I would like to take a moment to reflect on the memory of my Dad who is gone from me for this fourth Fathers Day. I would like to invite you guys or gals whos Dads are no longer with you to share a few memories with us.;)

My Dad was about the best anyone could ever have hoped to have had.....hard working, caring, loving and yet had a firm hand when it was needed. My mind overflows with the great memories he left to me. My Dad showed me many of the things that I do today as I was growing up. You know how your Dad would be changing the oil in his car or painting the house. He showed me how to do these simple things as I watched as a little boy. I remember crawling under the car with him and he would show me how to take the plug from the oil pan and drain the oil, or how to properly use a paint brush on a house...."up and down with the grain of the shingle not side to side" I remember him saying. You know what I mean, all those simple life lessons that a Dad should teach their children, my Dad taught me and now I teach my sons the same things and I just think how funny it is that it seems as though it were only yesterday that he taught me. My Dad is the reason that I try so hard to be the best Dad I can be to my sons because I remember my Dad never gave me anything less than his best. He set a great example for me as I grew up and it is because of him that I am the man that I am today......and I think I turned out pretty good because I had him steering my through life.:) Gone but not forgotten......Happy Fathers Day Dad.;)

my dad passed away a long time ago, back in 1979. i think of him a lot when fishing since he's the one who started taking me fishing when i was 2 yr. he was my #1 fishing buddy for years. what i would'nt give to fish with him one more time. i take my son fishing as much as i can. great father and son/daughter activity!

my dad died when I was 18 = & my Mom was stuck with me ,my Dad instilled the old schools virtues /lets just end it there // My uncle T_Joe who brought fishing into my life -even thou all we caught were , winter flats, scup ,choggies, eels, white Perch , Ballon fish , anything else was a surprize =but he was great to me & I miss him , Earl my loyal fishing partner ,,who was more like a father , 18 years we fish together or alone ,it was him & I or nobody ==I have great memories of being with him & the loyality we had ===========his is the only grave I go to =I still leave him plugs ,hoping up there in the world above ==he,s smokin them =====He,d to nuts to see the plugs these talented guys on this site make ========= and finally ,now that I,m a dad & a grandfather , I hope I did right by my kids & they will be as proud of me as I am of them ======== times & lives change but I hope I,ll always be remembered as a [real] father/////

MIKE

Just read what all of you said about your Dads and Uncle. You have all written a testament to the good influence they have had in your lives. I lost my Dad 12 years ago,but he is still here with me guiding me along the rigth paths by the examples he set. I have been told that sometimes we are closer to the ones we love in death than in life.
The older i get the more i realize that is true. The spirit of who they were stays with us and corrects us.

I hope all of us can say we had a great father,if not we should know that they probably did the best they could with what they had ,and follwed the same example that was set for them for good or bad. We can learn from all Fathers and use what was good and change what was bad in rasing our own kids.

Happy Fathers Day!!The guys on this site are all special in my eyes!:)

I just got back from visiting my father . I sure do miss him ! My Dad was a lot of things and one of them is how special he was in my life . He was always there for me when I needed him and taught me alot about holding a flash light still while working on a flat or stalled engine in the rain . LOL although he never understood my addiction to fishing he never stood in my way .
we didnt have the best understanding of each other but once I lost him I knew how much I Loved him and would miss him .

you only get one! Enjoy them while they are with us !

Dad would have me up early Sunday mornings. First stop was coffie, hot chocolate and donuts.
Then to Bra-Weys for a pint of chubs and then down to some small pond to fish in the 12 foot row boat for large mouths.

One time Dad got the station wagon with the boat in the back stuck half over a stone wall hanging over the water :D
truck there pulled us back. Boy did I have a story when I got home.

Thanks BigFish !!!

Happy Fathers Day Dad :D

justplugit- truer words , i've never heard. thanks for sharing.

Good post Bigfish ! Pops02 is a screen name i chose for myself, pops, being my nickname i had for my dad, 02 being the year i signed up on striped-bass.com = pops02.....i love you pops, RIP !

