
I met John in June 2004 when I was on my very first solo trip for Carp, John pulled up and asked if I minded if he joined me on the bank, well he did and I soon discovered we had much in common besides fishing. John was retired from Bell Canada and I was and still do work there. Although we had never crossed paths at Bell we had many common acquaintances. One thing about carp fishing when you share a bank with someone for the day you have lots of time to talk and John and I hit it off right from the word go. From that first chance encounter blossomed a true friendship. John and I have fished together at least once a week almost every week since then, barring that awful period between soft water and hard water seasons.
John had a love of trying new bodies of water and I loved fishing anywhere. John loved fishing for crappie and I was trying desperately to figure them out. John loved to share his knowledge with me and I think he was even happier than I was when some new technique he had been trying to teach me finally paid off. This summer he had been trying to teach me to flip ,well after trying with the rods I had with little success I decided it was my equipment so off I went to Ed’s to get myself a flipping stick ,Well it wasn’t the equipment . Anyway John kept after me to keep trying, I would get the old “this looks like a fine place to initiate that flipping stickâ€. Well persistence pays off and on our last bass outing this year I landed 4 bass flipping including the biggest of the day, I really believe seeing me catch that bass put the biggest smile on his face that I have ever seen.
My wife had nicknamed him Daddy John and somehow it fit. I don’t think I will ever be able to pick up a rod again without thinking about him .
I kow somewhwere John is fishing today and I hope he gets a 17 inch crappie
RIP John I will miss you


