A Front Row Seat to History

As a writer, I’m not supposed to get too attached to my subjects or insert myself into the story, but since I am at best a lowercase-j-journalist I hope that you’ll forgive my occasional misstep. Fishing is too precious to me, and the fishing industry is too small, to avoid the occasional misstep.

Despite that preliminary and perhaps premature mea culpa, I am not sorry that I’ve gotten close to some of the people I’ve covered – and in fact I was particularly proud that two of those people were officially inducted into the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame last week.

Despite being a BFHOF board member, I had no direct role in the candidacies of 2022 honorees Lonnie Stanley and Aaron Martens, but as the ceremony began last week I suddenly realized how much they meant to me, and how much I’d been around them. In the event’s official program guide there was a picture of me and Aaron fishing together in Georgia. When it came time for Lonnie’s family to accept his plaque, Board President John Mazurkiewicz asked me to conduct the handoff. That’s something I never would have thought possible 30 years ago, when I started fishing, or 20 years ago, when I started writing, or even 5 years ago before I joined the Board. This writing career has been a labor of love, and eventually the memories start to stack up. Despite Tony Soprano’s admonition that “’Remember when’ is the lowest form of conversation,” I do enjoy the nostalgia of recalling all that I’ve seen.

My only regret with the evening was that both men passed away before they were voted into the Hall. I would’ve loved for both of them to see their friends, families and admirers feting them. Having heard a couple of Aaron’s AOY speeches, I also would have been curious to hear what he had to say. Three-minute limit be damned, he would’ve spent that much on his cat Sarah, and more on his kids, to be sure.

When people ask why I write – when burger flipping might pay better per hour in the current environment, and not depend on the whims of pro anglers calling you back – I remind myself of events like this one. I’ve fished with about a dozen of the inductees, and broken bread or enjoyed beers with about a dozen more, and all of those experiences together – plus the camaraderie of plenty of avid anglers who will never set foot in the Hall – contribute to my fishing memories.