ADVENTURES OF THE BASS BUDDIES

Over Sixty Years of Tales of Fun, Folly, Friendship, Faith, and Fishing We are recording our adventures in this little book with heavy hearts. Due to the many issues that accompany the aging process, we may be closing a very important chapter in our lives. But this will not keep us from continuing to share our experiences, our tales. It all started like a Mark Twain novel, but the Tom Sawyers and Huckleberry Finns in our stories have never grown up. Though we all have now passed the seventy-year marker, we are still just boys at heart. Our enthusiasm and passion for adventure have not waned one iota. We view this little volume as more than a fishing storybook; it is our testimony to one of God's greatest gifts: the capacity for brotherly love. And fishermen may be inherently gifted in this regard. Remember Jesus called several fishermen to be his "disciple buddies," and they shared many stories with us. Catching fish is just icing on the cake. Men by nature can be tough, demanding, competitive, and even self-centered. But we have found that time away together sharing, encouraging, eating, drinking "cough medicine," and oh yes, fishing results in a special bond. You see the "cake" is the pure joy and blessing of being part of a band of brothers. We have a parting tradition each time we leave the country; we give each other a bear hug and say, "I love you, brother!"