Thinking about my best fishing buddy his birthday is today...

[buddha]

Today is my favorite fishing buddy's birthday Newell Raymond Farley. Sadly he passed away in 2011. Here is my tribute to him that I wrote in the San Diego Union Tribune. Cherish your fishing buddies.

My dear friend Ray Farley passed away on Sunday April 10th.
This was his second bout with cancer.
His first was when he had just retired and then a few months later, wham, lymphoma.

He recovered and I met him soon after the first dealing with cancer.
I sold a fly fishing combo on craigslist and Ray as always was enthusiastic about giving it a try.

He never had fly fished before but that never stopped him.
He has fished all over North America on both coasts and a ton of experience on the East Cape.

After I met him, I immediately liked him. He loved fishing and was always so positive with never a bad word for anyone except maybe for politicians! LOL

As i sold him the fly combo I mentioned that I have been a kayak fisherman for many years. I told him that I have a friend that has several kayaks and he could give it a try.

We went out after a few weeks and after the first day he was so excited that he bought a kayak right after that the very next day!

He and I became good fishing buddies mostly fishing the south bay and coronado. I made him laugh when I would say that the ghost shrimp we used for the bonefish was like crack cocaine for them!

He would put out at least three rods with the ghost shrimp and really loved catching the bonefish!

Our friendship grew when I was hired in Alaska to cook at an exclusive fishing resort. Since I worked there, I was able to get him a good deal for him to come up and fish with me for a week in early September 2008.

That week of fishing was the absolute best fishing he had ever experienced in his life! We caught over 70 silver salmon the first 2 days and were kind of wiped out from exhaustion!!

We switched to fly fishing thinking it would be a little slower but it was just about as wide open. Literally all you needed to do was to cast the fly about 5 feet in front of you and you were hooked up!

I moved on to another lodge and Ray went up to Alaska again and had a great time there also.

Ray loved all kinds of fishing whether it was surf fishing for perch, pickerel fishing in fresh water, marlin fishing, salmon fishing, etc, etc.

He had his second bout with cancer the end of the summer 2010.
Treatment was going very well up until he was going to get a bone marrow transplant. If that went well then he would have maybe up to a months recovery and prognosis looked good....

Unfortunately, a new brain tumor appeared and Ray's condition worsened slowly but surely.

He remained positive and upbeat and still joked around with his family and close friends even though he was in great pain most of the time.

He was such a positive spirit you never knew he was hurting or he just wouldn't let you because he didn't want to get you down.

He was a bright light in my fishing experiences and I am sorry to ramble but I think this is helping me to cope with his loss since I am still in shock and denial.

So I guess what I want to say is to cherish your fishing buddies and tell them how much you appreciate them.

At Ray's memorial service he had this Fisherman's Prayer

"I pray that I may live to fish
Until my dying day.
And when it comes to my last cast,
I then most humbly pray:
When in the Lord's great landing net
And peacefully asleep
That in His mercy I be judged
Big enough to keep."

RIP Ray Farley I loved you as a true friend, gentleman, and fisherman
Jeff Lowe, Chula Vista, CA
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