We've hit a lull in the action. Greg Hackney has pulled in a couple of small smallies that he tossed back in the pond. So I'd like to take this moment to say thanks to my buddy Dick Schweis, who introduced me to fishing on the Great Lakes.
I grew up in Tennessee and now live in Alabama, but in my early 20s, I lived in Michigan for four years. Two of those years were spent in Saginaw, where I worked with Dick Schweis. This state is truly an outdoor paradise, bordering on three Great Lakes (Huron, Superior, and Michigan), and it's blessed with tons of inland lakes. Dick fished and hunted with every spare minute. And he did it with the kind of enthusiasm usually reserved for kids.
I was 23 and Dick was 55 when he took me under his wing. Thirty years later I still remember him ending every work week by saying, "Jim, we have now reached the single best minute of the week. It is now 5:00 and the entire weekend stretches before us." We'd meet early the next morning for a day of fishing on Lake Huron, sometimes catching 100 perch. That made for some mighty fine eating. Dick took me ice fishing and hunting rabbits in the snow. That's the first and only time I've worn snow shoes. Like most great outdoorsmen, Dick took great joy in teaching. Being back in Michigan, surrounded by the beauty of this state, reminds me of those special times.
Thanks, Dick. God bless.