Outdoors

Father's Day means lure of memories

By TERRY TOMALIN
Published June 12, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - With Father's Day a week away I can't help but think about my dad, who moved on to the Great Fishing Hole in The Sky six years ago last March.

I used to love shopping for his present because it meant a trip to our local Sears which then had the largest fishing tackle selection in Central New Jersey.

I remember one year I took some money out of my newspaper route bank account and bought the old man a Special Collector's Edition Mepp's Spinner Pack. With six lures and its own carrying case, it was a gift fit for a king.

When my father opened it, he commented on how he had had his eye on the very same spinner pack and that I must have superhuman mind-reading ability to buy such an appropriate gift. Then, as always, he handed me the lures and said, "Why don't you try these out and let me know if they work."

So I put the lures in my tackle box with all the other birthday, Christmas and Father's Day presents I had bought him over the years. When it came time to go fishing, he would pretend he didn't notice that I had all his stuff.

We both knew the rules of the game, "Don't ask, don't tell." And I must admit that I can't wait until my son is old enough to play along.

Looking back, I realize fishing with my father wasn't as much about catching, as it was about talking. The time we spent together in an aluminum boat produced our most memorable conversations.

When we were fishing, I had that busy executive's undivided attention. Nothing else in the world mattered. It was just he and I, pals for life.

Today, 30 years later, I too have a busy schedule and kids of my own. To be honest, I don't think of my dad all that much. But this week, skimming through a boating magazine, I came across an advertisement that brought a tear to my eye.

It pictured a smiling boy with man in the background. The copy ws short, simple and to the point:

Take me fishing. And I'll know you have time for me.

Take me fishing. Let's just get in the boat and go.

Take me fishing. So I can tell you about this girl at school.

Take me fishing. So we'll always have something in common.

The ad was sponsored by a group called takemefishing.org. Intrigued, I went to their Web site. It contained lots of useful tips on how to get started in a sport that has an estimated 50-million participants in the United States.

It also had an excerpt from a recent book, Celebrity Fish Talk: Tales of Fishing from an All-Star Cast. The contributors include everybody from Tiger Woods to George Bush. But it was the forward by actor Kevin Costner that I found particularly interesting.

"When I was a kid and my dad asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I'd say I wanted him to take me fishing," Costner writes. "When a trip was planned, the ceremony began. The night before, I'd organize my tackle box like a girl who would arrange her jewelry box. I was not a casual fisherman."

I have talked with Costner several times over the years, and each time I felt that we had nothing in common. He's rich, famous and good looking; I am not. But he, like myself and millions of other kids, would find it difficult to sleep the night before a big fishing trip.

Costner's words made me think: Was if fishing I loved so much or just spending time with my dad? Looking back, I realize it really doesn't matter.

For me, Father's Day was and will always be about fishing. I hope my son some day share's my passion for America's most popular pastime.

I can't wait for the day he brings me a box of MirrOlures. Then I'll hand them back and ask him to try them. And when he puts them in his tackle box I will pretend I didn't really see.

For more information on how to get started fishing, go to www.takemefishing.org

[Last modified June 12, 2005, 00:39:15]