Another bonus of taking Guinness (my black lab mentioned above) is meeting nice folks on the river. Anyone who can't take literally five seconds out of their fishing day to say "Hi" to a wagging dog that stops by them to say "Hi" probably isn't worth me stopping to say "Hi", either.

For that matter, people probably talk to me sometimes because I must be OK if I own a dog as cool as Guinness!

On a local not-so-zipper-anymore yesterday I took Guinness out, and I was treated to four different stories about other four-legged fishing partners that had passed on in the last couple of years.

The storytellers looked a little sad when they talked about their dogs...but sure brightened up considerably when Guinness would shove his head into their hands and make happy sounds as they scratched his ears.

One fella said his dog of 14 years had recently died, and seeing Guinness out there made him realize that he was still a ways a way from getting a new pup, but another angler hasn't had a dog in a couple of years and was contemplating a last minute Christmas present for himself after meeting my dog. Both good stories.

Guinness is also pretty big on going in the DB, but it's a little rough for the first hour. He weighs around 100 lbs., so any shifting tosses the boat out of whack if we're pulling plugs. He can't get enough looking over the side, and man, does he get excited when fish are being played.

A friend of mine in B'ham used to call when I was at law school in Spokane and leave messages for Guinness asking when he was coming over to fish with him next. He would tell Guinness he could take me, too, if Guinness promised I would behave.

Fish on...

Todd.