Free Fishing Day Is Special
April 18, 2018 at 4:02 p.m.
By Roger Grossman-
When they passed away, they left my siblings and I very little in material things but a whole lot of the stuff that really matters.
That said, each of us kids inherited something earthly from each one of them.
For me, my love for sports (specifically the Cubs) comes from my mom. If you read my column regularly, you know the story of how she and I used to listen to the Cubs almost daily every year of my childhood.
My dad gave me fishing.
I bring that up because Indiana is offering a “Free Fishing Day” Saturday.
Saturday, you don’t need to have a fishing license to fish in Indiana. You still have to follow all of the rules of fishing set by the Department of Natural Resources. Those rules include how many crappies you can catch in one day, or how long a largemouth bass must be in order for your to keep it.
The purpose of the day is to get people who don’t fish or haven’t for a long time to grab a pole and get back out in a boat or on a Hoosier shoreline.
My dad didn’t just take me fishing with him, he taught me how to fish. He taught me how to put line on a pole, how to tie the knots, and how to read whether my bobber was being blown by the wind or something was tugging on my bait.
My dad also used that time on the shoreline to talk – meaningful, conversations about stuff. And my dad was not big on deep conversations. He was happy to participate in them but he almost never initiated them. But when we were fishing, it was different. It was always comfortable, and his timing was always right.
One of the last days I spent with him was a Friday in August a few years back in a boat the size of a bathtub with my dad and my brother. We fished for hours with nothing in the bucket to show for it. A brief rain shower came through, we got soaked, and the fish got hungry. Sixty three bluegills later, my dad said to us ‘that was the best day of fishing I’ve had since your grandpa died.’ (He had died more than 30 years before that.)
My brother and I agreed that it was our best day, too, because it was his best day.
Four months later he had the first of a series of strokes. Three months after that, he was gone.
I don’t get the fishing gear out now and not think about him, that day, and the gift he gave me in a love for fishing.
That is what free fishing day is all about.
Dig those poles out of storage, grab the kids and get them out there Saturday. But be careful, you might fall in love with it, and you might just find yourself in a conversation with your kids that will change your relationship forever in the best possible way.
I’d say that is worth a lot more than the price of a fishing license.
A couple of other things to bring up today: The Grace College women’s basketball program finds itself in a really interesting position. Scott Blum took over as head coach 14 years ago and the program did improve in under his leadership. But now that Blum is in Tennessee at NAIA Division I Cumberland, it seems to me that the program is at a bit of a crossroads.
This hire by Athletic Director Chad Briscoe will be critical to maintaining program momentum. Grace has fought hard to rise from being an easy win for opponents for decades (they finished last in their league in 2016) to finishing fourth in the nationally-respected Crossroads League each of the last two years.
There will be coaching changes at two of the eight Northern Lakes Conference boys basketball programs as well. Both Concord’s Steve Austin and Northridge’s Ronnie Thomas have stepped away. Two guys in very different situations: Austin is a veteran who has coached for 33 years in different conferences in different parts of the state, and in different states, while Thomas is still a pretty young guy who returned home to coach at the school where he was a star. I don’t envy those athletic directors for having to fill those vacancies.
For the first time in a decade I am watching the hockey playoffs and my beloved Blackhawks are not invited to participate. I hate that, but I still love the quest for Lord Stanley’s Holy Grail.
On a related, personal note: I am watching the hockey playoffs (and everything else) on a new television. My wife made a deal with me that I could replace my college TV (purchased in 1991) with a new-fangled model IF I got my weight down under 230. Now, she made this deal with me about seven years ago and I started at 238 pounds. But now I am at 228.8. I would like to tell you that I immersed myself in some grueling program where I eat only twigs and berries and workout three hours a day. I just am eating less. Funny side note: the TV weighs less than the weight I had to lose to earn it.
By the way, hockey in HD really is outstanding! It’d look better if my ‘Hawks were playing.
When they passed away, they left my siblings and I very little in material things but a whole lot of the stuff that really matters.
That said, each of us kids inherited something earthly from each one of them.
For me, my love for sports (specifically the Cubs) comes from my mom. If you read my column regularly, you know the story of how she and I used to listen to the Cubs almost daily every year of my childhood.
My dad gave me fishing.
I bring that up because Indiana is offering a “Free Fishing Day” Saturday.
Saturday, you don’t need to have a fishing license to fish in Indiana. You still have to follow all of the rules of fishing set by the Department of Natural Resources. Those rules include how many crappies you can catch in one day, or how long a largemouth bass must be in order for your to keep it.
The purpose of the day is to get people who don’t fish or haven’t for a long time to grab a pole and get back out in a boat or on a Hoosier shoreline.
My dad didn’t just take me fishing with him, he taught me how to fish. He taught me how to put line on a pole, how to tie the knots, and how to read whether my bobber was being blown by the wind or something was tugging on my bait.
My dad also used that time on the shoreline to talk – meaningful, conversations about stuff. And my dad was not big on deep conversations. He was happy to participate in them but he almost never initiated them. But when we were fishing, it was different. It was always comfortable, and his timing was always right.
One of the last days I spent with him was a Friday in August a few years back in a boat the size of a bathtub with my dad and my brother. We fished for hours with nothing in the bucket to show for it. A brief rain shower came through, we got soaked, and the fish got hungry. Sixty three bluegills later, my dad said to us ‘that was the best day of fishing I’ve had since your grandpa died.’ (He had died more than 30 years before that.)
My brother and I agreed that it was our best day, too, because it was his best day.
Four months later he had the first of a series of strokes. Three months after that, he was gone.
I don’t get the fishing gear out now and not think about him, that day, and the gift he gave me in a love for fishing.
That is what free fishing day is all about.
Dig those poles out of storage, grab the kids and get them out there Saturday. But be careful, you might fall in love with it, and you might just find yourself in a conversation with your kids that will change your relationship forever in the best possible way.
I’d say that is worth a lot more than the price of a fishing license.
A couple of other things to bring up today: The Grace College women’s basketball program finds itself in a really interesting position. Scott Blum took over as head coach 14 years ago and the program did improve in under his leadership. But now that Blum is in Tennessee at NAIA Division I Cumberland, it seems to me that the program is at a bit of a crossroads.
This hire by Athletic Director Chad Briscoe will be critical to maintaining program momentum. Grace has fought hard to rise from being an easy win for opponents for decades (they finished last in their league in 2016) to finishing fourth in the nationally-respected Crossroads League each of the last two years.
There will be coaching changes at two of the eight Northern Lakes Conference boys basketball programs as well. Both Concord’s Steve Austin and Northridge’s Ronnie Thomas have stepped away. Two guys in very different situations: Austin is a veteran who has coached for 33 years in different conferences in different parts of the state, and in different states, while Thomas is still a pretty young guy who returned home to coach at the school where he was a star. I don’t envy those athletic directors for having to fill those vacancies.
For the first time in a decade I am watching the hockey playoffs and my beloved Blackhawks are not invited to participate. I hate that, but I still love the quest for Lord Stanley’s Holy Grail.
On a related, personal note: I am watching the hockey playoffs (and everything else) on a new television. My wife made a deal with me that I could replace my college TV (purchased in 1991) with a new-fangled model IF I got my weight down under 230. Now, she made this deal with me about seven years ago and I started at 238 pounds. But now I am at 228.8. I would like to tell you that I immersed myself in some grueling program where I eat only twigs and berries and workout three hours a day. I just am eating less. Funny side note: the TV weighs less than the weight I had to lose to earn it.
By the way, hockey in HD really is outstanding! It’d look better if my ‘Hawks were playing.
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