His name was Bob Berger and he owned a garage and bike shop here in my town until he moved to FL to fish and open a tackle shop. I hadn't seen Bob for many years and one day in 2005 I stopped in at my local fly shop, Eldredge Bros, and saw Bob standing there talking with my buddy Jim Bernstein, the manager at the shop.

Bob and Jim were swapping fish stories and I had a couple of newly acquired bamboo rods to let Jim sniff the tubes and waggle a bit and so as not to disturb two Yankees swapping tall tales I bellied up to the coffee pot to pour a cup.

A few minutes went by and Jim said hello to me and asked Bob if he knew me an introduced us. He said he thought I looked familiar and he remembered my name and I told him his daughter Wendy worked with my wife at the hospital years ago. He spotted the rod tubes I had with me and asked if they were bamboo, I told him indeed they were and I generally bring stuff by to torment Jim with and the three of us shared a good laugh.

I uncorked the first tube and held it in front of Jim's nose while he took a whiff and Jim told me Bob has a pretty neat tackle shop on the Keys and some nifty vintage stuff too. Bob asked if he could take a look at the rod when Jim was done looking at it and I handed it to him.

While looking at the rod Bob started saying that when he moved to FL and opened the shop there wasn't a lot of information about vintage tackle and he would buy or trade for some when folks would bring it by his shop and always had a nice display of stuff, some for sale and some not. He said he'd found a place on the internet that had great information on it and some guy who called himself fishing banjo ran it. I said I think you mean fishnbanjo and he said, yeah that's it, man that guy knows his stuff.

I began to turn red and it only got worse when Jim said to Bob, this is fishnbanjo Bob, to which he replied NoSh..! Then I got very red and explained that I just like sharing information and love to study about classic tackle and the history of the makers. The three of us had a ball BS'ing for the next little bit and then I had to leave.

Last year I heard Bob had been diagnosed with terminal Cancer and committed suicide leaving a note that said "I have come to the end of a wonderful road." Bob is missed by his family and many friends who knew him from ME, FL and beyond.

Last week we were approached on selling the tackle left from his store in FL, some brand new rods in tubes and some vintage rods in tubes and of course reels both new and vintage. We're not exactly sure how many pieces are involved just yet but consider it may be substantial. Will be picking up parts of it on Friday and begin the process of offering it for sale for the family so if you might be interested in some tackle stay tuned as I know there will be items for everyone.