Good Luck Gene and Terri

I've met some real fine folks through my time on the water and in the field. In a week or so, a real good friend is saying "goodbye" to Ohio and moving on to greener pastures in Texas. In all honesty, I'm sort of sad to see him go. He's a heck of a good fisherman, and we've built many memories out on the waters of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Whether it was bass fishing at Nimisila or Portage Lakes, steelhead fishing the tributaries of Lake Erie, or drilling holes in the ice at Presque Isle Bay, we ALWAYS had a ball. His name is Gene Pitman, and I'm happy to call him "friend".
One of our more memorable trips, Gene's wife Terri came along on a walleye charter with Captain Gary on the SARA-J. What a great time. Terri even caught the biggest walleye, plus a GIANT sheephead she wanted to have mounted. Lake Erie was good to us that day, with walleye limits for everyone. I know Gene and Terri love the outdoors, sharing trrips to Lake St. Clair musky fishing, charters, camping trips. And, they were always great hosts. We'd fish a lot at Portage Lakes, and Gene's house was the meeting place before and after, as he was right on the water. My kids really enjoyed playing with their beagle, "Cooper". What a smart pup! Ah, the kids... My son Nick is really going to miss Gene. He loves to fish too, and was always asking if he could come out with us in the boat. Gene always had a spot for him too, whether it was bass fishing, hunting the big redears, or night time crappies, Nick was always welcome. I'm sure as heck going to try to get him down to Texas sometime for some BIG bass fishing. I know Gene knows the spots...
I can't really say which trip I had the most fun on. They were all great in their own way. Even the time on the ice at Mogadore, when we really shouldn't have gone out. The ice was just over 2 inches thick, but we slowly made our way out. We stayed for 20 minutes on the ice before it got to be too much. One of those "life experience" trips, i guess. The night walleye trip we took in January of '07 was great. Gene caught his biggest walleye, and I think he's still smiling about it. So many trips. Different places, different times of year, different species of fish caught. When someone is moving out of that circle of experience, it gets sort of sad, that you won't be making memories with them anymore. The friendship we built over the past few years will continue, and I'll chronicle my trips with others, and Nick's growth as a fisherman and the family's goings-on, and we'll always have the memories.

Thanks Gene. Thanks for all the good times and great fishing. I wish all the best to you and Terri, so until we meet again, so long.

Any questions, comments, fishing reports, photos, anything at all, please email me at cbachtel@wkyc.com and I'll get back with you.

I'm Carl "Big Daddy" Bachtel... Thanks for stopping by.