Washington Fly Fishing Forum banner

A bit of nostalgia

474 views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  Old Man 
#1 ·
Several people have been complimentary about me giving an old boat away so I thought it would be good to start a new thread.

As a kid I can’t remember anything more appealing than heading out on a lake in pursuit of a fish. I don’t know if the bigger draw was the boat, Dad letting me operate the motor, or fishing. Dad took my brother and I out frequently and his undivided attention was coveted. Dad’s been gone for about 8 years or so and I will likely always miss him.

I just feel a trip to the lake (even when we got skunked) is something every kid should have.

What about you and why??????????
 
#2 ·
Ken,

I had the same good fortune. My Dad used to take me bank fishing all the time and very often we rented boats--they were always the old HEAVY wooden rowboats about 12-14 feet long, wide, and did I mention heavy? Somewhere along the line he came up with a very used and old Hawthorne (Montgomery Wards) gas outboard in about 2-3 hp. It would run belching blue smoke just often enough to get us way away from where we launched and then find one reason or another to die, at which point Dad would commence surgery. Another favorite trick the thing had was breaking shear pins--it did this so often that by the time I was 6 or 7, I could pull a cotter pin, usually without dropping it over the side, and change a shear pin, again, usually without dropping it over the side, even in a bad thunder storm and rough water. In retrospect, it seemed that the ritual dropping something over the side mainly occurred when the droppee was the last something we had with us. We fished mainly rivers like the Mohawk and Schroon, small lakes and big ones like Saratoga and the Great Sagandaga, all in New York. We had many days when we caught a ton, and too many when we didn't do as well. They were all great. Getting skunked meant less work when we got home.

When my dad passed away in 1999, they were just opening the National Cemetery at Saratoga Battlefield. Dad was a very proud WWII veteran and the cemetery was perfect. He would rest unmolested, unlike in a lot of civilian cemeteries, he would be in an area he loved with deer and geese, and he would be within a short stroll of Fish Creek, which runs off of Saratoga Lake and was our favorite fishing and camping spot, and is where the British General Burgoyne was forced to surrender as he attempted to withdraw from Saratoga. The next time I visit, maybe I'll leave a couple of shear pins--he'd appreciate the gesture.
 
#3 ·
Beautiful memories. Though I am now an old man, my many hunting and fishing trips with my Dad remain in my memories like they were yesterday.

I can't think of too many other parental activities that have the potential to forge such lasting bonds with their children as time spent with them in the great outdoors.
 
#4 ·
I never fished with my dad because he never fished. When ever we got out and about it was picnics and swimming. In which he would throw me in and tell me to swim back. I guess I learned how to swim that way. If I didn't I wouldn't be here now.

And you young men are not old...............I am the old man.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top