My travels and my work take me to numerous catfish and crappie tournaments. What I find everywhere I go are “real” people, patriots with family values, that love their sport. The anglers are normally just as excited about seeing old friends and making new ones as they are about the fishing Oh, don’t get me wrong, they are competitive to the bone, but when the fishing is over the event turns into a brotherhood of friends.
I wrote last week about Deland residents Stephen and Jennifer Edwards. They live about 5 minutes from the St. Johns River. Where the Crappie Masters tournament was being held. The interesting part of the story was that on Thursday they had no idea they would be fishing the tournament. You can read that story on CrappieNow by clicking here.
The story continued on day-two of the tournament when Stephen’s granddad, Russell Edwards, learned of the couples participation in the tournament. Stephen’s love for fishing goes back, as it often does, to his granddaddy.
“Granddaddy Russell taught Stephen to fish when he was just a little kid,” reported Jennifer. “Stephen grew up fishing the St John’s and multiple surrounding areas with all of the knowledge that he was taught by Granddaddy. Stephen and granddaddy used to watch the Bassmasters Classic together all of the time.”
As granddaddy Russell aged, as also happens often, he was unable to fish. Fortunately, the 93-year-old World War II veteran is visited often by his loved ones. “Stephen and I always go over and share our hunting/fishing stories and pictures with him,” continued Jennifer. “He just always loved seeing and hearing about anything that has to do with fishing or hunting.”
The icing on the cake this week was when Jennifer and Stephen told Stephen’s Aunt that they were in the tournament and ask her to bring granddaddy Russell to the weigh-in. “She said when he found out he was really excited to come see us,” recalled Jennifer. “I know he really misses fishing. About a year ago I was able to take him to a little pond at our friends house and he had such a blast catching a couple bass.”
Come he did. Actually, he became a bit of a celebrity when Brian Sowers introduced him to the crowd. The World War II veteran received a rousing round of applause as he joined Jennifer and Stephen as they weighed in their day-two crappie. As he rolled his wheelchair/walker up to the scales he was heard to say, “They got some good ones, too!”
Thanks for coming Russell. It was great to meet you.
