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Peter sounds like my Daddy.

By the time me and my siblings could swim (three or four years old) Daddy had a Zebco 202 closed faced reel in our hands and had us on fish -- mostly bluegill, but as a kid I had the great fortune to live where I had the opportunity to tangle with a few trophy largemouth bass :)

Thanks to my Daddy.

Daddy also made sure we grew up close enough to a lake to walk to a fishing hole.

Daddy had five kids (and a few vices) and couldn't afford a boat, but he was one of the first in the country to fish in a float tube (when they were unheard of). Also, I have that old float tube now hanging in my fishing cabin.

He (years) later used a float tube to catch a national record freshwater drum (in the tube) and fish among alligators and in some heavy timber in Louisiana. I was there, the last Father's Day I spent with my Daddy his request was for all his kids to go fishing with him in Vinton, La.

One brother and myself showed up on the last Father's Day fishing trip, the two outlaws in the family. My sis sent a card, she never had time for Daddy.

I have photos of it, and memories that superceed any and all in my lifetime.

My Daddy taught me to fish, and enjoy simple things, like a bluegill (or bass, trout) sucking a fly or other topwater imitation off the surface of a lake/stream. He left me a few decades of memories of experiencing this --with him laughing and enjoying it more than I did.

And I can't imagine any better legacy, inheritance, than the lessons and love my Daddy gave to me.

I can't say "Happy Father's day to him, he passed away very young in the early 1980s.

If you are reading this, and your father is alive, take him fishing, or hug him or something.

BTW -- I am leaving Monday to take five kids (four of them city slickers and two modern day Davy Crockett's)fishing, along with two other woman.

I guess I'm like my Daddy, I have more fun watching a kid pull their first bluegill/bass out than the kids do.

And, I just invested in one Barbie rod and reel and two Zebco 202s (dang, I should be working for Zebco ;)