There are many fond memories of childhood and quite a few happen during summer. In the summer, it was normal for kids to go off searching for things on their own and using dirt tracks that were carved through the woods on paths previously made for bikes. Nevertheless, fishing with Grandpa in the summer time was the best memory of all, because even if we did not catch any fish, it seems we always had a ball.

Grandpa never shaved during winter and when Summer time came around the entire family would be amazed to see his jutting chin sticking out. As Grandpa had explained, the summer heat did awful things to a face with fuzz and then he would say that when the fish started to bite he did not want anything interfering with the cool morning dew that would bead up on his face.

Many of the fish that I caught while fishing with Grandpa were catfish that liked to hide down near the muddy bottom. Grandpa had a large tackle box that held all sorts of gadgets and by the end of summer; everyone of those gadgets would have been out of the box a time a two. Grandpa never held back on anything when it came to fishing and everything he had was always at my disposal.

Going fishing with Grandpa could be funny at times because the fishing line would always seem to break whenever Grandpa got a fish on the line. The fishing poles would bend almost in half by the sheer weight of the fish, and it seemed sad in some ways because that fish always seemed to know that he was the one that did not get away. Fishing was good fun and it did not matter if we were on a pier or on shore.

The fishing trips in summer time were fun times that will always be remembered and are ones that will probably never go away either because when a family gets another son in the home, there is always going to be the plentiful opportunities for a boy to go fishing with their Grandpa. Of course, for a new son it will be necessary to teach them the same things that Grandpa did, and before long the little tyke will be fishing like a pro just like his Daddy did. The fish will certainly not mind that there will be no beard on my face this fishing season because all they seem to be interested in is stealing the bait that was placed on the nifty hook at the end of the fishing pole.