Please Lord, just one more fish!

[Vikingj]

I entered the ICU to visit my friend, Big Rich and when he saw me he smiled and raised his index finger - our inside joke meaning “just one more fish”. My thoughts went back to our last fishing trip to Port Hueneme pier. But before I go on, let me tell you a little history.
My father-in-law, Richard, was born in 1918 in Pt. Hueneme. Starting when he was about 10 yrs old he would spend summers and most weekends fishing on the old pier with his buddies. He loved to fish! The only days he missed were when he ran out of tackle and would hoe the lima bean fields to earn enough for another several weeks of fishing. He would tell the story of how one day he caught a sizeable halibut that he could barely carry. He paraded down Main St. and all the shop owners came out to see his big catch! As he got older his fishing was greatly reduced when he joined the military to help chase Nazis out of No. Africa, got married, worked, settled in Oxnard, and raised 5 kids. When he was 59yrs he was talking about future retirement and the chance to do some fishing. Unfortunately, he awoke one morning to discover that his arms and legs were paralyzed from Guillain Barre Syndrome. He regained use of his arms but his legs never fully recovered and he hadn’t been fishing for 35 years and always had excuses whenever I brought it up. So, one day last year my son and I “kidnapped” him and pushed his wheelchair out on the Hueneme Pier for one more fish! After a while with no bites his eyes got big as his rod started to jerk like crazy. He fought that mackerel like it was a big game fish and broke into a giant smile as it was landed. He was thrilled and talked about it for months.

pics:Big Rich, his grandson, and me at Hueneme Pier,Big Rich going for one more fish



Big Rich was happy and content when he passed away a few days ago at the age of 94 . After looking at the picture below I wonder if he was trying to tell me that he would soon be going “up stairs” and waiting for us to join him to get just one more fish!

[StinkyMatt]

One of the nicest posts in a while, hat of to you.

[Sdspeed]

Your a Class Act! to have one person in each of our lives that care that much and will go the extra distance would be like winning the lottery!

When you take away the egos, the secrets and the chest puffing. This is the true essence of what fishing is all about. Seeing 3 generations together enjoying the same sport brings back memories for me of my brothers and my dad fishing as little kids. I'm sure this is true for a high percentage of others as well.

Thank you for sharing. Slowly but surely my faith in humanity is being restored.

Cheers to you

[Biggameaddict]

Thats a sad storry but props to you for getting him out fishing.

[JeffB]

Thanks for sharing. Sorry about your old man.

[flytuber4]

Originally Posted by Drake

When you take away the egos, the secrets and the chest puffing. This is the true essence of what fishing is all about. Seeing 3 generations together enjoying the same sport brings back memories for me of my brothers and my dad fishing as little kids. I'm sure this is true for a high percentage of others as well.

Thank you for sharing. Slowly but surely my faith in humanity is being restored.

Cheers to you

Glad to see there are still good people around. Great story

[Wayne_R]

Thanks for sharing. Grounds you to what life is bout. Condolences and thanks for his service (I'm sure he's reading). Great post

[1morecast]

Thanks for sharing.

Wayne,

Thanks for sharing. 94?? Man he was lucky!!

[TEAMFISH]

That is an amazing story. I say it's made a "sticky" so that we can all read it over and over again and remember why we do what we do. Time with family, friends and just being out on the water.
Memories come first, catches are secondary.

[GregAndrew]

Great post. Never had much of a chance to share fishing with my family, but love to share it with friends.

[xpresso2am]

Thank you for posting and sharing!

[Deamon]

very, very cool.

[yakrider]

Wow! what a great story!