I know I was only about five, because I had the chicken pox that year. I was so sick with the chicken pox that even at that young age, I knew I was ill. I also remember it was winter; I was stuck in the house and didn't care. I itched and all I could eat for weeks were bananas. (believe it or not I still like bananas).
One night when Dad came home from work he handed me a wrapped package; I was so excited I ripped it open. This was my “chicken pox gift”. It was my first rod and reel! A zebco, closed face reel with about a four foot rod. Up until then all I used was a bamboo fishing pole. You know the kind – a long pole with a line and bobber, all you could do was tosh it out a few feet.
This was taken the spring of that year. Dad was teaching me how to cast. I had to learn how, because, as soon as I could cast correctly, we were going to go to Silver Moon Trout farm to catch some fish. It didn't take long to learn how to cast and when the weather was warm we when to the trout farm and I caught my first fish with my rod and reel. It was the greatest thing that had happened to me up to this point.
The second picture which was taken several years later, shows me on our trip to Canada. Dad and the boys went out on the lake with a guide and Mom, Sue and I stay behind and fished. There weren't any piers there so Mom took us out to the swimming raft thinking we could catch some pan fish out there. She advised me to cast, but I just dropped my line right there, and I caught the largest walleye of my life there!
So sweet!
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