The Sensei
As summer passes by, I'm starting to get a bit melancholy for days past.
Remembering all of the fun I've had over the years pursuing little, and occasionally not so little, finny creatures all over the USA. Ah yes, no kids around and a lot of coffee will get the mind wandering.
While I was thinking about all things in the past, it dawned on me that I had a teacher, by golly a mentor, a sensei master of fishing that I truly have to give the credit to for my understanding of the ways of my finny adversaries and friends.
Most kids are lucky enough to have their dad teach them. My father, the deadbeat, ran out on my family when I was 4 weeks old. So, I feel truly blessed that we had a family friend named Fred Hirsimaki.
Fred was the kindest man I've ever known. His almost magical abilities to catch fish were dizzying for a young boy who yearned to learn the ways of the fishing Force. Fred was my Yoda, my sensei. He had mad skills. I swear this guy once pulled a 5-pound bass out of a public swimming hole with a crowd of over a hundred people splashing all around. It was a veritable mud-hole, but this guy made it happen.
Master and apprentice, like Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, was my path to fishing enlightenment. Many summer days were spent at a variety of locales with fishing rods at the ready to battle whatever beast awaited us. It truly was a magical friendship.
The culmination of my lessons came on a trip to Ely, Minn. Prior to leaving, he gave me piscine scriptures to read. Yes, the holy book of fishing at the time, "Lunkers Love Nightcrawlers." The concepts in that book expanded my knowledge base so rapidly that I was dizzy.
We knocked the heck out of the walleyes and bass on that trip. I used a new weapon Fred intraoduced to me to defeat the fishy foes, a slip bobber. Yes, not particularly amazing now, but when you first learn how to use it, your fishing horizon expands at warp speeds.
Unfortunately like Anakin and Obi Wan, we ended up on different sides of the fishing Force. I delved into it as a business, taking a leap into a variety of fishing and outdoor related endeavors, while Fred remained simply a recreational angler who enjoyed the pastime.
In the end, the Darth Vader in me came out and we parted company. You know what, as I sit and drink my coffee, I have no recollection of why we truly parted ways. I'm sure you've all had your own Fred; I just wish I still had mine.
Dave and Kristin Landahl host The Fishing Fanatics, www.TheFishingFanatics.com, radio show on ESPN radio affiliate AM 1360 WLBK in northern Illinois Thursday evenings from 6-7 PM Central time. You can also tune in to hear The Fishing Fanatics at www.1360wlbk.com and check them out at www.walleyecentral.com
