The last time I fished with my father before he passed away, he was in his low 70's. He was a stubborn old guy fixed in his ways. He liked the long trolling rods with a shoulder harness. I kept telling him it was bad for his back. It's hard to teach an old mule new methods.
For nostalgia purposes, I took out one of his fishing cronies a couple of years ago. He was 84 and I had one the funnest trips in my life listening to his stories about him and my dad. Turns out the apple didn't fall far from the tree.
He bragged about this and that while sipping a cold beer. When the outrigger popped, I handed him the rod. After ten minutes, he turned to me and said,
"I was bullshitting you a little bit about my catches and health". He give me the rod and said "I'll just go sit down and drink a cold one and give you some tips".
I'm not one who likes to receive orders. This day I did without reservations. It was a pleasure to release "His" marlin that day. I saw him last week, and he was telling some woman about half his age how he battled a huge marlin last year. I just smiled and confirmed that he was a man among men. He reached in his pocket and showed me a bottle of Viagra. I guess he put his rod to use that night. If he didn't, he will confirm to me that he went multiple times.
