It is with a heavy heart, that I am writing to let everyone know that the legendary Rocket (Rob Mitchell) passed away yesterday from health complications.
Rob’s life was his family, friends, fishing and as his nickname indicates, anything that went fast.
I met him on this Forum many, many years ago, after reading and replying to a post that someone was looking for a Quinte Fishing Series (QFS) tournament partner. I didn’t hear back, forgot about it, then one day, got a strange call that started like this…”Hey, it’s THE ROCKET! I heard you’re looking to fish tournaments with a legend!” followed by a crazy laugh.
Little did I know, I was about to meet a new friend, fishing mentor and someone that would quickly become part of my family.
On the water, he was by far one of the best multi-species fishers I had the pleasure to spend time with and learn from. He and his brother from another mother Cooly (Rob Coolahan) took me under their wings and introduced me to an entirely new world of fishing. Although I always fished and was a passion, without that, I know I’d never be the fisher-person I am today. To him, fishing wasn’t a past time sport but an obsession that he made contagious to those around him.
Off the water, Rocket was an enigma. He could usually be found at boat ramps or docks, taking the time to chat and giving tips or new baits to try. I had witnessed him giving kids he’d meet on docks that were sharing gear between them, his own rods, reels and tackle but kept quiet and a low profile of these sorts of things. I know he would have given you the shirt off his back and anything else he could but liked his notoriety of being an ass. I call him this with great respect and writing that, I can hear him agreeing, laughing and calling me a DF (his nickname for me).
Rocket was a long time and hard core tournament angler and very proud to have caught the largest bass weighed in to a QFS event; a Quinte 7.2 lb bucket. However, his biggest accomplishment and what he loved the most was his son RJ and daughter Jessica.
I’ve got a lot of great memories of him, some of them hard to believe, you can’t make up and am thankful for them.
Rocket - it had been a wild ride...so long and thanks for the fishes my friend.
Cheers!
Paul
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
_________________ The fishing was so good........I thought I was here yesterday!
|