Did you ever meet a interesting character?

[justfishin]

This is a yada, yada story I thought was pretty cool. My buddy just bought a brand new River Rave Jet boat and couldn't wait to get her out so we went to a local lake on Friday. The cold front we had just endured gave the bass lock jaw, the water was 42 degrees and it got windy as heck. We could not buy a bite for anything. We went back in this cove and saw this guy in a beat up old ranger ( looked to be about a 85 ) and he had to be around 75 or so with a long white pony tail and long white beard. We asked him if he caught anything and he said &*((*^&(&( no !!!! We proceeded to fish some and he hollered at us to come over, drop anchor and " shoot the bull for a spell ". I thought he was about two bricks shy of a wall. We went over to be neighborly and dropped anchor. Turned out he was a retired college English professor and you  could tell he was very sharp. He had a dry sense of humor and a Samuel Clemens wit. He proceeded to pull out two Rolling Rock beers and hand to us. I told him I didn't drink while on the water. He told me to shut up and lighten up so, we took his beers. He then pulled out a cheese cake out of his cooler and proceeded to give us each a slice. I told him, no thanks, and he told me to shut up and eat it. Hmmmm, cheese cake and beer? He told us his wife would not let him have beer or cheese cake at home and when he went fishing he always took both. It was funny as he**. He said he never had long hair and was always clean shaven but, when he retired he grew both. After a piece of cheese cake, three beers a piece and some interesting conversation for about a hour he said he was out of there. While leaving he said, " you young fella's always remember " ( my buddy and I are both 50 ), fishing is not all about catching fish, its all about relaxing and doin' just what the he** ya want to do. I will always remember that guy. He was a blast to talk to. On the way home my buddy said " next time we go fishing you bring the beer and I will bring the cheese cake", lol. Have any of you guys met a character that stuck out like that in your life?

[skillet]

 When I was in the service and about 19 years old, I pulled courier duty for a short while.

 I was supposed to pick up a duece and a half (truck) in Long Bin (south of Siagon) and get it too Kontum (central highlands). The powers that be manifested me on a small cargo ship to take me up the coast for most of the trip. It turned out to be a Japanese crew and I didn't think anyone spoke English .

 I was standing out on the bough of the ship late in the evening of the first day and noticed, turned out to be Chief Engineer, watching me. The next evening I was there again and he showed up with a pot of green tea and a box of Japanese cookies. This fellow looked like Odd-Job in the James Bond movie and probably ate barbed wire for breakfast . He spoke pretty decent English and started telling me stories of his life on the oceans.

 He would show up each evening with the tea and cookies and we would talk. I heard stories of everything from hunting whales on the Artic oceans to hunting walarus on the Antarctic and everything in-between.

 All this from a fellow that looked like you really wouldn't want to  meet him in a dark alley (complete with scars on his face, arms and hands)! He turned out to be one of the nicest most gentle people I ever met . I 'll never forget a stranger who took it upon himself to befriend a young southern boy first time away from home in a really bad situation. NEVER judge a book by it's cover...

                                                                As Ever,

                                                                 Skillet

justfishin,

 yada yada stories help make us who we are

[flechero]

Some day a young guy will pull up beside you and say hi... then you'll be his next day's yada yada story!  

I've met some neat people on the water...  The best of them always seem to be older.  Coincidence?  I think not.  

[Guest the_muddy_man]

I met this guy Keith at Lake Fork wraps his own rods and has a bad attitude twoards shyster boat Rental guys  I wonder what happened to him

[Guest the_muddy_man]

Now for Real; At the Lake Fork trip I had the pleasure of spending some time in Long Mikes Boat. NOW EVERYONE I MET From BASSRESOURCE.COM Was Great but he was an unexpected gift freindship.

