"He Always Outfishes Me"

That was the bottom line in Ron's latest email I received. He was describing the fact his son, Alex, invariably leaves him playing "second fiddle" during their fishing trips.

In this instance, Ron described events during a two-week trip home in October 2013, from his year-and-a-half contractor job in Afghanistan, where he was training Afghans in IED defeat. "I had to look the part," he said, in explaining his heavy beard in the accompanying photo, which depicts him holding a 46-inch red drum he caught during the trip home.

The father and son team were fishing from Sandbridge Pier. According to Ron, "All the regulars had left"--no surprise, since there was no bite and the conditions were poor. "With my time home running out, though," he continued, "we stayed put."

Suddenly, there was a telltale drag scream coming from the rod belonging to Alex. He grabbed it and set the hook. Meanwhile, a lady with what appeared to be a high-end camera started clicking away and didn't stop until Ron and Alex had netted, measured and released the fish some 10 or 15 minutes later.

Ron later was talking to the woman and learned that she and her husband were visiting the area from Richmond. He gave her his email address so she could send them the pictures.

Ultimately, however, this couple shared their story with Tee Clarkson, a friend of theirs who writes for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Clarkson followed up by contacting Ron, saying he wanted to do a write-up for the newspaper. Here's the link to that story: http://www.richmond.com/outdoors/article_6797d18f-ea8e-5590-8a1d-b60eda735654.html.

It was the last day of Ron's time at home when Alex once again showed his dad how to catch the big one (see photo above). Said Ron, "His fish (also a red drum) was at least 10 lbs. heavier."