Fishing With Oh Dad

My sincerest apologies for not posting Christmas message. I had actually written one but was not able to post it due to the server I use in Tennessee being down because of a bad snow storm that knocked out power in the area on Christmas day. So, the above post was the message I prepared. I hope y’all had a very Merry Christmas and I pray that this year (should the Lord tarry his coming) be a much better one for all of us.

VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED. This video is part 1 in a series recording my progress as I recover from a near death fall.

After the terrible accident I had falling off a roof where I was working, I believe I am a walking miracle! I fell 10ft off the roof and broke both wrists, broke my sternum and 7 ribs, broke thoracic vertebrae #4 and cervical vertebrae #1, damaged my right carotid artery, and had some brain bleeding. I was fitted with a halo to heal my cervical vertebra and had my thoracic vertebrae fused to 3 others. I had my wrists operated on and they used plates and pins to put everything back together. I spent 24 days in the hospital and a rehab facility. I thank God for everyone that had a part in taking care of me in the hospital and rehab. Had a great opportunity to witness to the doctors, nurses, techs, and all the other hospital and rehab staff. My family and friends, and even strangers have been awesome with all the love and support. I don’t know what I would have done without all those who have helped and are helping!!! The halo came off about a week ago and now I start some physical therapy. I still wear a brace on my left wrist but hopefully that will come off in about a week.

In case you are wondering where the miracle is in all this, it is this: The doctors and about everyone that assisted in my care said that I should not be alive! In the least, I should be paralyzed from the neck down! In 6 days after the accident I was up and walking! I am now on the road (though a long one) to a full recovery!! I serve a GREAT God!! All the praise and glory goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!!!

PS:This is the first time I have been able to get to my studio office to access my desktop computer (as my laptop gave up the ghost). So, Lord willing, I will be able to post more often. Thank you for your patience.

Hey everybody! I’m posting this on behalf of my dad. Bill fell off of a roof yesterday while trying to climb down a ladder and is currently in intensive care at Banner University Medical Center in Tucson. Due to the pandemic, no one has able to visit him and it’s hard to get clear and accurate information as to the details of his injuries. He had surgery on both of his wrists, which was successful. He has back surgery scheduled for Monday, Sep 7th. It will be a tough one. He will be having 5 vertebrae fused together. He’s having a Halo fitted and put on in lieu of the neck surgery. Needless to say, he won’t be posting any fishing videos or updates for a while. We’ll put milestone updates in the comments of this post as we learn more. In the meantime, please keep Bill and the rest of the family in your thoughts and prayers!

– Tell Konkle

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” – II Corinthians 4:17 KJV

Just made a new video using vintage tackle. This time it was my dad’s Zebco 44 trigger spinning reel, my father-in-law’s Wright and McGill spinning/fly rod and one of my dad’s old flatfish lures. Each of these items are at least 55-60 years old. Video should be posted to my YouTube channel in the next couple of weeks. Hope you enjoy the video as much as I enjoyed making it. My last vintage tackle video is here. Check it out. It was a great time fishing! It just goes to show you don’t need the latest tackle to catch fish! Yesterday I was talking with my hat embroiderer at The Merch Maven, and we got on the subject of hanging on to things in our past that were good and meaningful. So as I was writing this post, these two things reminded me of Jeremiah 6:16 that says: “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.” Sometimes we need to hang on to the old ways of doing things, because sometimes the old ways are actually better. Remember that the next time you want to chuck some old item or way of doing things away!

Finally the cooler weather is just around the corner! So don’t be unprepared for the colder temps. Get one of these “Oh Dad” zippered hoodies now! Great for staying warm on the water. Go to my Merchandise Page and get yours today!

Well I hit up the Tiny Pond again last evening for channel cats and I actually caught a channel cat. The previous 4 or 5 trips yielded nothing. Many thanks to Jeff Lewis with Catfishing Arizona for turning me on to a great bait. It’s called Danny King’s Catfish Punch Bait. The kind I used was the Blood flavor. It wasn’t a big cat, but it was a cat none the less. After catching that cat, I decided to pack it up; it was getting too dark to film anymore. Many thanks to Chris for allowing me to fish at his place! So maybe the stink is off for me there. But, the next time I do fish there, it will be in the morning hours.

