Fishing can bring two unlikely people together to form a bond of friendship that lasts a lifetime. For example, take one young college professor and one older farmer/rancher and try to imagine what they might have in common. Fishing was the common bond and as fate would have it they both joined the local bass club about the same time and became friends. At first, both had sons in the bass club and they each fished the tournaments with their sons or other friends. As time passed they began fishing together and since have shared many great times and some life altering experiences. Bobby Whiteside is now 64 and Leonard Moeller is 88 and their friendship spans some thirty years or so. Through the years their escapades have been memorable and their friendship a truly remarkable one.

Now, they have done some crazy things, like rescuing a wild turkey that tried to fly across a cove on Lake Travis. The old gobbler kept getting lower and lower as he flew and they set out to help him. With dip net in hand they scooped him up from the water and set him free on the shore. However, the wildest episode happened one cold dark night in January when they went fishing for white bass on Lake Travis. As they were attempting to return to the loading ramp Bobby lost sight of the shoreline and, knowing that was an extremely bad sign, pulled back the throttle on the 19 foot Bass Cat which was going 43 mph. The boat and occupants proceeded to run about sixty feet onto a sandbar; they had just missed a large cypress stump on right side and rocks on the left side. Bobby killed the motor and stepped out on to the sandy area. Leonard, who was sitting in the floor with his back turned to the freezing wind was unaware of their situation, looked up and asked, “Bobby why are you walking in the water?” Of course, they used endearing names for each other like “you old coot” and “you crazy fool”. They were just lucky that it was a sandbar and not one of the rock cliffs ...

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