OUTDOOR TRUTHS

 During this time of the year, colleges are giving their students a spring break. Thousands of these young men and women will flock to the warmest climates and the most popular beaches. The stories I've heard and the advertisements I've seen have left me wondering if these places are healthy for most nineteen and twenty year olds.
 Now before you send that email, I'm not saying every trip to the beach during spring break is bad. I'm sure there are many places where our youth can have a good time while being safe and without losing their moral compass. But the ones we see on T.V seem to be the antithesis.
 I was so thankful the other day when my own college student and his friend decided they too would spend their spring break warming the waters. Instead of needing money for their trip to the beach however, they would just need a little help getting all of their fishing gear together so they could enjoy some smallmouth fishing on the river. Now that's what I'm talking about! I can tell he didn't fall far from the tree - especially when he called me to say that he had forgotten the battery for the trolling motor or the day before that when he called to say the anchor came untied and was lost. Oh well, what a small price to pay for two young men who just wanted to take their break to catch fish.
 I was equally excited when the pictures they sent me from their cell phone were not with an unknown person of the opposite sex, but it was of the sixteen and seventeen inch smallmouth they had just caught. I was extremely proud of both of them and the big fish had nothing to do with my swollen chest.
 Three of the last five days, they have loaded my old jon boat and hauled it to the river and I'm expecting them to go tomorrow as well. I'm not sure if they will catch any fish and I'm not sure if they will call and share some bad news about rods and reels, or anchors and batteries, but I did notice that while many of those other students came back with beads to commemorate their experiences, these two young men left each day with a bracelet on, with four simple initials engraved in it....WWJD. I think I know what He would do........... He'd go fishin'.

Gary Miller
gary@outdoortruths.org