83-year-old Kansas City man has amazing finish to his fishing day

Posted on Sat, Dec. 19, 2009
83-year-old Kansas City man has amazing finish to his fishing day
By BRENT FRAZEE
The Kansas City Star

Rick Jackson believes in miracles.

And who could blame him? After what he witnessed on a recent weekend when he took his ailing father fishing for perhaps the last time, it would be hard not to believe, he’ll tell you.

“I’ve been fishing for 54 years, but I’ve never seen a day like this one,” said Jackson, 58, who lives in Montrose, Mo. “It was like there was some divine intervention.

“I could feel my brother’s presence. It was like he was there, helping Dad out.”

Jackson’s brother, Joe Jr., died in 1990 after accidentally shooting himself during a deer-hunting trip. And the family still mourns the loss, especially when members go fishing or hunting.

Joe Jr. and Sr. were close, fishing together as much as four times a week. They competed in bass tournaments on Truman Lake, fished the strip pits of west-central Missouri regularly, and went deer hunting together.

When Joe Jr. passed away, his dad lost a big part of his life. But he still had Rick, who also was a fishing buddy.

Though Joe Sr. lived in Kansas City and Rick in Montrose, they would still get together to fish for bass in the strip pits. But that tradition eventually faded away as Joe Sr., 83, advanced in age.

When Rick visited him on Thanksgiving, he found his dad in low spirits, depressed about his disappearing eyesight as a result of macular degeneration, and his failing health. Joe Sr. had just finished with what he termed “his last garden” and was down about his quality of life.

“I was going to go deer hunting that weekend,” Rick said. “But after I saw how down Dad was, I knew I had to get him out.

“I wanted to take him on one last fishing trip.”

Joe Sr. at first rejected the offer, saying he wasn’t up to it. But he finally agreed.

His grandson, Ricky Stangl, drove him down to Montrose and the three set out to fish the strip pits. At first, the outing did little to lift Joe Sr.’s spirits.

“Because of my poor eyesight, I couldn’t see where to cast,” he said. “I kept getting hung up and had my lures up in trees, and I thought to myself, ‘My fishing days are over.’ ”

But his son was patient, answering, “As long as you can feel a bite, you can still fish. If you want me to, I can cast out for you and you can take over from there.”

The three fishermen were successful, catching many bass and crappies in the first two pits they fished. But toward the end of the day, Rick wanted to fish one last place — an arm of a strip pit where the south wind had been blowing in all day.

By this time, Joe Sr. was tired and wobbly, so Rick decided they would just make a few casts from the bank. On Joe’s second cast, he felt something hit the plastic crawdad imitation he was using and he set the hook.

Moments later, he had the biggest bass of his life, an 8-pound trophy. But he wasn’t done. Moments later, he had one that weighed 7 1/4 pounds. Then another that weighed just over 7 pounds. Then one more trophy.

In 20 minutes, he landed four bass that weighed more than 30 pounds. Meanwhile, his son and Ricky stood on both sides of him and didn’t land a single giant.

“It was almost as if he was supposed to be the one catching those big fish,” Rick said.

To which Joe Sr., replied, “Before that day, the biggest bass I had caught weighed 7 pounds. All of these fish were bigger than that.”

As darkness fell, the three fishermen headed home and Joe Sr. immediately fell asleep. But there was one last footnote to this story.

When Rick called his mom to tell her of this unbelievable day, she said, “You know what day this is, don’t you? This is the day we buried your brother.”

83-year-old Kansas City man has amazing finish to his fishing day - KansasCity.com