I used to be a much better crappie fisherman...
I have realized something over the last several weeks: I used to be a much better crappie fisherman than I am now.
Back before my father-in-law got diagnosed with cancer, we used to fish together nearly every Saturday. His only children were two daughters and, when I married the oldest, I became the son he never had. He taught me everything I know about crappie fishing and, had I listened better, I would know much more than I do!
Back then, I learned that the main key to catching crappie was to watch him and do whatever he did. If he reeled slow, so did I. If he changed jig colors, so did I. If he went with a minnow trailer, so did I. When he started twitching his rod tip in a particular cadence, I watched closely and imitated exactly what he was doing... It worked! He caught more fish than me almost every time out but I caught plenty of fish by mimicking whatever he did.
Then cancer destroyed his body, though it never broke his soul, and eventually he went to his eternal reward. For a couple of years after he died, I did very little fishing. However, this spring I broke down and bought a good boat for me and my boys (12 &14) and decided to pick back up the fishing poles.
I have to admit, I was a better crappie fisherman when "Pop" was sitting in the front of the boat! Just about every time I get out there on the water I find myself wishing I had listened closer, watched a little better, and learned a little more about what it takes to catch those finicky crappie we love so much. The more I fish, the more I remember, and the more I remember, the more I miss "Pop". I can't tell you how many times I've wished I could ask him what he would do to catch more fish in this unseasonably cold spring.
Along the way I have discovered a new ambition as a fisherman... I want to become the guy in the front of the boat for my boys and, eventually, for their kids. I only hope I can do it half as well as "Pop" did!
