Recapturing Memories

When I was a little boy, my grandfather took me fishing for the first time. He picked me up one morning at my parents' house in Raleigh. As I saw him walking to the front door, he was holding a fishing pole, a gift for his grandson.

It was a Zebco fiberglass rod with a plastic Zebco spincast reel. I remember how neat it looked...the green reel and the beige rod. I was excited as only a young boy could be.

We went to a bait shop, where he scooped crickets into a screened bucket. We got into his station wagon and drove to a dirt road that banked so steeply at one point that I thought we would flip over. After that, I saw the boats.

He pulled a battery from the back of the wagon and began walking down the hill toward the water. I still remember his fishing boat. It was nothing fancy, just a dinghy with an electric motor, but we were soon in the water, preparing for an adventure.

He showed me how to hook the cricket behind his collar, and after a few tries, I could push the button on my reel and get the bait into the water.

I thought my heart would explode when I saw the bobber go under and felt a mighty fish on the end of the line. We drove back to his house with several bream that we cleaned and ate that night.

I still have that old rod and reel. It looks tiny to me now. My grandfather, Doug, died a few years later. I took a lot of his tackle boxes and gear, but I had no idea what to do with it. At some point in my life, I stopped fishing. I don't know why, I just stopped.

When I was in my early thirties, I started thinking of fishing again. I had a wife, a house, a child on the way, and some old fishing equipment. So I started fishing.  I don't know if it was an excuse to get out of the house or if it was just an escape.  Some times I think it was to get back to a constant.  Things change in life, and most of the time, we don't like it.  Humans have been catching fish, or at least trying to catch them, since our ancestors realized they could eat them.  The best part about it, at least to me, is that when I let one go, there's always a chance to catch it again.  It's like getting a do-over.

So now that I'm in my mid thirties, I'm learning to fish all over again.  I'm also starting over in life, as my marriage has fallen apart and my son has to learn that he may wake up with his dad but he goes to his mother's place tonight.  When I feel like I can't take it anymore, I go fishing and try to learn a little more about the fish and about myself.  I hope you'll subscribe to learn with me, and maybe click on an ad or two to finance my hobby.

I look forward to writing about how much there is to learn.