spots. Before long we were catching the crappie as usual. But it wasn’t about the fish we caught that day. It was about the time spent together. I knew deep inside that he didn’t have many years left, and truly I didn’t know how many times he would ever get back down to the water. If we were ever fortunate enough to catch a bunch, we would fry up a mess of fish for dinner that evening!
Granddad was always happiest when he was in his boat on the river. I can still see him smiling as we whipped across the water in that old brown bass boat. Yesterday, I had the great fortune of spending father’s day with my two boys on the Bad River near St. Charles, MI fishing for catfish. This was the 2nd year in a row we did this for father’s day. As I looked back at Michael my oldest boy, as he was driving the boat, I couldn’t help but think of how proud granddad would have been to see his great grandson driving a boat on a fishing trip. I did a lot of thinking yesterday while I was on the river, and most of it was thinking of granddad. What a great day.
He has been gone over 9 years now, and I still think of him often. He taught me a lot in life, and I hope I can pass it on to my boys. I know your sitting up there in heaven somewhere granddad, and I just want to wish you a happy father’s day! I miss ya!
