When I think about Father’s Day, I think about spending time with my daughter and I also think back to my childhood. The two have very distinct differences as I grew up in the country and Riley in the city, but we share the fact that we get to do outdoorsy things together.
I recently shared the story below for the Father’s Day contest on The Will to Hunt blog. Not so much to win the prizes, but because I love this story, I love my dad and this was one of THE best days on the water you can imagine.
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| I know what you are thinking, ‘He rocks a tank top pretty well’. |
My dad is an avid outdoorsman and he always shared his love of the outdoors with my brother and I. I would like to nominate him for your Father’s Day contest. I have many stories I could share, but there is only one in particular that I think of every year on Father’s Day.
Back when I was just hitting my teen years, we asked my dad what he wanted to do for Father’s Day. He thought about it for a minute and said he would like to go fishing. To understand my dad you have to know how much he loves to fish and he’s really good at it. I never knew how good until now as I think about it. He could read the weather, the waves and the bait fish to see what it was we needed to do and where to go. It’s great to think back on it as I sit here smiling and typing.
This particular Father’s Day, my dad got the 12′ aluminum boat ready, geared up and took us down to Seneca Lake to do some trout fishing. We were going to be going after lake trout, so we picked up some bait and headed out on the water. My brother and I were happy to be on the water fishing with our dad. As we made our way South of the Rod and Gun Club, my dad found a spot that he thought would be good for fish. He didn’t use a fish finder then either. He just used his gut feelings and anchored.
We baited the hooks with fresh saw-bellies and lowered them to the bottom. That’s when the fish started their frenzy! For the next two hours we reeled in lake trout after lake trout. We kept throwing fish back because we wanted to keep fishing, but we were also running out of bait. These were no small fish either! We were reeling in 4-7 lb. lakers over and over. We started running out of bait so we began using the old, dead saw-bellies and the trout were even hitting them! It was, by far, the best day of fishing I have ever had and I got to share it with brother and my dad.
As I think back on that day, it wasn’t the amount of fish we caught, or the tasty eats we had later that night that I remember most. What I remember most was seeing my dad smile and laugh like I have never seen before as he had the time of his life. It was just my dad and his two boys out for an afternoon of fishing that none of us will ever forget.
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