A guy I work with occasionally told me that his son was interested in fishing, but neither knew what they were doing. The guy (who doesn't fish) was going to buy the boy some tackle, yet was clueless about what to get. I had him hold off and sifted through my rod locker. I've been fishing since I was 2 years old (62 years) and have more than enough tackle to last me a couple lifetimes. I went to the WalMart and bought the boy a tackle box, pliers, a stringer, and loaded the box with jigs, crankbaits, jerkbaits, of all sizes and spinnerbaits from beetlespins up to bass sized double willowleafs. I also pulled 3 rods from the rod locker (spincast, spinning, and a baitcaster), put fresh line on each, then dropped it all off on the porch at their house. The man called me in tears and said his son was overjoyed and that it also just happened to be the boy's birthday (I had no idea). They have 5 children and don't have a lot of extra money for extra things, yet they still tried to pay me for it. When I explained that I was happy to help him on his fishing journey and I wasn't going to miss it.

The White Bass run is about to kick off here & once I get on them good, I'll have the boy and his father meet me down at the river for some serious ketchn'. I think about how many people helped me when I was coming up, so continuing to pay it forward is the just right thing to do.

Jim