Hello Folks,
I hope everyone survived the recent storm we had that come through our area. I know there were some trees down and some folks had some shingles come off their roof. The good news is that we needed the rain, so I’m thankful for that anyway. Our lakes need some rain, so, hopefully, you weathered the storm.
I was hopin’ I could tell you that a few folks went fishin’ and I’m sure some folks did, but I don’t have any reports sent or given to me from the weekend. So, with that said, let me take a moment to give you some updates on some recent activity in our area. Someone sent me some pictures of the FWC sprayin’ Johns Lake, so if you go fishin’ on Johns Lake you are goin’ to see where they sprayed. Those areas won’t be fishable for a while until those chemicals wear out. If the weather settles down, the fishin’ should pick back up in most of the lakes in our area. We have one more month of hot weather, so, hopefully we can get through August and some cooler temperatures will be around the corner.
I had the honor of attendin’ the “Celebration of Life” for John Ricketson over the weekend. Shirley and I attended JR’s Remembrance & Celebration of Life this past Saturday. It was a great service with some great speakers in attendance. JR was an important member of our community of Apopka. It was said that he loved Apopka and he proved that by publishing The Apopka Chief and The Planter newspapers each week for all those who love Apopka.
It’s been my honor to be able to write a fishin’ column for The Apopka Chief for over 40 years. I’m glad I was given the chance to do this for the folks of Apopka. As it was mentioned Saturday, JR loved to fish, and he was doggone good at it, too. My fishin’ buddy Rick Mullins fished with JR for several years in the Apopka Bass Club. They won their share of tournaments and won Big Bass more times than I can count.
When Rick had his heart surgery and was out of commission for some time, JR teamed up with his friend Chip Dover. JR and Chip ended up bein’ a team to be reckoned with when they fished together in tournaments. Chip had a lot of stories about JR, and he shared some of those stories with those in attendance. I have Chip’s permission to share one of those stories.
When JR and Chip were fishin’ together, there seems to be a certain tackle box JR would bring with him every time. It was orange and heavy. Rick and his wife June attended the service with Shirley and I and Rick attested to the story that Chip told, so it must be true. This orange tackle box must have been as old as JR and was taped and glued together. In this tackle box there was just about anything you ever wanted to fish with and JR would bring it to every tournament and he caught a lot of big fish. This tackle box was very heavy and you could throw your arm out if you weren’t careful how you handled it. Rick told me that he personally loaded and unloaded that orange tackle box in and out of his boat quite a few times himself, and it was indeed very heavy.
I guess there was some certain thing about that orange tackle box that JR needed to have it with him when he went fishin’. So, in remembrance of JR, I’m goin’ to get an orange box and put it in my boat, so that every time I’m fishin’, I will always remember JR and his love for fishin’.
Well, that’s it for this week.
I hope you get a chance to do some fishin’ this week and I’ll see ya next week.
Tip of the week: Get an orange tackle box .
Save a few and good luck.
