we finish up at dusk on a June evening and whaddayano, the car won’t start. it’s 10 miles to our place and we don’t know anyone close by. there is a pickup in the parking spot, so we wait…after a while here comes the owner. he says sure, he can help with a jump start if we have the cables, and we give it a shot. no go.
sooooo…we call AAA, manage to remember the name of the tiny dirt lane we’re on (thank God for 911 making everyone name their little roads!), and Best Fishing Buddy settles down to wait. Mr. Pickup seems a bit shy, and asks BFB if he’s really comfortable letting some stranger give his wife a lift home. “Well,” says BFB, “I’ve got your tag number, so if you all go off to Mexico I’ll know where to start looking.” Mr. P drives me home, i thank him, we finally think to exchange names, and i get in my car and go retrieve BFB from the local Chevy dealer where AAA took him. a couple days later i find out who the Samaritan was and send him a thanks and some flies.
fast forward to today, when we get a note from the fellow. here is his story:
“October 2007, 6:30 AM Sunday morning–halfway to Harrisburg when a tire on the boat trailer blows on 81. We have no spare, and a picnic cooler-full of live chubs and stonecats for bait. We jacked the boat & trailer, pulled the tire, and stopped at the next exit’s Sheetz store. leaving the boat & bait on the shoulder of 81. We asked the group of coffee-drinkers inside the Sheetz if there was anywhere nearby (Sunday am) to get a new tire? One man looked-over my rim & shredded tire–announced that he only lived 2 miles away & thought sure he had one at home to match! Tony was his name. He returned a few minutes later with a new tire & rim, but couldn’t remember if he’d paid 50 or 70 dollars for it. I walked across the street to an ATM and got $75 for him. I was happy as could be, got to the Susquehanna only an hour late, and had a great day fishing.
Get this!!!–At noon time, same day, Tony called my cell while we were still fishing. Said he got to Tractor Supply Store and bought a replacement for the one he sold me, and it only cost $50. he got my address and sent me a check for the difference a few days later!
Overall–I think we fishermen are a good group of people.”
thought you all might enjoy a warm fuzzy in the holiday spirit!
If you believe in and do good things then mostly good things will happen back to you. You may have to look deep for them but I believe they will be there.
A few years back, my two older brothers and I were runnin a drift on the North Umpqua from a little below Glide to Whistler’s bend park. Long story short, we cracked up the boat, a 14’ Mahogany drift boat, and hade a lively time gettin out and on dry land. We climbed up the (very steep) bank, and came out right in a fella’s backyard. Well he seen us and knew what happened without askin. He just up and told us to take his truck and hook up with the rest of our bunch,(my dad and one other brother) waiting for us at Whistler’s. His truck was full of gas, only two years old, loaded with lumber and construction tools, with 2 deer rifles and a flyrod in the gun rack. He refused any compensation, even to cover gas, and didn’t even flinch when it took us over three hours to get back. He helped us drag the boat up the bank through the brush and get 'er loaded so’s we could take 'er home and get dry and all. Never seen the fella before or since, his wife even fixed us lunch. It was the day after Thanksgiving. The friendly generosity of those folks was overwhelming. I was only 15, but made a solemn vow to be that kind of a guy forever on. We repaired the boat, and went on to make years more drifts and trips with it…ModocDan
Sometimes, it’s the small things that make a big difference.
Last February, I took my nine-year-old daughter trout fishing. We had just recovered from an ice storm that left us without heat or power for 11 days, so we really needed the break. This was an opportunity for us to spend some quality father-daughter time together. No mom, no big brother, just some hungry trout, spinning gear, and a dock to sit on.
We spent the morning talking and fishing, I’d coach a little here and there, but by and large, we just fished. At one point Abby had reeled in a small trout, removed the hook from its lip, and was reviving the fish - no small feat, considering the water was 35 degrees and the air was 20 degrees. Watching all of this was a couple of older fishermen getting their gear together in their boat slip next to us. One of them called out to my daughter and said, “Young lady, I watched the way you treated that fish just now. You’re quite an angler!”
She smiled and replied with a simple “Thank-you, Sir.” And he was on his way. After a little bit, she asked me if I thought she really was good at fishing.
“Of course.” I replied.
“It feels good to be good at something,” she said.
Then I got smoke or something in my eyes, 'cause they started watering real bad. But anyway, that fellow was just being nice and paying out a deserved compliment. Little did he know that a little girl’s self esteem and outlook took a giant leap that day. She was able to step out of her older brother’s shadow and be admired for her own abilities. She came back from that trip a better, more confident person.
There are those wonderful times when a child suddenly becomes aware of themselves and that was one of them, be glad that you were there for it, it is a rare thing and mostly missing in todays urban kids. I think I would have had lots of smoke in my eyes.
Following story is from local newspaper…
I think it shows a lot of class,for a fisherman to do this for his guide!
January 8, 2008 ABEL 2007 TARPON WINNER WATCHES PRIZE REEL MADE
CAMARILLO, Calif. - Webster “Web” Young, a Chicago fly-fisher who won the 2007 Abel On Your Honor Tarpon Tournament, spent two days at the firm’s precision machine shop in mid-December watching a new Super 13 being made.
Young, together with his longtime fishing companion, Henry T. Cannon, Germantown, Tennessee, was flown to the Abel factory and given an extensive factory tour by shop foreman and vice president Glen Krapff and director of sales Jeff Patterson. Over two days they witnessed their grand prize reel being cut from 6061-T aluminum bar stock, precision machined on a CNC lathe and mill, hand polished, anodized, assembled and finally engraved to their specifications. The prize, including the all-expense trip to California, was valued at about $3,000, according to Don R. Swanson, president.
Young selected the Super 13 as his reward for the 140-pound tarpon caught in early June in the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge, Homosassa, Fla…
And, he’s giving the reel to his guide, Capt. Dan Malzone. “I’d have never have hooked or landed the tarpon without Capt. Dan,” said Young.
