Bull Reds, Light Tackle and Forever Memories

This week my 83 year old Navy Veteran Dad made what is likely his last visit to our area so that we could do three days of fishing. The drive from Young Harris Georgia takes a toll on him and has become more and more difficult as he continues to age. Long before he was my Dad, he served in the Navy as a ship Quartermaster. When he and my Mother first met, they had both been divorced, with each having 2 children of their own. While he is not my biological father, he became the Dad that every boy wishes he could have. He adopted my brother and I at a very young age, but I still remember going into the attorneys office in Pascagoula Mississippi and being asked if I wanted him to be my Dad. He loved my Mother as a husband should and remained married to her for just shy of 49 years until she lost her battle to ovarian cancer. While married, they added 2 more children to the family, with each of us moving to different areas of the nation as we embraced adulthood.

Knowing this visit would likely be his last, I cleared my calen