re: Best outdoor memory with dad or grandfathers

1988, had just got home from the Navy, Grandfather and I headed down to his son/my uncle's camp in myrtle grove off of deer range. Whole lot of family drama had transpired while I was gone and I jumped at the chance.... We ate supper in port sulphur after visiting some of his tribe(he was a very very well known fella down there). Brought a bottle of old charter back to the camp, he was in poor health and was pretty much forbidden to drink..... but we tied one on that night, got all the straight scoop and just before we called it a night got a one like comment that I didn't understand or grasp until 16 years later. I had not fished alone with my grandfather since the limits had been put in place and I was forewarned that he didn't really measure his specks good or even remotely count his redfish.


We were fishing bay raquette, lake laurier and bay round so I didn't think much of and figured what the heck it was a weekday.... We probably had 18 reds and 40 trout - only a few were under 11 maybe 3 or so. but most of the reds were too small, his argument was - I wanna eat the small reds.. big ones are useless....


rolling back up to the camp and putting the boat in the shed, I see green jeans rolling up from lake hermitage and when he stopped to check the boat at the private launch across the canal - I still wasn't concerned.

well... gramps was not in condition to help me get the ice chest out of the boat but was helping anyway..... and he slipped and in clear view of everyone at the launch were a whole bunch of little reds on the white shells......

It was a short walk over a bridge and green jeans 1 comes over and had that look of "uh huh" I got ya'll. 5 reds were under sized, 8 over the limit- they didn't measure any specks.... Gramps pleaded with em to only write him the ticket because I had only kept my 5 - but they quickly said that ain't how it works......


He was pretty miffed about it... I was a little concerned how much the ticket was gonna be, he told me not to worry he would pay it. So after supper we are sitting on the swing on the dock... and up rolls green jeans.... gives us our tickets back......and walked away.... That next day was the last time I fished alone with my grandfather, might have been the last time he fished......