All good things must come to an end and so I have decided to retire after more than 60 years in journalism, most of it with The Augusta Chronicle. It has been a grand ride since starting as a copy boy in 1955, becoming outdoor editor in 1964 and winding up as fishing editor in 2022.

After taking the last position after my first retirement in 2000 and thanks to a deal made on my behalf by former Sports Editor Ward Clayton, the fishing report, which made its debut in 1971, had grown in popularity with readers, not all of them fishermen. I have tried to make it entertaining as well as educational.

I have personally thanked my professional fishing guide friends for sharing their expertise with the public and my friends on the newspaper staff for their friendship and support.

Bill Baab column:Bass fishing 101 – The egg sinker, floating worm and I

Also from Bill Baab: Hey, Kids! Draw a fish, win prizes and honors

Now Bea, my wife of 56 years, and I look forward to a “new life” without the responsibility of coming up with new ideas for the fishing report each week. I am 87 and also wanted to step down while in good health.

So, dear readers, thank you for your positive comments about the reports over the years.

Veteran saltwater angler Capt. Martin Manning of Augusta and his crew on the boat Sweet Deal caught the prize of the day with a 41.1-pound bull dolphin during the annual Fripp Island Memorial Day Fishing Tournament.

The two-day event was cut to one by inclement weather conditions last Saturday.

Fripp Island Marina Director Lewis Turner thanked all the anglers, Low Country cooks and support team for their participation.

Other winners were Capt. David Smith and crew aboard Triple D, 2nd place dolphin, 25.5 pounds and Capt. Bob

Wallace and crew aboard the Molly Carolina, largest Spanish mackerel of 3 pounds.

Ninety years ago as of June 2, 2022, a young Georgia farmer faced a rainy day and fields too wet to plow. So what did he do? He went fishing.

George W. Perry and an older friend, Jack Page, drove the latter’s pickup truck some 20 miles from his farm to Montgomery Lake, an oxbow off the Ocmulgee River in Telfair County where a plywood boat rested on its banks.

With a low pressure weather system making for a wet fishing day, the two took turns casting a Creek Chub Bait Co., Fintail Shiner – the only lure they had – and by the late afternoon had no luck. Not a strike, nor the hint of one. They were within a few minutes of beaching the boat and going home when Perry got a strike from a small bass. Encouraged, he made another cast into the cypress stump-filled waters and suddenly his retrieve stopped.

He thought he’d snagged the lure on one of those cypress stumps when the “stump” began to move and the battle began. Suddenly, the bass jumped out of the water trying to throw the lure from its mouth and the two fishermen were astounded by its size. Finally, they were able to pull the fish close to the boat where Perry grabbed it and pulled it into the boat.

They loaded it into the truck and drove back to the small town of Helena where they showed it off to a crowd in a local store. One told George about Field & Stream’s Big Fish Contest and suggested he enter it. Contest rules stated entries must be weighed on certified scales and its girth and length also measured. They took the fish across the street to a post office, weighed it on the U.S. Government-certified scales and were astounded by the results: weight, 22 pounds, 4 ounces. Length 32-1/2 inches. Girth,28-1/2 inches. It was a world record!

(Bullet) Speaking of records, Spartanburg, S.C. resident Chris Edlund caught a 10-pound, 1.44-ounce walleye from Lake Tugalo in Oconee County on May 29. The S.C. DNR noted the fish will officially share the state record with a 10-pound walleye caught in Lake Russell in 1994. A fish weighing less than 25 pounds has to exceed the previous record catch by at least two ounces, according to state regulations.