An Unforgettable Fishing Experience

By Mike Delyria

Several years ago, I worked for a trucking outfit as a driver. It was my habit to go in on Saturday and spend a couple hours maintaining my truck. As I was under the truck greasing it, I noticed the owner's elderly father making his way over to his grandson's truck next to mine.

The old man was in his high 80s, had been an avid fisherman all his life, and had come out to ask the kid to take him fishing after work. The grandson told him all about how much he would love to do that, but he just couldn't that day due to prior commitments. The old man accepted the answer and hobbled off to the house.

A few minutes later, the father came out and asked his son what the old man had wanted. After telling the story, the kid ended it with telling his dad, "I'm not taking that old man fishing! It's worse than taking a kid."

That just broke my heart.

I quit working immediately and headed for home. I loaded up a lawn chair, some tackle and a pole, and headed back to the yard. On the way, I stopped at the sporting goods store and bought the biggest bobber I could find and some worms. When I got there, I knocked on the door and invited him fishing. Due to his age, I was sure his eyesight wasn't what it once had been...hence, the big bobber. If he was like taking a kid fishing, I had determined to take him where I'd take a kid...in the cattails, where the bluegill live.

When we got there, I put him in the lawn chair at the edge of the water, baited and cast the line, and handed him the pole. It wasn't long before that big old bobber started to dance. He set the hook, reeled in the fish, and handed the pole to me. I unhooked the fish, put it on a stringer, rebaited and cast, and again handed it to him. This went on, bluegill after bluegill, for a bit over half an hour, at which point he informed me he was tired and needed to go home.

I loaded up our gear, and we headed out. On the way, we made a detour to my place, where I filleted all his fish and put the meat in a ziplock. When I got him home, I gave the fish to his daughter-in-law, with instructions to make sure he got them for dinner and then left.

Two weeks later, the old man died. His family told me later that all he had talked about during that time was his fishing trip.

While I got the immense satisfaction of knowing I had taken an old man on his last fishing trip, his family had to live with the knowledge that a stranger took their grandpa on his last fishing trip.

Whenever you get a chance, don't forget about taking Grandpa fishing...metaphorically speaking. Someday, you may be in the same place, and you'll want your family to care about you, too.

After this story first was published, the author received a note from a lady who told him, "You gave me just the perspective I needed concerning my husband. He, too, is a truck driver (for more than 40 years) and finally is running locally and loves to fish. I just started fishing three years ago," she continued, "and always seem to have a hundred things to do that either cancels fishing entirely or postpones it 'til late in the day. Not anymore, though. Now, we fish, and I clean, shop, etc. later! I want the memories of looking over at him, smiling and casting his line...much more than having a clean kitchen floor. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

I can relate to this story, because I took my 88-year-old dad on what turned out to be his last fishing trip, too. And before that, while I still was in high school, continuing until I left home for the Navy, I drove my maternal grandparents around after Grandma no longer could drive. Thankfully, my brother and I were reared in a home where we learned early on to always respect our elders. Their wishes were our command.