I know how You feel.  I lost My best fishing buddy, who was also My wifes brother, back in March. He was 67. And we had fished together for over 47 years. It will take awhile to get over it.  Just try to think of the good times You had with Him.  That is what I do.  My buddy was not a great fisherman.  But He was a great fishing buddy, and fun to be around.  When I start feeling sorry about Him being gone.  I just think of some of the good times we had fishing.  That does help some.  I am glad that I always got pictures of any fish He happend to catch.  As they help bring back the good times. And ease the pain, of My loss.  May God bring peace, and comfort, to Your heart.  
Samuel J.

I lost a fishing buddy last May. One of my best friends, Nathan Bruner died young at 25 years old in a head on collision. He served 5 years in the Army in Aphganistan and Iraq. When he was done with his tour, all we would do was fish. Neither of us had jobs but he collected unemployment and while it wasn't much he always made sure I had bait and a beer in my hand. He especially loved catchin' northerns and his eyes would light up even at the sight of the slenderest of hammer handles. I'll never forget the time one of his flags popped up about a hundred yards away from where we were sitting on a small frozen lake near Cushing WI. He ran as fast as he could to get to it so that whatever it was didn't run his line out. He towed in a snake of a pike and layed it on the ice. He had forgotten his pliers so he had to come all the way back to where I was to grab them. He made it about half way when out of nowhere flew a bald eagle. The bird swooped down and grabbed the pike, still hooked in the mouth on his tip up line. The eagle was sure it had found an easy meal and it started flying away towing my buddy's tip up behind it on the ice! It was one of the funniest things I had ever seen in my life. Nate was running after the bird, fists in the air, cursing and screaming at it to let his fish go. The tip up was dragging in the snow and eventually caused too much resistence for the bird to hang on to the fish any longer. The eagle dropped the fish and Nate dropped to his knees, catching his breath and laughing at what just happened, it was a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget. I am very, very thankful for the memories I have of fishing with Nate. Losing him was one of the hardest things I've went through in my life and just writing this brings tears to my eyes. But my tears of sorrow shift to tears of joy when I remember the good times we shared, and I realize just how thankful I am to have had him as a friend, and I only wish I would have had just one more chance to tell him how much he meant to me. Now I think about him everytime I go fishing, or hunting, or when the Packers play, and while he may be gone from this world, he is still there fishin' with me in my heart and in my memories, and I will embrace him forever.

keep your lines tight, pole tip up, never let the sun go down while your angry