Now that he's back, let Jackson show you the way

If I didn't explain myself I would be doing a disservice to all of you.

Thanks to all of you who wrote and called the Daily Herald asking, "What happened to Mike Jackson?"

I spent the entire month of September in the hospital as well as an additional month in rehab learning how to walk and use my legs to get around.

My family had several pictures of me wheeled off to the critical care unit after I was diagnosed with double pneumonia. Fortunately for me, a critical care nurse recognized me soon after several docs thought I was close to the end and one commented to my family that it was a matter of time because he thought I was "checking out."

I heard those comments since I had regained consciousness, and it was at that moment my brain went into hyper drive.

• • •

Over the years I have met scores of knuckleheads. These were the "pretenders" who yearned for the bright lights and accolades the real stars of the outdoor world experience.

From the near Arctic wild lands with lakes teeming with fish big enough to tow a 16-foot fully equipped fishing rig down here to the mundane watering holes close to home, the excitement comes in several sizes.

The late Mike Seeling and I instantly knew what kind of characters were assigned to us as guides when we approached the docks at various resorts.

And then there's Billie Heim, a hardworking guide who makes his living scurrying up and down the miles of fishable water on Lake Geneva and Lake Delavan. Actually, all of the water on these lakes holds scads of big fish waiting to challenge an angler and the various artificial "meals."

Billie is not a braggart but rather more of a down-to-earth guy who is worth every nickel a person invests in his guide fee.

I've sent dozens of area fishermen to meet with Billie and subsequently hiring this wiry chap to guide the boat and the customer to the waiting schools of hungry smallmouth bass.

Believe me when I tell you Lake Geneva by today's standard is a whole lot better in the jumbo smallmouth bass department that it was 30 years ago.

Sometimes the smallies bite centers around a minnow, nightcrawler or leech. Whatever live bait technique Heim chooses in his and his client's presentation (or attack), the end result is usually one that brings a smile to a client's face.

In my book that's what a real guide is made of.

• Mike Jackson can be heard 8 to 9 a.m. Sundays on WCGO-AM 1590.