BOB, BOB, BOBBING ALONG-----A Love For Fish And Fishing

Thursday, August 16, 2018

Some of my fondest childhood memories are of hours spent sitting on a grassy creek bank with a fishing pole in my hand. I loved to see the bright little bobber on the line start to move. It meant a bluegill was messing with the worm on the hook. Ah, the days of youth.

There was also much joy in moving up to the wily days of sneaking into ponds where I didn't belong and casting out a long trotline. Coming back hours later to find a catfish on almost every hook.

Deep sea fishing gave me thrills up my spine and sickness in my stomach. Sometimes fish. Sometimes nothing.

I love fish and other sea food. I have enjoyed it from near and far.

Journeying to Ethiopia to help with a famine, I found myself eating almost nothing but fish. I ate it in a beautiful hotel restaurant in down town Addis Ababa  when a respected Doctor suggested it from the menu. I ate it out in the bush, of all places, in a small restaurant that seemed to almost appear out of nowhere.

In India, I enjoyed one of the largest prawns I have ever seen. It was so large I used a knife and fork to cut it up and eat it. It will always be one of my favorite memories because a dear friend and missionary to India found such joy it buying it for me and watching me eat it.

I had a big smile on my face when I enjoyed fish and chips in London, England. I have always liked Long John Silvers and Red Lobster is a favorite. But my favorite of all time was in the lovely little town of Rockport in beautiful New England. Maybe it was because I was with my wife and daughter.
Come to think of it, maybe the joy in all of this----fishing and eating came/comes not from just the activity but from who I am/was with.

Ah yes. That's it. Who I'm with! So as I go bob, bob, bobbing along I hope to see YOU soon.