My Dad: Robert C. Thames Jr.
A great Man, a great Father, and a great Fisherman!
My dad was an incredible guy.
I sure do miss fishing with him. Talk about your Bass Fishing Adventures ... We shared many together, and I'll always
remember them. He loved fishing. Heck, he loved life, sports, and old western movies. Funny, he always claimed to have
been a western gunfighter in a former life. I don't know about that, but I do know that he could flat out catch bass.
He was a master with a plastic worm. He possessed great feel and patience which happen to be the two most important
factors to successful worm fishing. My dad could read a lake bottom with his plastic worm like Helen Keller could read
braille. If it was happening around his soft plastic bait ... He knew about it.
The famed Santee-Cooper Lakes
were his favorite bodies of water to fish or just spend time.
My dad was also a conservationist. He was vocal about
the health of South Carolina's lakes and rivers. He worked with fisheries biologists way back in the 1970s regarding fish
habitat and bass stocking programs. He was also active in helping promote the sport of bass fishing. In the late 1970s my
father organized and resurrected a then defunct B.A.S.S. South Carolina State Federation Chapter. He was elected President
of the South Carolina Federation and led a successful campaign reestablishing the state chapter as a viable voice regarding
conservation issues as well as reestablishing the B.A.S.S. Federation Tournament Trail as the most popular statewide competitive
tournament trail during his tenure.
