On a Scale from 1 to 136
Sometimes we just do not realize how lucky we are. Ten-twelve years ago, I met a quite unique gentleman here on Lake Talquin. We meet a lot of unique people here on the lake, but that’s another story. Dave Howell was his name, but we all called him “Doc”. Doc was from Australia, and he was a consultant that through his job traveled all over the world. After meeting him a few times and hearing about some of his amazing experiences I asked Doc how many countries he had been to in his life. Without any hesitation, he responded 136. At the time I didn’t even realize there were 136 countries on this planet. Curiosity did exist back at the beginning of this century. And I thought Wow, how many are there? So naturally, I asked Doc (the closest thing to Google at the time) and I learned we have 195. But, what I found even more amazing was that a man literally from the other side of the world, one that traveled to more countries than I ever imagined we had, chose to live right here on Lake Talquin.
That Left a Mark
We lost Doc back in 2011. Shortly after his passing some of his family chose to travel halfway around the world just to see why Doc loved it here. Some were from Australia and some were from Vietnam. During their visit, they made a point to experience all of Doc’s favorite places. One of which was here at The Whip. They met many of his Talquin friends, and yes they even got a little fishing time in, too.
The OZ
Tim and Mike, Doc’s nephews “from the OZ” (Australia) as they called it, set out one morning with a local fisherman. There was a pretty good crappie bite on at the time and that was their plan for the day. They trolled for specks and had a good catch when they noticed some fish schooling about 100 meters away. That’s about 90 yards or so, mates. Casting the same small crappie jigs tied on to 4lb test line the three boated several nice stripers, the largest weighed over 11 pounds. An unexpected ending to an already great day. Retracing their uncle’s trail certainly must have helped Tim and Mike grieve their loss. They experienced a small sampling of Doc’s unexpected discovery and took some great memories with them back to “The OZ”. For a few of us here, Lake Talquin is the greatest place on earth. But on a scale from 1 to 136, sometimes we just don’t realize how lucky we are.
