Arrington continues family outdoors traditions
By By Mikes Giles / outdoors writer
March 21, 2003
There's nothing like having a grandfather who likes to hunt and fish, except maybe having one who will carry you along. George Arrington grew up fishing with his grandfather and had a lot of special times with him. Although the equipment wasn't too good back then, Arrington and his grandfather Wilborn spent a lot of time chasing and catching fish. Of course he became hooked and has been doing it ever since.
Now retired from his medical practice, Dr. Arrington will likely be found in the woods or on the water. If it's time for fishing he just might take a little time off to carry one of his eight grandchildren fishing with him. I was fortunate enough to accompany Dr. Arrington and his grandson Robert Coffin on a recent fishing outing.
Family bond
During that trip it was easy to see the bond between grandfather and grandson. It brought back memories of my fishing and hunting trips with my own grandfather Nolen. Yes, it is truly a blessing to have a grandfather who will take up some time with you to teach you about life and important things such as hunting and fishing.
Although Dr. Arrington prefers fishing for bass in creeks and smaller rivers, he does his share of bream and crappie fishing as well, especially when he brings along his grandchildren.
On this trip we were primarily after crappie that were getting ready to spawn. Dr. Arrington had located some pre-spawn crappie staging in slightly deeper water around large stumps.
It didn't take long for the action to begin as Arrington caught one of the staging crappie that was keying on a stump. As we continued to work the stumps, it was evident that eleven-year-old Robert was already getting the hang of fishing. He was continually making casts right next to the stumps, while sometimes battling stiff winds.
Coffin attends Lamar school and is very active in the outdoors while also running cross-country, participating in Boy Scouts and hunting. In fact he harvested his first deer this year.
Productive technique
Dr. Arrington's fishing technique on this day employed light rod and reel combinations with a small cork positioned about 18 to 24 inches above a crappie jig. He would cast the jig near the stumps and let it sit for a while. Sometimes the wind would carry the jig around the stumps. If a crappie didn't strike the bait, then he would slowly work the bait back to the boat twitching the cork from time to time to give the jig some action.
Most of the afternoon, the three of us alternated catching fish. Of course we missed our share as well. However, there was a lot of fun and excitement to be had. Every so often Robert would tangle with a nice crappie that would really double up his rod and stretch it to the limit. Of course grandfather Arrington was getting in on the action tool. As the daylight started to dwindle it was time to start for the bank, but not before Dr. Arrington landed two more large crappie on a jig pole. On the return to the bank we also caught a few bass.
If you really want to get to know someone and have a good time in the process, then a fishing trip is in order. It's evident that Dr. Arrington and his grandson Robert have already formed a bond that will only grow stronger with quality fishing trips such as this. At the end of the day we had a stringer full of lunker crappie, bream, bass and a memory to last a lifetime. It just doesn't get any better than that.
