Question is: What would Bob do?

I NEVER THOUGHT I’D say this, but here goes. I’m glad Bob and I cancelled our fishing trip.

That is saying a lot because Bob is a fine person to fish with. He’s gentlemanly, competent, enthusiastic, and one of those guys who just genuinely likes being in the outdoors. Basically, he’s the epitome of a good outdoorsman.

When you find a fishing buddy like that, enjoy the heck out of it – for they are few and far between. And you should learn what you can from them too, if not about fishing, then at least about having the right attitude about life.

Needless to say, cancelling wasn’t part of the plan.

In fact, Bob and I had planned a fly fishing trip for last Thursday. This annual day trip to Algonquin Park is something we have been doing for the last three years. We were going to bushwhack into a section of river that we had not fished together. Unfortunately, there has been lots of rain and local rivers are fast and high, making them unsafe to wade and harder to fish. So we re-scheduled for this week when we hoped things would get back to normal.

Well, Mother Nature threw a wrench in the gears again. There was a flood in Minden where Bob lives.

I left a message with him to see how things were and Bob called me back yesterday evening. No surprise, he was his normal cheerful self. He reported the water level was threatening his house and those of his neighbours, but he also said they had done all they could with sandbags and the placement of sump pumps and were now hoping that the worst was behind and the river would recede.

Bob was incredibly grateful to all the volunteers who came to his community. He said many good people, from local and from afar, had shown up and helped prepare and distribute sand bags and as a result, his house, and others in the region were much more prepared for higher water than they might have been.

And, typical of Bob, he was worried more about other people who were in more precarious situations than his.

He then said, “I’m glad you called. I was meaning to call you.”

In my teenage years, that was the opening sentence of a breakup call. Sadly, this was even worse – Bob declared he could not go fishing.

“I’m OK to be 15 minutes from my house, but I wouldn’t feel right being farther than that until we are sure that there’s nothing to worry about.”

I told him that this was completely understandable and offered my help (the original purpose of my first call) because the rest of my week looked fairly open anyhow – especially since we weren’t fishing.

“That’s great,” he said. And then, we spoke of how I might be able to help him with the removal of sandbags, as soon as the water level dropped.

“Let’s hope that happens soon,” I said.

That said, we began discussing more pleasant subjects such as turkey hunting and the re-scheduling of our trip for a time when the river in question would be more conducive to good fishing.

When that day comes, I’ll enjoy the heck out of it. In the meantime, I look forward to helping out Bob.

As I said, you can learn a lot from a good fishing buddy.