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Outdoor Wisconsin host Dan Small welcomes you to his special on-line sanctuary. Join Dan as he celebrates Father's Day with his dad. This year, he's giving a very special gift.  Awards Highlights
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Theme6/9/98 Father's Day is Payback Timeby Dan Small
©2000 Milwaukee Public Television
May 2, '98: Mine Disaster in Spain
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Father's Day is just around
the corner. Here's a gift idea that doesn't have to cost you
much in terms of cash outlay, although it might cost you a
little in time. What folks today call "quality time," the
kind of time we all used to have plenty of but that seems to
be at such a premium these days. I'm talking about a fishing
trip.
My dad was the first person
to ever take me fishing. The same may be true for you. If
not, I'll bet he at least nurtured your interest as it grew.
On what I believe was my first fishing trip, Dad took me to
a sheltered bay on Lake Erie, where we drifted over endless
schools of perch that flowed beneath our boat like a green
and gold carpet. I caught perch on a bare gold-colored hook
and he caught a northern on a Bass Oreno. Later, we fished
small lakes for bass and panfish and sparkling streams for
browns, rainbows and brookies. Dad showed me how to tie a
clinch knot, paint a hand-made bass plug, catch night
crawlers after a spring rain and so many other things I now
take for granted because I do them automatically every time
I go fishing. When our family camped at a spring-fed quarry
for a week or two each summer, brothers Pete and Mike and I
filled the stringer with rock bass and bluegills, and Dad
fried up fresh fillets with potatoes for dinner. After dark,
we drifted on the calm water in a rowboat, casting those
home-made bass plugs into the inky night, listening for the
telltale "schlurp" of a fish. Sometimes one would hit a plug
so hard it would fly out of the water. The noisiest strikes
were usually small rock bass. The bigger bass just sucked it
in and the fight was on.
When my son Jon was a
toddler, I took him fishing for bass on little pothole lakes
deep in the Chequamegon National Forest or for perch on the
docks of Lake Superior in Washburn where we lived back then.
On one trip when he was five, he told me "When you're too
old to go fishing by yourself, Dad, I'll take you." It may
have been his promise that made me realize how much I owe my
own father. Well, this weekend, I'll be making a small
payment on that debt, and I won't be alone. Mike, Pete, Jon
and brother-in-law Tim Hooker and I are taking Dad fishing
to celebrate his 80th birthday. I can't remember the last
time we all fished together, and I don't know when we'll get
the chance to do it again, what with our busy schedules and
the way time relentlessly marches on. But for a couple days,
we'll all share some time on Big Green Lake. Quality time.
Payback time. On Friday, we'll troll for lakers, white bass
or whatever wants to bite with Mike Norton on his pontoon
boat. I'm even bringing along a TV crew to record the
outing, so you'll probably see it on a future episode of
Outdoor Wisconsin. Saturday, we'll try for smallmouths and
walleyes with guides Joel Barnowski and John Walker. I'll be
sure to let you know how we do, but even if the fish don't
bite and it rains all weekend, we'll have a good
time.
This week is National
Fishing Week in Wisconsin and many other states, so even if
your dad hasn't fished or bought a license in years, he can
do so for free those two days. But it doesn't have to be
National Fishing Week, your dad's 80th birthday, Father's
Day, or any special day at all. Take Dad or whoever it was
who got you started fishing on a fishing trip sometime soon
and make a payment on that debt you owe. You know he'll
appreciate it.