Well, after decades of toil, my Dad, Bob Fink (Denny dubbed him “DadBob”) finally retired at age 75. Many of you have met him at the last couple FAOL Idaho Fish-ins. He was a university professor and administrator for decades, and then “semi-retired” and has been working as a university ombudsman for many more years. No more–this is “it!”
So, he officially retired last week on tuesday, and went an bought a pontoon boat on friday.
I gave him a guided trip today on a nice little panfish lake near us here, down on the plains so it’s finally iced off (most of our high mountain trout lakes are still ice over in Colorado). He got to learn how to use the pontoon, the oars, the flippers, how not to tangle up your fly line on your boat hardware, what to do when the wind comes up, and all that.
Dad also got the big fish of the day—a fat 9 inch bluegill. We were nymphing chironomids, a big midge hatch. His new 3 weight rod was great for that scrappy fish. Many smaller panfish caught also…a great day on the lake. 75 degrees all day…and started snowing at 5 PM tonight. That’s Colorado weather for you!
Here he is on the new 'toon (he learned how to spin in place, so I could get the photo) — and with that dandy big bluegill.
Man, those pictures are worth MORE than a measly “thousand words”!! I hope BOTH of you have a wonderful, care free, FISH FULL season ahead of you! What a great thing… "retiring and buying a your first 'Toon!
Thank you, for sharing such a special and spectacular day!
