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Link:The Martha's Vineyard Times

By Nelson Sigelman

As Father’s Day approaches there is always the possibility that some wives and children will question whether dear old dad really needs any more fishing tackle: Why does he need so many fishing rods, Mom? is a question my daughter has been heard to ask. The fact is that no fisherman ever has enough fishing tackle.

The entire fishing industry is built on that one truth. Cabela’s — the mid-western multimillion dollar mail-order hunting and fishing retailer founded by two brothers in 1961 (think of a shop for guys that is a cross between Wal Mart and the Christmas Tree Shops) — knows that. Page 30 in the Cabela’s Master Spring Catalog, one of several thick catalogs sent out throughout the year, features 30 different colors of just one brand of jig head, including super glow blue, parrot, silver plate, and glow orange.

Some people think Father’s Day was invented by Hallmark, the greeting card retailer. For the answer I turned to the internet and found the answer at www.holidays.net, proving once again that the web is useful for things other than enlarging body parts, investing in nonexistent companies, and getting a date.

According to my search, Mrs. John B. Dodd, of Washington, first proposed the idea of a “father's day” in 1909. Mrs. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart. Mr. Smart, a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife died in childbirth with their sixth child. He raised the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington state. Mrs. Dodd realized the strength and selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent.

The first Father's Day was observed on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, Washington. In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge, a trout fisherman, supported the idea of a national Father's Day. Might Cal have needed a new reel? In 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the third Sunday of June as Father's Day.

This quote was furher down on the same page:
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Lost but Not Found

A ten-and-a-half-foot fly rod would seem like something hard to forget, but someone left a St. Croix rod with a Redington reel on Lobsterville Beach. If it belongs to you, call John Kollett, the honest guy who wants to return it, at 617-823-7951.

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