From time to time I will be sharing some pictures and memories (if I can remember them) of past fishing trips. I am so thankful that God gave us memories. Some of course are better forgotten, because they are too painful to relive. Other memories are best pushed to the far recesses of our minds, only to be remembered so that we don’t repeat them. Others, good memories, are wonderful to relive and ponder on. I am thankful for those. I am also thankful for the pictures that help us remember those times past. Mostly, I am thankful for those people that I shared those past events with. Those people are the best reason to remember those times. (Proverbs 10:7)

It is truly amazing how and what God can do in our lives. After the service at church was over last Sunday, I had just stood up when I heard a small voice behind me say something. Being hard of hearing all I could hear was “are you Oh Dad?” I turned around and it was 2 young boys. One was Peyton: the brave young man who rescued my hat from the stormy waters at the lake last week. The other boy was Benjamin, who is Peyton’s cousin. Peyton was visiting his cousin who just moved to my area several days before. I also met Benjamin’s family (sister Emily, father Charles and mother Donna). Since I had remarked to Derrick at the lake that I didn’t even get my rescuers name, God took care of that by bringing Peyton to my church. Peyton’s father’s name is Andy, mother Sarah, and sister Madison. A wonderful family and so was Benjamin’s. It was a great blessing to me to see Peyton again and to meet Benjamin and his family. “For who hath despised the day of small things? (Zechariah 4:10).

A good friend and I were fishing at Patagonia Lake last Thursday afternoon when we started noticing how the clouds had quickly built up over us. It was a welcome relief because it was very hot and muggy. In my fisherman’s way of thinking though, I figured we would probably get rained out and that would end our fishing. We had wanted to catch a mess of sunfish for bait, as we were going to try and get on some flatheads. We were starting to catch a few when we started to hear a noise some distance off in the trees. I told Derrick that I think we better get off the lake quickly. We high-tailed back to the marina and no sooner did we get tied up then the heavens cut loose on us. The wind cranked up and branches started flying off the trees and the rain came down in bucket fulls. Then the hail (pea size) started. The hail probably lasted for half an hour. The rain kept up for probably an hour or more. When we tied up at the dock, I stood up and my fishing hat blew off into the water and the wind quickly blew it away. I thought, “there goes a nice hat.” Well, there was a young family tied up at the dock also and the boy tried to snag the hat with his rod and then the father tried, but to no success. So the boy decided that the hat was too good to lose and he dove in and swam about 15 yards out and retrieved it. Many thanks to the young boy (shame on me for not getting his and his family’s name) for doing that. We all raced under the marina porch and watched the storm. The father stayed in their boat and caught a small channel cat. The boy brought his rod over and caught a channel also. The rain eventually stopped and we headed back out to finish catching our bait. We got a few and decided to set up for flatheads. We had one decent take down but no hookups. I think this storm really affected the flattys. You know, storms can affect fishing that way and I thought we drove all that way and nothing (flatheads) to show for it. On our way home, I started to see some of the blessings in the day: 1. I was out with a good friend, 2. We were safe, 3. We met a nice family and gained a couple of new subscribers, 4. Got my hat back. The next morning Dianne (my wife) and I were talking and she said that the rain we had at our house was “like a love pat from God.” That statement sure put things in their correct priority. It has been so horribly hot and dry here and God new what we needed when we needed it. Dianne really needed it that day; the heat was really getting to her that afternoon while doing her outside chores. Isn’t that just like our God??!! To give us things when we NEED them. Jesus said in Matthew 6:31 – 34: “And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” A lot of our lives is taken up with thinking about why isn’t God doing this or that and not about simply trusting him. God sums it up in Isaiah 55:8 & 9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Maybe this is where I need to end this post.