Posted By: truthpro
This past November my good friend, neighbor, & fishing buddy passed away. - 02/07/19 06:32 AM
![[Linked Image]](https://texasfishingforum.com/forums/pics/userpics/2019/02/full-100069-1660-20160716_173059.jpg)
I only knew him for a few years. I felt like I knew him my whole life. He lived across the street. When I first met him we started talking about fishing. He really loved to fish. I told him I had just recently started fishing again after a ten year hiatus after losing my dad. I had driven out to the lake one day just riding around and I went out to Clear Lake Park. I saw the pier and made it a priority to get back out there to fish there. I went several times just bank fishing. Too poor to afford a boat. Finally that spring I took my oldest daughter out on a tandem kayak as I found a Groupon special 14 dollars for 2 hours at Paddle Point Park on Lake Ray Hubbard. I figured that would be better than taking her to a movie where you can't even talk. At that point I knew I had to get a kayak for fishing. That summer I was finally able to afford a kayak. I started going regularly by myself. After a few mishaps I knew I needed a kayak fishing buddy. Then I met and befriended this neighbor. I told him about it and he said I'm too big to get in one of those and I told him about the big boy kayaks like the Jackson Big Rig. I took him over there one hot day near the end of July. He rented it 50 bucks for the whole day. This photo he asked me to take was not a big fish but it was his first fish caught from a kayak. He was hooked. He had to get a kayak. He spoke several times to the guy that rented them and he just so happened to have a super deal on a similar kayak vthat was brand new. We went fish many times that hot summer. Then it wasn't long until they had to move as his wife's mother got sick so his wife needed to move back to South Carolina. I helped them pack up to move. I hated when they had to move. Then eventually about a year or almost 2 past and they moved back and they found a house in our neighborhood. 9 houses down from us and one street over. I was so glad I had my fishing buddy back. He had a truck and a trailer he rigged up for us to haul our kayaks. His dad passed away in September 2018. He was pretty down from that point on. He decided to go get a one day license as he still had out of state drivers license so he and I could go kayak fishing a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. We went and had a good time. Then the following Sunday while at Walmart he was not feeling well they cut shopping trip short. He went home and was feeling bad. His wife said she was going to take him to the hospital. He told her let me lay down for about 15 minutes and if not doing any better then you can take me. Their daughter and my oldest daughter are about the same age. They were on the phone and she told my daughter her mom was about to take her dad to the hospital. My wife took off over there. They were talking to him and he became unresponsive. My wife called 911. An ambulance came but he had started responding before they got there. They checked his vitals and his heart rate was way too fast so they took him to the hospital and he was in there until the Friday after Thanksgiving. We took them Thanksgiving in the hospital. They were originally going to have Thanksgiving at our house. The problem he had was arterial fibrillation. They got his heart rate to normalize and they gave him what they call a life vest which would monitor and shock the heart if it got out of rythym. He started feeling really bad again late Saturday night early Sunday morning. They had to call ambulance again. They took him back to the hospital. Then Sunday he had two heart attacks. He would never speak again. My wife told me early Monday morning before work if I wanted to see him again I better go to the hospital. I went and he was in ICU on the machines keeping him going as family was coming from South Carolina. They didn't make it in time. I had to go to work. I prayed right there with his wife. I spoke to him to try to encourage him to fight. It was his time. I got the call at 10:30 AM that he had left to be with Jesus and his dad. I just took my kayak out for the first time this past Monday. It's not the same without him, but I must keep doing that which we both love to do in his honor. I recently had to get rid of the car I hauled my kayak in so now I don't really have a good way to transport my kayak. The other day I used one of those kayak foam carrier kits made by Swiss Guard. I don't really like doing it that way but that's all I have and cannot currently afford anything else. So if any of you ever need a kayak fishing buddy and have a truck or trailer I'll go with you and I'll help with gas, bait, drinks, and snacks. I'm really after crappie but love to catch anything.
