Fishing Friends

Sunday, April 27 found me up early; I was in the woods a bit after 6am looking for the same two gobblers I had watched the day before. If you think turkey hunting is easy…you probably haven’t hunted enough because these two big Toms had a few hens with them and while they were close (about 70 yards) they wouldn’t close the final 30 yards or so for me to pull the trigger…thus I was back the following day. I only had a little over an hour to hunt because I wanted to leave in time to make church so truth is my ‘sweet-nothings’ weren’t enticing enough to get these big birds to walk my way and around 7:30am I snuck out of the woods…this story to be continued at another time.

The 27^th was one beautiful day…might just call it perfect and after church I loaded up the Suburban, stopped by and picked up my son-in-law Jeremy Moore, dumped him off at one point on the stream, picked up Frank from our final destination, dropped him off at another point on the stream, drove back up stream a bit, parked the car, grabbed my rod and was off for an afternoon adventure chasing smallmouth. I dropped Frank off about an hour and a half ahead of me so that he could have a head start; I tend to fish quicker than Frank and probably I should as he has me by some 17 years in age!

What I have found with Frank is that what he lacks in speed he makes up for in desire and tenacity. Just recently, the past two weeks, he has caught a 17 and 20 inch smallmouth. You may not know your fish but around here…anything over 15 inches is a pretty good fish and regardless of where you are…a 20 inch smallie is quite the trophy.

Now you may know Frank as the nice hardware guy, or lawnmower salesman at Ellettsville True Value; that is the case and if you haven’t yet stopped in to ask a hardware question…then please do so because you will get a hint of the guy I actually know. Frank is what I often describe to my students at school when I give them advice for the kind of person they are looking for when choosing friends; simply put, he’s one of the nicest guys I have known and treats others like he would want to be treated.

You may have picked up on the fact that through the years I have (still do) give Frank a hard time on a wide variety of subjects from his age, to his casting, to his giant “Black and Decker” sunglasses…while functional they open the door to lots of smirk comments. My mom always told me while growing up that if someone is making fun of you that means they like you; now, that is hard to believe as a small boy with bright red hair…but she was right, I only hassle Frank because I have come to know him as a true friend and I guess that gives me license to extend a rib jabbing from time to time.

I believe that each one of us needs a friend or two just like Frank. Someone that can be trusted, counted on and there for you…not on the good days but on those days when things just don’t fit together. Someone who understands your ups and downs; in my case a person who ‘gets’ why I love fly fishing so much!

On this last Sunday in April I hustled along and in about an hour and 45 minutes came around the bend, caught a glimpse of a guy there in saggy waders, fishing hat a bit askew, one wader strap all bungled up in the back, with no idea that I was behind him. I quickly thought of hot-footing it down the other side of the island in the middle of the creek and just asking where he had been…or like before, hiding a bit and just chucking a rock or two in his direction. Either way I knew it wouldn’t bother him and that he’d know who was the ‘rascal’ involved in such trickery; it was at that moment that I knew what a good friend I had in my buddy Frank. I hope that you too can relate to our friendship…that you have a person or two in your inner circle that understands you for the silly and almost stupid things that we can all do from time to time…I hope that this person is someone that you can spend time taking in nature all while Enjoying the Great Outdoors.

You can watch the short 6 minute video of me landing two nice 17 inch smallies while on our afternoon fishing trip. Just click here to see it the video entitled Late April Smallies.