He is a coll guy with a very dry but deadly sense of humor. It was his experience in life and his sense of humanity One of the real reprensetives of America at its best. So while I met a Youngster Named Bret, thats a whole other story i think any guy with a sense of respect will always generate to the older guys as he ages himself

[Fish Man]

about 2 years ago on the 4th of july me and my family were at our condo by the beach.we went down to the beach t watch one of several fireowrks displays but found out that we couldnt see it all to welll.well for this reason us and the rest of the hundreds of people on the beach brought our own fireworks to shoot off.a man to our left was with his life when he approached us and asked if we had any, we said yes and he said so do i.the then reached for a brown paper bag and showed us what was inside.it must have been the fireworks equivelent of a young childs holoween bag.filled top he top with all sorts of assorted goodies and told us he chose us because his daughter was at a party and because i was a kid he thought i would like it.he reached in an grabbed one an said we are goona like all these by the end of the night. to tell you the truth he seemed almost like a young child as excited as he was about it(or almost seemed drunk but wasnt).and we procceded to luacnhed them off one by one none of them looked like anything i had ever seen.one of them got caught by the wind and flew right at the building we were next to and swerved over to were the road was and went off ( no harm done about 2 others did the same thing) not to menchion he told me to hold one and lite it off.it scared the crap out of me but shot up and light up while spinning like the rotors of a helicopter and landed within a few feet of me,,,all in all it was a fun night an i guess i remember him because he was so nice and because of the commical comments he made,not to menchion that i thoguht several of his fireworks would kill me by the end of the night ;D

[RecMar8541]

His name was Ray....

When I lived in Michigan he lived kitty corner from me. I always thought Ray was just a neighborhood drunk. Never had a car, always in stained and discheveled clothing. rather pityful looking guy really. Slight of build, very aged, NEVER sober. We talked out in the street often, and built at least an aquaintence of one another. Minor favors ensued. Rides to the store on cold winter days, occasionally a trip to the bank, or just something as simple as could he use our phone.

Ray lived very very simply. At times I became annoyed, I admit. He would come to the door and in his very slow manor of speech would say "Hi Mike, I really hate to bother ya, but can I.....(insert favor needed)" . I always helped when I could, even if a bit annoyed.

One day Ray shows up at the house, excited as all get out, and invited me over to "see sumthin". I had never been inside his home before, and I confess was a bit curious. He had a tv, and thats about all except mandatory appliances. Then we went into a study room, and inside was about 100k in astronomy stuff. High end telescope, monitors, and a bunch of other stuff I had no clue what it was. Anyhow, He wanted me to see some solar anomoly or something, and it was pretty cool. We spent hours talking. I asked to use his rest room, and on the way down his hall Noticed some pictures, of Ray, in Vietnam, wearing a Green Beret uniform. That explained alot.

I asked him and he said shyly "yeah....that was me long ago......I havent been sober since."

He won so many medals it was unreal. bronze and silver stars out the ying yang. And a few higher that are army specific. Looked like the only thing he didnt have was the Medal of Honor. I was dumbfounded. This shy tiny extreemly timid guy was not only one serious bad *** in his day, he was a freeking HERO!

Shortly after he was at my door asking to use the phone...

Me: sure ray whats up?

Ray: oh you know me mike, i was makin fries, and passed out with grease on the stove, and my kitchen is burning.

I yelled for diane to call 911 and ran out, forced his garden hose in a window, and managed to get things settled down somewhat.

I couldnt believe this guy was so calm about his house burning....

3 weeks later several days passed, without sight of ray. I went over to check on him, and could see him sitting in his chair inside, knocked and he didnt move. I tried the lock and it was open.

Ray had passed in his chair.

Now Ive seen some stuff....in the Military myself, but, I am not ashamed to admit I cried, hard, for my friend and what a loss to the world Rays passing had been, even if it went unnoticed.

I havent talked about that since then, and dont know why I felt I had to say it here.

ray was buried with full Military Honors. A few few calls to the vfw and several other organizations, and his funeral was attended by almost 1200 people.

I sit now with tears thinking about my friend.

never judge a book by its cover, because somewhere between the pages the truth lays.

I apologize for the long post.

recon

[flechero]

His name was Ray....

Moving post, thank you for sharing.  

