Fishing with friends and family is what fishing is all about. Catching a boatload of fish together is even better!

Spring brings flowers, leaves, and fishing season! It starts with perch, then hickory shad, then trout, white perch, bass, crappie, white shad, stripers, and so on. We can do a little gardening and then go fishing.

This week I went fishing with my brother Curt and great friend Keith. I am not sure what was better, the fishing or the stories about fishing. The long ride to the fishing hole was spent talking. No music or cds, just great B.S.!

As we age, the pleasure about fishing changes. Sure we want to catch fish but we also want to catch up. The long winter, health challenges, work, and obligations keep us apart too much. A couple of hours of “Perching Together” bring us up to speed about everything that we missed. That’s what friendships are about.

It takes a lot of work to have friends. As we age, many of our “old” friends are too sick, feeble, or have died. Many just stop calling or trying to go fishing at all. They become afraid that they might get invited to go and do something.

When we “Perch Together” we celebrate our great fortune. Fishing becomes just the excuse to get together. The bad thing about getting older is that every day is one less opportunity to go fishing! That’s why it is so important to “Perch Together”.

On this perch fishing day, we all caught a boatload of “Yellow Neds”. This trip will become story fodder for the next trip. It is important to also take younger fishermen along so they can keep the stories alive. They will start the story with “remember when we fished with Montana Grant and…”

Tight lines and screaming reels!

Montana Grant