Just got back from a week in Alabama. Sadly, I had to go up to bury my 93 year old Grandpa who lived a long and good life. Among other things like teaching me to fish when I was my kids age, he was a great man of strong morals and a role model to anyone who is married (he was married 73 years). Grandpa (or Pop as I called him) was never rude to any person, even the black folks he picked up every day to drive to and from the cotton fields to work - he was friends with all of them, even when hatred and the Klu Klux Klan filled Sand Mountain, AL. Pop hated to see any creature on God's earth killed. From ants to snakes, he was a true conservator of wildlife and an all round exceptional human being.

Realizing it was probably going to be my last trip to those parts of Alabama, I figured I'd better make it a good one after we laid him to rest. Here are some pics from the trip:

Getting ready for the funeral:

Lake Guntersville Lodge at the State Park after the funeral:

Deer at the lodge:

The day after the funeral I fished my uncle's 3.5 acre pond and it truly is a slice of heaven. I caught 26 Bass the first day in 3 hours, with 8 of them being over 4-lbs. The biggest one that day went 6.5-lbs. The next day I took my kids back and we all caught 8 fish each, my biggest being 8-lbs and 23 inches:

What I was more excited about however, was my son's biggest Bass that he caught entirely on his own that went 5.5-lbs. He caught hooked and landed this fish on his own and started frantically waving at me across the pond to come over and see it.

All fish were caught on Senko worms and we went thru 2 bags of them. Some were Pre-Spawn and some were Post-Spawn. Here are a few more pics of some of the fish we caught:

The blood on the last fish was from Jasper, a Black Lab who jumped in the pond and tried to eat every lure I cast, and every Bass I hooked. That Bass was the first one I hooked and the dog came flying out of nowhere and jumped in the water, promptly engulfing the fishes head with his jaws. I quickly learned to steer my fish away from him because he meant business. Jasper was without a doubt the most fish'inest water dog I have ever met.

I will miss you POP, we all will. Thank you for all you taught us!

Sorry to hear about your grandfather, he sounds like he was a great person. Congrats to your son on catching that nice hawg and congrats to you on your hawg. It looks like your kids had fun fishing and that what it is all about, enjoying time with the family.

Sorry to hear about your loss.  It is great to see that you are continuing the cycle by passing on to your kids what you received from your grandpa.  They will remember it for years to come and hopefully pass it down to a future generation.

I'm very sorry to hear about your pop.  My grandparents tough me some of my most important values and it sounds like your grandfather did the same.  

Congratulations on your son's new PB.

Great post!

8-)