Endorsement for RDH III …

 

Chip off the old block?  Hardly.  Even though he has the same name.

This guy can actually CATCH fish.  As my wise-guy friends would say, the proof is in the pictures.  Well, see above.  Left to right:  little Trey with a little catfish; big Trey with a 29-pound, four-ounce catfish; and, Trey with a 5.68 pound largemouth bass.

Trey generally excels at whatever he chooses to do.  Most recently in his young life it has been fishing and hunting.  Whether he’s with friends Mikey or Jonas or his namesake Dad or Grandad, he seems to have a nose for finding the fish – or deer.

Trey learned to aim straight at an early age with a BB and pellet rifle.  He and the rifle were the same height.  The early training paid off a couple years ago with his first eight-point buck.  He also trained early with a bow and arrow made with his own hands – with a little help from his Grandad.  He now helps to educate his Grandad on things like the best models of hunting rifles and the gear ratios on baitcasting reels.  He even makes his own lures for fly fishing.

If this is bragging about a grandson, so be it.

Trey once was pond fishing with a friend.  Might have been one of those times they were fishing a pond they weren’t suppose to be fishing.  Anyway, this excursion was unplanned so he did not have his tackle box, only a borrowed pole with limited line, one bream hook and no bait.  For the uneducated, a bream hook is very small.  Two fancy-pants guys were fishing the same pond – probably with permission, of all things – and tossed a used and battered plastic worm toward Trey and his friend.  “Why don’t you try that?” they laughed.

Trey, as alway, was polite.  “Okay, thanks.”  He then divided the worm with his friend, something only a good guy would do.  Trey took his small piece of plastic worm, embedded the bream hook and tied it to his limited piece of fishing line.  Maybe you can guess the rest of this fish tale, which happens to be true.  Trey surveyed the pond for just the right spot, tossed the concocted lure near some weeds in the water and, bingo!  Dragged in a nice largemouth bass.  Didn’t want to rub it in too badly, but while inspecting his trophy he held it just high enough for the two fancy-pants guys to get a glimpse.

Another true tale:  At age six, during a trip to The Cabin, Trey and his Grandad decided to do some bream fishing.  “How many crickets do you think we should get, twenty-five or fifty?”  I asked him.  We decided on one hundred crickets, launched the jon  boat and headed to one of our secret honey holes.  When the sun started going down, we motored back to The Cabin with 82 bream and zero crickets.  He just couldn’t stop fishing until every cricket was gone.

Two weeks ago, Trey was invited to go to south Florida with friend Jonas for some fishing.  Wasn’t long before the pictures started arriving.  Then a text with a picture: “Added a new species today … a cichlid.”  Trey keeps track of the different species of fish he has caught since he first started fishing.  The cichlid upped the number to 33.  The next day, a video arrived of Trey pulling in a hammerhead shark.  Not surprisingly, he played the shark perfectly to the boat.  “Caught it on light tackle and 20-pound test line,” he texted.  Experienced fishermen understand the difficulty of such a challenge. Have I mentioned Trey is 15 years old?

 

 

Trey also is learning to maneuver in today’s technology-dominated, social media world.  He recently fished in an on-line fishing tournament.  Pay a small fee, get a code and register any fish caught by submitting a picture of the fish next to an approved measuring device.  It involves an honor system, which is right up Trey’s alley.  Anything dishonest just isn’t in his DNA.  Didn’t win the tournament, but had fun and gained some experience.

Because he has caught plenty of good-sized fish, pictures of his catches sometimes appear on social media. That has led to contacts with outdoors marketers and fishing equipment manufacturers.  He has been asked to wear certain logo shirts and use certain fishing equipment – such as particular name-brand weights for his fishing line.  At 15, Trey is not apt to be endorsing products anytime soon, but marketers might be wise to keep him in their sights.

I’d endorse this guy . . . this grandson . . . any day.