[Catt]

I was sitting in the local caf é in Cameron, Louisiana when an older gentleman walks up and asks if anyone was sitting in the empty chair across from me. I glanced up to see a guy in his middle 50's, rough looking, coveralls, and steel toe boots; obviously an oil field hand. We talked about this that and the other when he asks what I do for a living and I reply that I install acoustical ceiling in commercial buildings. He proceeds to say I've built an office up the road in Carlyss and would I like to do the ceiling; I say sure why not. Pulling out a business card he writes he's secretary's name and phone number on the back while saying call Laura I'll have it set up. As he's walking away I flip the card over and there staring at me is the company name Red Adair Service and Marine Company, Inc. and in the lower left hand corner is Paul N. "Red" Adair owner.

[Panamoka_Bassin]

Where I come from, you can't swing a cat without hitting one of these guys.  My great uncle was one of them,  Uncle Edgar.  As a kid, we'd have Thanksgiving dinner at his house, along with about 20 other people, and the game was to see how long before Uncle Ed fell asleep at the table.  Happened every year.  He'd even start snoring.  He was a great story teller, a helluva good bayman, and generally just a great guy to be around.  After he passed, I was talking to one of his kids, my cousin, and she told me how he'd been in a Nazi POW camp for 2 years after being shot down in a bomber; he was the tail gunner.  I never knew this, and I guess it just added to the aura I always saw around him.  Funny how you can know someone your whole life and still be amazed by them.

[Zel]

I've met several interesting characters good and bad, from a guy who was pure evil and became a murderer, to a neighbor who was a hiding nazi war criminal.  But one I met on the water stands out in particular. About 15 years ago, while fishing alone, I started up a conversation about what was working that day with this guy in his boat. Later that day after I loaded up the boat, I saw this guy in the parking lot tying down his boat. We started up a conversation over a beer. He went on to tell me of his exploits in the Vietnam War. He claimed to be one of the top snipers during the war. He told me of some of his hits, in blood curtailing details, and the bets he and his partner would make as it turned into a game for them (according to him it seems snipers worked in groups of two). He told me of several of his military and political marks, and their strategic purpose. He even told me how to make napalm. At first I thought it was just some guy telling tall tails, but his details were very good until he opened up the back of his van. Although I saw nothing that would be considered illegal, what I saw in there scared the heebie-jeebies out of me. I quickly thanked him for the beer and hi-tailed it out of there. And I didn't go back to the lake for over a month.

[roadwarrior]

Back in the early '90s I was on a business trip to Tallahassee, Florida. My meetings were over early and my plane was scheduled to leave later that evening. So, I headed out to the University golf course. It was a dreary day with intermittant showers. I bought a light FSU jacket and cap, headed out to the driving range and kept one eye on the first tee to try to pick-up a couple of guys to play with.

After twenty minutes or so, I saw a cart driving over to the tee box.  I jumped in my cart and drove over to meet up with these fellas. One was an older fat guy and the other tall and lean. I asked it they would mind me joining them. They looked at each other, kinda shrugged and said sure.

These guys teed up, then jumped in their cart before I hit. This went on for awhile. Now, I'm not really much of a golfer, but that day I fired up five birdies IN A ROW! So we get to the 6th tee and the fat guy says, "Who are you? And what do you do?" I told them my name and explained that I was from Denver, there on business. I asked, "Who are you?"

(Before I finish, let me explain a couple of things. This all happened in January, about a week after New Year's Day. I was dressed like a local-yokle and as it turns out, FSU had just lost the National Championship Game.)

The fat guys says, "I'm Bobby Bowden." I asked, "What do you do?" He says, "I coach football." I asked the other guy what he does, he replies, "I work for him." I suppose I was the only human being in the Southeastern United States that had never heard of these guys. I guess they thought I was just gloming on to celebrities.

I shared the cart with Coach Bowden the rest of the day, we got along real well after that!

BTW, My game returned "to normal" after those first few holes.

[justfishin]

I wish my son could have been there RW. My son is a huge FSU fan. Bobby Bowden is one of his heros. Bobby sent all kind of stuff to my son when he was in Iraq. My sons dream is to be a college football coach. He lives for college ball. Great story. By the way, my golf game is not very pretty either,lol.