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| 6 ARNOLD ROAD, COVENTRY, RHODE ISLAND 02816 |
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Angler's Profiles
by
Hugh Markey |
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| A series of articles introducing RISAA members to the rest of the club. |
| (from the June, 2002 Newsletter) JERRY SHEPHERD |
Singer Joni Mitchell once wrote the lines, “Don’t it always
seem to go/ that you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone.” In 1991,
RISAA member Jerry Shepherd had that feeling in a big way: it was when he
suffered his first heart attack. He had spent “way too much time on
the road for work, doing a million things that I thought were important.”
After that, Jerry took a different view of his life, his family, and his fishing.
GROWING RISAA INVOLVEMENT
Like a lot of members, Jerry’s interest in RISAA
began with picking up a copy of the newsletter. Back then, says Jerry,
the newsletter was only three or four pages long, but it was enough to get
him to attend one of the meetings. He first paid the non-member entrance fee and for the dinner before. An acquaintance of his was collecting money at the door and asked whether Jerry was interested in joining. “Well, let me see what the food is like first,” came the reply. Apparently, the chefs did their job well, because when the same man came around at the end of the meal to ask about membership, Jerry signed up. Since then, “ I discovered there was a whole lot I didn’t know about fishing. I always get a lot out of those seminars, sometimes about a new spot, a trick or technique someone else knows about.” Jerry’s involvement has grown steadily since then. He’s currently a member of the Education, Boat Show, and Legislative Committees. It’s important to him to be involved in the workings of the club. “A lot of times you’ll hear guys (complaining) in the back at seminars. They say they’re not happy with this or that, but you never see them hang around for the meeting, let alone help out. I thought I had some good ideas, so I decided to become a part of it. If you want to change things, be on a committee!” He also credits RISAA president Steve Medeiros as an inspiration. “Steve’s really been a good driving force that’s brought this club together.” In addition to his RISAA duties, Jerry is also the Secretary of the Narragansett Fishing Club and is a delegate to RISAA for them. Currently, Jerry’s looking forward to the Take-A-City-Kid Fishing Day. “I first volunteered as a mate back in ’99,” he recalls. “The boat I had wasn’t big enough to take kids along, so I signed up to be a mate instead. Boy, we had a helluva time! Just seeing the look on the kids’ faces.” He’s definitely out to make the day a success, even to the point of talking it up during our interview to encourage me to sign on! A CHANGE IN PRIORITIES
Years after his initial heart attack, Jerry was still
plagued with heart trouble. Although the
angioplasty which followed his attack went well, there was still concern
about his health. One afternoon while he and RISAA member and fishing
buddy, John Marshall, were out chasing after flocks of feeding gulls in hopes
of finding fish, Jerry began to feel a tightness in his chest. He didn’t
have the nitroglycerin he was prescribed for moments like these, but he made
it through. A series of doctor visits and numerous tests followed the
incident, and Jerry was told he would need a more serious procedure: a bypass.
Ironically, the approaching surgery also brought Jerry the moment he chose as his most memorable fishing experience. Days before he was scheduled to go in, he and Marshall went out with rods rigged with eels looking for bass. As he described it, “I thought we might as well do some fishing, since I didn’t know whether I’d get to fish again.” While they travelled from one spot to the next, Jerry grabbed his light tackle rod, then equipped with a 4400 S.S. Penn reel and ten pound test line. He was almost half heartedly tossing it out as the boat traveled along when he hooked into what he thought was a rock. “Then after John slowed the boat down, the ‘rock’ moved!” Several minutes and a powerful struggle later, Jerry landed a 22 pound, 36" striper, a terrific treat on light tackle. After the struggle, friend John worried that the strain might be too much on Jerry. Still, Jerry 
was having far too much fun to be concerned, and “John and I fished all
day that day. We had a hell of a time!” Later, the pair headed
for the red can at Brenton Reef and rigged for fluke fishing. Jerry
still had one eel on his rod, so he thought he’d toss it in. Moments
later, he was stunned to reel in a 38" bass! He smiles at the memory
now: “I thought, well, I’m all right with the world now! I can have that
surgery.” OH, THE GOOD LIFE
Although the heart disease has been difficult for
him, Jerry Shepherd clearly sees how precious life is as a result.
This season, he’s looking forward to launching his 20-foot Sunbird Cuddy.
When he does, he’ll spend at least part of his boating time with his wife
Jo-An at his side. He may be able to persuade his grown daughter Kimberlie
Ann to come from her Lincoln home and join him as well. In the meantime,
Jerry counts his blessings: “Every day I get up is an outstanding day!”REST IN PEACE
The heart disease finally won out, and we lost our good friend Jerry on September 1, 2005.
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ANGLER PROFILES
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