Father's Day is just around the corner. Here's a gift idea that doesn't have to cost you much in terms of cash outlay, although it might cost you a little in time. What folks today call "quality time," the kind of time we all used to have plenty of but that seems to be at such a premium these days. I'm talking about a fishing trip.
My dad was the first person to ever take me fishing. The same may be true for you. If not, I'll bet he at least nurtured your interest as it grew. On what I believe was my first fishing trip, Dad took me to a sheltered bay on Lake Erie, where we drifted over endless schools of perch that flowed beneath our boat like a green and gold carpet. I caught perch on a bare gold-colored hook and he caught a northern on a Bass Oreno. Later, we fished small lakes for bass and panfish and sparkling streams for browns, rainbows and brookies. Dad showed me how to tie a clinch knot, paint a hand-made bass plug, catch night crawlers after a spring rain and so many other things I now take for granted because I do them automatically every time I go fishing. When our family camped at a spring-fed quarry for a week or two each summer, brothers Pete and Mike and I filled the stringer with rock bass and bluegills, and Dad fried up fresh fillets with potatoes for dinner. After dark, we drifted on the calm water in a rowboat, casting those home-made bass plugs into the inky night, listening for the telltale "schlurp" of a fish. Sometimes one would hit a plug so hard it would fly out of the water. The noisiest strikes were usually small rock bass. The bigger bass just sucked it in and the fight was on.

When my son Jon was a toddler, I took him fishing for bass on little pothole lakes deep in the Chequamegon National Forest or for perch on the docks of Lake Superior in Washburn where we lived back then. On one trip when he was five, he told me "When you're too old to go fishing by yourself, Dad, I'll take you." It may have been his promise that made me realize how much I owe my own father. Well, this weekend, I'll be making a small payment on that debt, and I won't be alone. Mike, Pete, Jon and brother-in-law Tim Hooker and I are taking Dad fishing to celebrate his 80th birthday. I can't remember the last time we all fished together, and I don't know when we'll get the chance to do it again, what with our busy schedules and the way time relentlessly marches on. But for a couple days, we'll all share some time on Big Green Lake. Quality time. Payback time. On Friday, we'll troll for lakers, white bass or whatever wants to bite with Mike Norton on his pontoon boat. I'm even bringing along a TV crew to record the outing, so you'll probably see it on a future episode of Outdoor Wisconsin. Saturday, we'll try for smallmouths and walleyes with guides Joel Barnowski and John Walker. I'll be sure to let you know how we do, but even if the fish don't bite and it rains all weekend, we'll have a good time.

This week is National Fishing Week in Wisconsin and many other states, so even if your dad hasn't fished or bought a license in years, he can do so for free those two days. But it doesn't have to be National Fishing Week, your dad's 80th birthday, Father's Day, or any special day at all. Take Dad or whoever it was who got you started fishing on a fishing trip sometime soon and make a payment on that debt you owe. You know he'll appreciate it.