A visit to my childhood and the Cincinnati Reds...

Growing up a kid in the 70's and 80's, my youth started with the Big Red Machine and ended with Wire-To-Wire. I was a Cincinnati Reds nut that cherished the Dave Concepcion poster on my bedroom door and the collection of 1990 World Series VHS tapes I recorded myself. That's why it was such a treat for me to meet Lima Shawnee head baseball coach Chad Spencer on Thursday night. For me, life changed once I finished college. Work, family and other interests replaced my love for the Reds and baseball in general. For Coach Spencer, he's been lucky enough to still enjoy the same passion both he and I shared as boys.

After introducing myself and son outside his home, our conversation went a dozen different directions - all about baseball of course. I asked his opinion on extending the OHSAA season, I wanted to know how he prepared his Shawnee Indians to face Celina fireballer Seth Lonsway, and I had questions about his position on the state ACME board. I also shared some baseball stories of my own about my childhood and being a fanatic of the Reds. That's when he invited me into his home.

The photos you're about to see doesn't do justice to my experience. Kind of like taking pictures of the Grand Canyon - you'll get the idea, but you had to be there. I stepped into a time machine back to my youth. Baseball cards, Sports Illustrated magazines, pennants, jerseys, banners, and memorabilia of every kind. Even that same Dave Concepcion poster I had hanging in my bedroom. Exhibits for the Big Red Machine and the 1990 World Series Champs. By the way, half the items were even autographed. It was overwhelming, exciting, and a trip I'll never forget. If you happen to be any kind of Reds fan or any kind of baseball fan, I hope you enjoy the snapshots below. Click the pictures to expand.

Anniversary Surprise - Dave’s Midwestern Ohio Memories

A Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Anniversary Surprise

Recently my wife Debby and I celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary, so as a surprise, to commemorate the occasion, we re-enacted some of our wedding photos. The first is shown below of me being "dragged” into the church for the wedding.

This next photo is just after the ceremony on the front steps of St. Remy’s church; the only time I’ve ever looked younger than Debby!

Here we are sneaking a kiss after arriving at the reception hall.

Cutting the wedding cake on game day.

A toast to the newlyweds before a round of golf.

Hand-in-hand on our wedding day!

Incognito with Debby’s grandparents, DJ & Ruth.

Caught by the camera in a tender loving moment!

After all the photo-editing, we capped off our anniversary by going out to dinner at a fancy restaurant. Here’s a photo of us enjoying desert after a nice meal.

Memorable additions to our photo album, wouldn’t you say?

PS: Here’s Debby 45 years ago and today - better than ever!

Same for me!!

DJ’s Old Tackle Box - Dave’s Midwestern Ohio Memories

A Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

DJ’s Old Tackle Box

My wife asked me recently to start clearing out stuff from the garage and workshop. She suggested anything I haven’t used in three or more years to either pitch or donate. Sorting through things, I discovered an old fishing tackle box pictured above that had belonged to my wife’s grandfather, D.J Francis, a real adventurer whom I had written about in this previous blog. I used this old tackle box during the memorable fishing trips to Canada in the 70’s, the subject of last week’s blogpost.

The tackle box was made by Walton Products of Union, Illinois and is likely about 80 years old. There are several vintage tackle boxes like it for sale on eBay for $20-60. As evidenced from the photos above & below, the box itself and the contents are rather antiquated. Note especially the old Scotch tape dispenser and a matchbook with a 1949 date inside.

The old time fishing paraphernalia that was stashed away in the tackle box are amazing; check out the following:

Worm Blowers?

Tools of the trade - bobber stop??

More tool of the trade - note that both had beer bottle openers included! Some things remain timeless - beer and fishing.

Lure Glow hardly used so it probably didn’t work!

These fishing lines were still amazingly strong for their age.

Old fashioned hand warmer. Mercurochrome Antiseptic*
* Contained Mercury, yet Mom always applied the stuff to any scratch we incurred as kids! The scratch was gone long before the red stain came off. It was banned in 1978. Who knew?

There were hundreds of vintage fly lures in the tackle box, some of which are worth $10 on eBay. Every heard of a 1/4 Oz. Shyster??

Strewn about the bottom of the tackle box were the wood pieces shown above. After some on-line research, I discovered this eBay offering for a wood lure box for $45, So a project was born to re-glue the pieces together as shown in the photos that follow, including the finished product full of DJ’s old lures.

Needless to say, this project has delayed my efforts to clean out the workshop and garage. Next to be cleaned will be the doghouse, since that’s where I’ll be if I don’t get my act together! And rest assured DJ's old tackle box and contents will not be thrown out. Instead, I plan to give it to my brother-in-law back in Ohio where it originated.