I grew up in Georgia, and my grandparents lived in Panama City, FL. Every summer from the time I was 2 years old, I went down to Panama City and spent a good portion of the summer with my Grandparents. My grandfather was one hell of a fisherman, and taught me everything he knew about fishing. My grandfather, two brothers and I would fish every single day that we spent with them. We fished for everything in the warm gulf waters, but our main quarry was speckled trout. My grandmother would fry specs for breakfast when we got back in from early fishing. She would also fry the roe for us at breakfast. We would have trout, grits, eggs, biscuits and hot coffee. Man, until you have tried it, you cannot understand how good it was. My grandparents had a house on Cooks bayou in Bay County, and it fed out into St. Andrews bay, which was a haven for the speckled trout. Those summer days fishing are forever etched in my memories of being a boy.

By the time my son Bobby was born, my grandfather was too old to go fishing, and he passed away back in 2001. He was known as the "Colonel", and had landed at Normandy and received the bronze star that the Battle of the Bulge. He was the perfect man for a kid to have as a hero. Every time I touch a fishing rod, I think of him.

In the summer of 2005, my son was playing on a baseball team that made it to a big regional baseball tournament that was being held in Biloxi, Mississippi. Biloxi is not very far from Mobile, Alabama, and my friend Jake Markris lives there. I met Jake several years ago while filming footage for "The Fever' hunting show. Jake is a pro staffer for Quaker Boy game calls, but Jake is also a great saltwater fisherman. He has been featured in Saltwater magazine several times. Anyway, I gave Jake a call, and he insisted we come over one day and fish. I agreed.

During the week of the baseball tournament, we had one day with no games, and that is the day Bobby and I road tripped to meet Jake. Jake keeps his boat on the Fairview side of Mobile Bay. Jake told me he had a honey hole right on the bay, and that we would need to wade fish. It was early and just light when we got there to fish. Jake told us we were over a sand bar, and there was a U shaped trough around the bar that was holding a big school of trout. Jake and I jumped ot of the boat, but Bobby stayed inside. He was a little afraid of jumping into the dark water where he could not see the bottom. I told him fine, but we were fishing. Jake and I walked to the edge and started casting. Within seconds, we both had big fish on the line! I heard a splash, and looked over to see Bobby hustling over to where we were fishing. I guess catching fish overcomes a fear of shark attack!

We caught a nice stringer of trout, and thanks to my friend Jake, I got to share an experience with my son that took me back 25 years, and really made me ache to be with my grandfather fishing just one more time. I really think he was there with us that day, and he was just as pumped as we were when this picture was taken. I know my kids think I am a dork when I take them to do something I did as a kid, but it just means so much to me to make sure I pass those experiences on to my kids. Maybe one day they will sit here and type similar stories. I hope. Either that or they will be in therapy blaming me for forcing them to go hunting and fishing.

By the way, we took second in the baseball tournament, and 6 days after we got back from the trip, Katrina hit. The ballpark and the condo's we stayed in were completely wiped out!

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