Gone Fishing With Hank Parker (Part 3) - Hank Parker

Gone Fishing With Hank Parker (Part 1) - Hank Parker
Gone Fishing With Hank Parker (Part 2) - Hank Parker
Gone Fishing With Hank Parker (Part 3) - Hank Parker

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

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Life’s Next Chapter

 

Guest:                        Hank Parker              

From the series:       Gone Fishing with Hank Parker (Day 3 of 3)

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Bob: When Hank Parker’s marriage dissolved, he was hurting. When we’re hurting, we can do or say things we wish later we hadn’t done or said. Hank remembers getting some very wise counsel.

 

Hank: I had a great Christian friend that came to me. I was living with Hank, Jr. When you’re hurting, you tend to vent. This man came up to me and put his arm around me; and he said: “I know you’re hurting, and I know you’re living with Hank, Jr. I’m not accusing you of anything, but I just want to tell you—if you are venting anything about your marriage to your son, that’s his mom; and you’re making a horrible mistake.”

 

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Friday, June 9th. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. We’ll talk today to world champion fisherman, Hank Parker, and hear some of the lessons life has taught him as he has learned to walk with Jesus. 

 

1:00

 

Stay with us.

 

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us. You know, we have some listeners who have been tuned in—and we’ve been talking about hunting and fishing this week—and really talking about family and—

 

Dennis: Yes; I have to say, Bob, there have been some pretty gritty conversations with Hank Parker.

 

Bob: It has been, but I know we have listeners, who are going: “I’m just not an outdoor fish-and-hunt kind of guy, and I’ve just never been into that kind of thing. Can a guy just go do it by himself?” They’re wondering whether this is something they ought to give a whirl to; and if they should, how do they do it?

 

Dennis: Well, they just need to find someone who can mentor them a little bit, because no one just walks in the woods and becomes a hunter. And frankly, being a fisherman as well—it helps to find somebody who knows how to do it. Would you agree, Hank?

 

Hank: Well, we live in a unique time. It is incredible how much information is on the Internet—so you can get it all. 

 

2:00

 

You can go to any of the archery companies: “How to,” “Where do I start?” “What do I need?” Any of the boat companies can tell you how to get started fishing. You can go to the game and fish sites, and they can tell you where all public fishing is at. It’s all out there; so it’s so easy to find if you’re an Internet searcher. That doesn’t fit me very well, but for most people they go for that. [Laughter]

 

Bob: But if a guy’s a novice—he’s never done any of this before—and he’s thinking: “Well, maybe this weekend we should go do something. Maybe I should take my sons fishing.”

 

Hank: Absolutely, without a doubt. You could go and you could hit your local fish and game website. They tell you where there’s public fishing / where there’s public access to launch boats—anything you want to know, it’s all there.

 

Bob: Well, if anybody should know, the guy we’re talking to this week should know; right?

 

Dennis: No doubt about it. 

 

3:00

 

He’s won the national championship of B.A.S.S. fishing twice / in the Hall of Fame of bass fishing as well—and has his own outdoor show called Hank Parker’s Outdoor Magazine.

 

Hank: That’s it.

 

Dennis: I’ve had a chance to be a guest on his show.

 

Bob: In fact, how could people watch the episode of you and Dennis? Is there some way they could see that? 

 

Hank: You know, I don’t know—that will air on Pursuit Network next year / it aired this year on the Outdoor Channel—so I’m really not positive. You can go to our website, HankParker.com, and you can get information on where that show will air or how to obtain a copy of that show.

 

Bob: Okay.

 

Dennis: Yes; there you go / there you go.

 

So here’s my question for you, Hank—and by the way, Hank Parker’s married to Martha, has four sons and a daughter, eleven grandchildren. I saw them all on Hank Parker’s Outdoor Magazine—he took them fishing together. It looked like a man in an anthill with all those kids fishing.

 

4:00

 

Hank: I have to clarify also—Martha has a wonderful daughter and two sons—so we’re a blended family. I have five and she has three; collectively, we have eleven grandkids—how awesome is that?

 

Dennis: Oh, that’s great. I’m glad you did correct me there.

 

So, if I said to you: “Hank, you had one place to go fishing. Conditions were going to be perfect—you could go anywhere in the world—where would you go and why?”

 

Hank: Oh, man, that is so tough. I have those decisions that I have to make each year. [Laughter]

 

Dennis: —because you can go wherever you want to go!

 

Hank: I do; I literally do. This year, I chose my favorite place to fish in the whole wide world—is Venice, Louisiana, on the Gulf of Mexico. You guys went on a cruise and left from the port of Louisiana. You went right by my fishing hole at the southwest path, where the Mississippi river meets the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Dennis: So are you fishing for red fish?

 

Hank: Big, giant red fish on bass tackle—it is unbelievable.

 

Dennis: I think I’ve seen one of those shows.

 

5:00

 

Hank: Oh, it’s so much fun.

 

Dennis: You caught a lot of fish doing that.

 

Hank: Oh, we caught 200 on top water one year. I took a group of guy...