Glad you guys are pleased with the post and felt able to share. I just felt a need to express how much my Dad meant to me all of my life and how much he is missed. One thing that I am most pleased with is that I never once took my Dad for granted, that I had, at the very least, the wisdom to know that I was not going to have him for ever and I appreciated having been fortunate to have had such a great mentor, role model and Father. If my kids get only half from me that I got from my Dad.....they will have done well. You young guys who still have your Dad's around, cherish each moment you have them, as time is fleeting faster than many of us care to admit.;)

PS-I also have a picture of my Dad on the dash of my Jeep when I go fishing.......just hope he is looking out for me. (Maybe he will pull a few strings for me with the fishing Gods and hook me up with that trophy bass.) When that day comes, I know he will be the first person that comes to my mind.:)

You young guys who still have your Dad's around, cherish each moment you have them, as time is fleeting faster than many of us care to admit.;)

My dad is 76 and hasn't been at his best but today was himself and its looking to stay that way.
We gotta go fishing before he really can't.

The first paragraph should be a quote from BFs post.Don't know why it doesn't read as so.

My Dad and I were not very close. There was always a distance between us. My Brothers were younger and got him a bit softer. He is alive (I think) but we can not contact him. He moved to Vegas some 9 years ago. He would visit every couple of years but last year he shut off his cell phone and closed his po box. You see he is in this gypsy type of group that travels all over the country and S America. They go on the road in RV's and move to an area, experience everything for as long as they want, then decide to move on. They each have a craft or thing they do to raise supplemental money. The last time I saw him was three nyears ago when he came to visit...he said he was happy and that was enough for me.

Like I said we were never close and he did not give me much of the traditional stuff you guys are referring to. Save for one. You see my Dad owned Junk Yards and would always bring me home the fishing tackle he found in cars. He showed me how to take stuff apart and then he would take me to Boston Harbor, The Charles river, etc... and show me all these places on broken Drawbridges and behind abandoned buildings where we would catch fish, and lots of them.

My dad really only gave me one thing and that thing was fishing...We are not a pretty Story, but I would never change it...

"One thing that I am most pleased with is that I never once took my Dad for granted, that I had, at the very least, the wisdom to know that I was not going to have him for ever and I appreciated having been fortunate to have had such a great mentor, role model and Father. "

BigFish:

What more do you need to say than that??? I think if a person recoginzes that early on in their life, they have achieved something very very special. Very Well Said.

I learned when I was 18 and in the Army on the other side of the Earth, just how special my family truly is, and I have never taken them for granted since then. For that, I am truly blessed.

Thanks for the great Topic.

-Hooper ;)

My dad died 4 years ago now. Retired to the cape, lived there 2 or 3 years and got cancer and died. The most difficult thing I ever had to watch unfold.
He enjoyed fishing and boating and talking fishing and boating even more then I do. (I know that is hard to believe but it is true)
He introduced me to fishing from a very early age and I went with him often growing up. He was my favorite fishing companion and the person I would like most to fish with. He introduced me to the joy of surf fishing and offshore action for bigger game. He loved them both. My brother and sister didn't get into the sport quite like I did and I developed a close relationship with him. We did a lot of boating as a family and visited all of NE via boat many times. Even in the dead of winter, when we got together we talked fishing.

I miss him, and now that I live where I do, my only wish would be to fish with him out here again.

One of my favorite memories of him was an evening trip fishing Plum Gut in the 1970's. We used to stay at a cottage Orient Point for a good part of the summer each year for a number of years. We were in between two giant schools of feeding big fish on the surface and were all alone. On the port side were bluefish and the starbard side was bass. He landed the largest bluefish I have ever seen (23#) and we had bass in well the mid-30's. All on surface plugs. Sea conditions were perfect, light winds clear skys sun setting... and we could not believe we were the only boat in sight. It was double hearder action non-stop for more then 1.5 hours until it was pitch black. I recall asking him (while both our drags were screaming) if it gets any better then this....He responded, maybe in our next lifetime but for now this is pretty darn good.

Today, my kids enjoy the sport but don't crave it like I did. (this is OK by me) I just hope I can expose them to it and give them a serious appreciation of the beauty of our surrundings in the places we fish.

Moral of all this blabber: Live ( fish) and enjoy each day like it is your last. You never know what will happen tomorrow.

If there is fishing in Heaven....my Dad is trolling the rip right now.

Thanks for sharing Mr. Sandman.....sounds like your Dad must be hammerin' the hell out of them in that next life!;) Memories are a great thing.:)

My dad passed away when I was 9 in 1972. Some of my fondest memories are fishing in a bass pond behind where he worked when I was a kid, with him and my older brother.

Happy father's day dad!

sounds like we're a bunch of fortunate guys to have them while we did. big thumbs up to our dads and uncles!!!