R.I.P., my friend

[Salty]

One of the best persons I've ever known (CaptJLT) would have had his 62nd birthday today.

You are continually missed, Cap.

[ckinchen]

I am sorry for your loss.

[eman]

RIP Capt. John . I think about you and Odis a lot.

[Sea-Trac Offshore]

Great man and friend. Every time I went through buras I would stop and have lunch or dinner with him.


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["W"]

Great guy.....he was a true fisherman and I was able to carry many conversations with him over email though the LSM days


He is the one who taught me about the clip on cork and sparkle beetle

[DUCKGOGETTER]

RIP

[eman]

JLT is the one who started in on dink about his mini river bouy corks .

[Garfish]

RIP Capt.

[Dink]

And my steel leaders.......reeel till you feel.....miss that Ol Fart

[Finfeatherfur]

Thanks for posting Salty - I sure enjoyed seeing him and Odis. Wish I would have saved his posting from him saying goodbye to Odis. That was touching to say the least.

[Salty]

Originally Posted by eman

JLT is the one who started in on dink about his mini river bouy corks .

Bob, what was it he called corks...."strike indicators"?

[Sea-Trac Offshore]

Here ya go!

Yep it was strike indicators. I remember Odis attacking the trout coming over the side of the boat.


Eulogy for Odis

It was a rather cold day in October of ’01 as I had just gotten home in Shreveport from yet another blood transfusion to replace some red blood cells after surviving double doses of Chemo and Radiation in an experimental attempt to cure a terminal case of Small Cell Carcinoma I had been fighting since May of ’91 that the doctors had given me a .5% chance of living through, yet after 5 months, I was still alive.

One afternoon, after returning from the hospital, my stepdaughter, Rachel greeted me at the door with this little butterball of black hair! One of my friends at Boomtown Bossier Casino had given me a lab puppy to ease the days’ anguish. Rachel had given him the name Odis!
All the time I was having to go daily to the clinics, Rach tried her best to train Odis and he was always eager to see me when I came back home.

As the days went on into months and even years, Odis and I became inseparable, and a total bond had formed. I was now back in Buras doing what I do with customers and Odis was at my side through it all from daylight till daylight each day. He slept in my bed and rode in the truck wherever I went and waited patiently when I went on some of the charters.

As fishing season came into the holiday season, Odis and I duck hunted in Arkansas and Louisiana with the best. He was totally awesome with his abilities to find and retrieve ducks and geese.
As years went on, I introduced him to deer hunting and a good friend, Bill Vaughan, allowed him to come over to Mississippi and hunt out of his deceased mother’s box stands with steps. Odis would climb up into the second chair and watch out the window just as I would and not make a peep of a sound. If he saw a deer, his ears would perk straight up and I knew he was looking at one! When I shot, he bolted out of the stand to make sure the deer wasn’t getting away and would like most of the blood off of the body until I could get there!

Fishing in the boat was another great pastime for my buddy Odis, as he loved and cherished the chance to get to go in the boat! He would watch the CSIs of the customers and would get between them and the rail should one of then ‘hook up’ with a trout or redfish. When they brought a trout over the side, Odis would grab it and run under the console with it. I’d have to go and get the hook out and put the fish in the box before he ate the head off of it!! He despised redfish and once they were in the boat, he’d go almost crazy with trying to bite them through their tough scales and ended up taking his long claws and de-scaling one side so he could bit it! The customers loved his escapades on the boat! Most begged for him to come along every time just to see his ears flying like a small Dumbo the Elephant while he was acting as the bow ornament when we ran from spot to spot!!

Yes, my friends, Odis was a Wonder Dog! He did all I ever asked of him and much more. He even made the cover of Gulf Coast Fisherman Magazine He was a true friend and loved ME and my closest friends while protecting me from the evils of the UPS truck which he never did trust!!

To say this mere dog enriched my life would be a total understatement. No person will ever know what Odis meant to me especially after I lost everything including my wife in Shreveport and my lodge in Buras after Katrina. He was all I had and who without, I doubt I would still be here.

This past November, somehow he lost his ability to swallow. A condition called Mega Esophagus where the muscles of his esophagus no longer worked and his food didn’t reach his stomach and his drool just kept amassing in his throat causing him to throw-up everything. He could keep nothing down and consequently breathed in some of that saliva causing pneumonia to develop. I spent thousands at 3 different vet offices trying to cure him. From November to present, I was hand-feeding him upright so some of the food could gravitate to his stomach. This kept him with me for 3 more months as I just could not bring myself to put him down. When he aspirated yet again earlier this week, I had to Man UP and take him in for his last visit to the Vet.

Today, Odis is sitting on a cloud at God’s feet and looking down on me hopefully knowing that I did the right thing for him.

[Finfeatherfur]

Thanks dude!!

[Asterisk-Rich]

Wow. Prayers to his family and friends!

[MOJO]

Dey wus "Comal Super Strike Indicators".

Everybody else used "Mini Marker Bouys"

Miss the livin crap out of my old friend,my kids still don't understand we just can't pack up and go visit with him.

Here ya go Salty. You were a good friend to him.

[eman]

Originally Posted by MOJO

Dey wus "Comal Super Strike Indicators".

Everybody else used "Mini Marker Bouys"

Miss the livin crap out of my old friend,my kids still don't understand we just can't pack up and go visit with him.

Here ya go Salty. You were a good friend to him.

I thought i recognized that mug.

[Salty]

Originally Posted by MOJO

Dey wus "Comal Super Strike Indicators".

Everybody else used "Mini Marker Bouys"

Miss the livin crap out of my old friend,my kids still don't understand we just can't pack up and go visit with him.

Here ya go Salty. You were a good friend to him.

Man, I'm squallin' now, but, thanks for the memories. He was as good a man and friend as anyone could ever ask for.

[meaux fishing]

I wish I would've had the chance to meet him. My condolences to his family and friends

[Dink]

Last time i saw him, i was in buras goin fishing for a friends batchelor party. Stopped at his house to say hi and he sent us to whhatever bar that is on the west side of the levee. He told the barmaid to treat us right.......little did i know, when we got there, this bar maid in her mid to late fiftys got on the bar and started to "attempt" to dance!!! We paid her to stop, went back to Capt house and he was rolling laughing.........it was a horribke joke to have played in us, but i thank him gor it...

[Jordan]

dink, was it the Rex Club ?? If so, you were right across the street from my Grandmother's home.