Reflection.

For many years my friends have called me the "Traveling fisherman". Not because I travel all over the world or all over the states but because I will drive a long way to get on fish where I know there is a very high probability they are there. I don't fish as much in winter as I used to, and even when I did fish my bank spots in winter I would most likely be the only one there...but spring and fall are different. You show up at Pickwick...Nickajack, for the spring and fall bite and it is a chance to see old fishing buddies that you may have fished with for years. Your not really friends per se but you have a common bond with each other. It is a renewal of comradeship that has been on pause for several months. Usually on my fist trip in the spring or fall to one of my spots I would wonder if so and so would be there.....or if some of my fishing buddies who were on up in years would still be around for that one last bite before they really had to quit walking the banks. Sometimes you would enquire about someone and find out they had passed on. Sometimes you would be looking for a person and he would never show and none of the other group knew anything about him. I always looked forward to seeing everyone as much as I did the fishing. I remember one year I had fell at Pickwick and tore my rotator cuff pretty bad. I was absent from there a long time. Upon my eventual return several of my fishing buddies would come up to me with big smiles and remark they had wondered where I had been and they were sure glad to see me and were happy to know all was OK. I can remember doing the same when the shoe was on the other foot....you'd be sitting in those rocks and wonder about old Jack and why he wasn't there. Then you would look up and see him coming down the rocks and you would get a big smile...knowing all was OK..he had just been absent for a while. The other day while fishing on my birthday there was a man there that I had never met. There had also been a noticeable absence of a guy I had fished with each spring and fall at Nickajack for the past 6 years. I struck up a conversation with the man and asked him if he knew Jamie who had been absent for the last 3 weeks. He did...he knew him well. I asked him why he had not been fishing and was told my fishing buddy is now home bound...unable to leave the house...much less fish. It saddened me....and maybe even more so because it was my birthday.....it made me think I was slowly getting up there in age. My fishing buddy is not that old....just bad health issues hit suddenly. I know that can happen to any of us at anytime. When I first started fishing at this spot no one was around there. I continued to fish it and about two weeks later Jamie showed up. He never treated me as an outsider. He shared info like not many would. Every year when I would make my first run back there, if he was not there fishing on that day he would see my truck and stop by just to say hello. Since he lived very close by he would more than likely always be there when I would arrive after a lengthy drive. Many times he and 3 of my other buddies down there would be on a spot that is really only big enough for maybe two people to stand on, yet Jamie would say "Come on in here we will make room". There we would be literally standing shoulder to shoulder catching crappie almost on every cast. I will miss my "fishing buddy". To all who are young...and old....who read this, fish as much as you can when you can go. We never know when the fishing will be taken away from us.


Regards

Awesome ! Thanks for sharing

Very nice post, thanks for taking the time!!

Wow man, great post. I'm 46, so hopefully still have a few years roughing it on the rocks - but I see fishing the banks, seeing the same faces, and running the same ground in search of "the thump" much the same way you do.

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A very good post Alpha. Doing what I do, I have too much time to ponder things at length. I have lost a few friends, some fishing buddies, and some family. None of these were easy. I have had a post floating around in my head for some time that I will title "Chapters". At this stage of our time here we can think back and see how things went a certain way for a given time and for no certain reason, one chapter ended and another took shape and progressed. Un-noticed at the time. I can name off a few that some members would recognize, and at one time the thought of them not being there never entered my mind. But leave they did as we all must. We are given blessings all the time. If we're lucky we can enjoy their company for many years. Someone told me when I was much younger that friendship has different ways of coming into your life. Some come for a reason, some come for a season, and some stay for life. I feel extra fortunate that I get to fish with some of mine and make memories that make me smile when I think back on some of the things we've done together, or a conversation we've had. I give thanks for them. It also keeps the Wife wondering why I smile at the oddest of times. Also priceless.

Thanks for sharing a great post.

Over the years I have learned fishing is not about catching fish as it is about people you meet and get to fish with. I get more satisfaction helping others to catch fish than me catching them.Some of my best friends I meet fishing.

Great post! I have lost my two favorite fishing buddies, my father and my uncle. Both left this world too soon due to illnesses cause by being uranium miners. There are others that I no longer get to fish with due to living many miles apart. We talk and share stories on the phone
While that's the best we can do, it in no way replaces the time we would spend if we lived closer. These days most of my fishing buddies I have never met in person, just get to share the adventures here @crappie.com.

Alphahawk,
This post reminds us all that we have a lot to think about and even more to be thankful for while we are fishing. Thank you and Skeetbum for taking the time to share these thoughts with us all.

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Awesome stories guys. I love the post that make us think, and appreciate all that we have.

That was a great article. Brought tears to my eyes. I have a couple of buddies down here on the rivers, two of which I don't even know their names, but we see each other on the river quite often, smile, ask about the catch, trade a bait, say see ya next time, and are gone. I have friends back home on the east Texas lakes that I fish like that too. One elderly gentlemen I see all the time, he says I am the only person he knows that fishes as much as he does. Fishing is what we have in common and that is enough.