It's truly a joy doing this blog because it affords me an opportunity to deal with two of my most favorite things in the whole world at the same time: bass fishing and writing. And when I receive email like the note I got last night, it just puts the icing on the cake. This particular note came from William Z., a young Sailor stationed locally. He wrote:
"I would just like you to know I enjoy reading your blog. My friends and I are active duty at this time, and we are in our mid-20s. Due to our constant deployments, we haven't fished since we joined the military, so our fishing abilities have significantly degraded. We enjoy reading your blog to help us figure out how we can catch a few more fish.
"Recently I purchased an old Bass Tracker for us to putt around in at West Neck. We have gone out there four times to fish in the last week and a half. On our first trip in the boat, just to make sure it didn't sink, we caught a nice 4-lb. largemouth within 10 minutes of setting up. Since then, we pretty much haven't caught anything, except for today. We went out in the rain and caught a pickerel.
"We enjoy your blog and look forward to reading more posts."
I didn't realize it until I sat down to start this post, but William and his friends were just exiting the marina yesterday as I turned in to get a photo of the water-level stick at the ramp. I remember seeing a Bass Tracker with a Mercury outboard hooked behind a pickup--they stopped until I had completed my turn. That's OK, though, 'cause I'm sure our paths will cross again one day soon, and I'll get to shake their hands.
As I read William's email last night, my mind drifted back to the time when I was about the same age as him and his friends. I, too, was in the Navy at the time, stationed aboard the old Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer USS Stormes (DD-780), homported in Norfolk. I related this info in a response to William and included details of something that happened during what was supposed to be a two-week training evolution.
I was married to my first wife at the time, so was living ashore. When our ship pulled out of port that morning, I had only enough dungarees and other gear to last me for the two weeks. As luck would have it, though, we got diverted to the coast of Cuba to participate in the missile crisis, and it was months later before we got back home. Between ship's store and some shipmates who didn't mind sharing, I got through the cruise with minimal problems. And I never left port again after that without having my full seabag in tow--including the old "flat hat" that still was part of the standard issue back then.
Please forgive me for getting off track there. Hopefully, I didn't bore you too badly with that old sea story. My Navy days still and always will rank right up there with my love for bass fishing and writing.
In any event, I just hope I'm around for a lot more years and maintain my sanity so I can keep writing for this blog. And thanks again to Charlie, my followers, and all the readers. In a sense, you're all taking this journey with me.
Hard to believe it has been a year. I really look forward to reading the blog. Lime most of your followers I look at your and Charlie's
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