A Eulogy for Rodney

This describes Rodney well.

We lost a good man when James Rodney Smith passed on Wednesday, December 11. Better people than me are going to miss him, a lot. He was always trying to expand his circle of influence, so he touched many people’s lives in positive ways.

Rodney the tree hugger.

Rodney is survived by his wife, Karen; four children, Elise, Lauren, James, and Jake; and a grand-daughter, Deveney. Rodney was a husband, father, and grandfather, a friend, writer, book author, conservationist, philosopher, surfer, gardener, fisherman, yogi, and probably other things I don’t even know about. He liked candy!

Rodney and my son Maxx with a St. Johns River shad double.

We had a heck of a tarpon day together. This fish jumped into the boat.

We met nearly 40 years ago, at a Backcountry Fly Fishing Association meeting in Melbourne. Unusual for me, I liked him instantly. He just seemed genuine, a read that was borne out over the years. Rodney wasn’t one to put on airs. That night, he wanted to know how he could start writing. I told him to contact The Fisherman Weekly. The rest is history!

Yes, it was good.

Rodney the Cover Boy.

Rodney had many good ideas. He started Anglers for Conservation, the group that puts on the Hook Kids on Fishing programs. If you have ever seen a PVC pipe for discarded fishing lines at a boat ramp, thank Rodney and Lisa Souto, director of the Marine Resources Council, for coming up with that idea. He started Coastal Angler Magazine. He got the Indian River Guide’s Association off the ground, for a few years, at least. His most recent project, other than his book series, was Hook Kids on Gardening. I know I’m forgetting stuff, a lot of stuff, here.

Rodney loved the Banana River Lagoon…

…and the beach.

We had many adventures together. The first time he took me out on the Banana River Lagoon on the Mangle Tangle, we ran out of gas. Twice. And we didn’t catch anything, either. He made up for it through the years!

Sharing a pork leg.

With a Goodness River rainbow trout.

I helped him get a job at Goodnews River Lodge one summer. He came up for silver salmon season. The first thing he did when he got there was jump into the river! He told me afterward that he was shocked that the water was so painfully cold. No kidding, Rodney! It’s Alaska! We roomed together for five weeks. We survived it just fine, but there were a few times it put a strain on our friendship.

We started the paddle adventure with way too much stuff. Rodney had an eight-man tent!

Helping to cook dinner.

While we were there I watched him eat a Lindt bar like it was a mini-Snickers. A Lindt bar lasts me a week or two. He crushed it in five minutes. I thought it quite an amazing performance.

The finished product.

Grant Gilmore met us on the Indian River Lagoon.

Yes, we had many adventures together, with the IRL Paddle Adventure being the biggest after Alaska. We had talked for years about paddling the length of the Indian River Lagoon. Finally, during the spring of 2013, he said, “Yes! Let’s do it! When is the best time?” “Between Thanksgiving and Christmas,” I said. “OK. Start planning,” he said. So I started planning.

Keeping his journal on the paddle trip.

Practicing yoga on the paddle trip.

I planned for three or four people. He said, “No. Anyone who wants to can come, for any length of time they want.” I wanted to know how I was supposed to plan for that. He said, “Just plan for us. Everyone else will take care of themselves.” So that’s what we did. The resulting trip covered 19 days, 160 miles, had five people paddle the entire way, and had 30 or 40 or people join us, some for as little as 30 minutes, some for over a week. Folks from the community came out to talk with is, and fed us, and made us feel like we were doing a good thing. I’m glad we made that trip. Rodney and I were in a canoe together paddling for sixteen days, and were still friends at the end. He even lost the only Sage fly rod I ever had, and we were still friends.

Sharing some navigation pointers with Nick Colantonio.

Rodney and me in the canoe.

The through-paddlers- Mike Conneen, Rodney, Nick Colantonio, Bones, and me, with Mim Duncan, who was with us for seven or eight days, in the  middle.

Casting to a tailing red. It tried to make off with his rod.

Rodney had many great moments as an angler, but to me the most memorable one happened on a no motor zone trip with Tom Van Horn. Tom paddled Rodney to a tailing redfish. Rodney hooked it, but then dropped the rod into the water. It immediately started water skiing as the fish responded to being tethered. Rodney jumped out of the canoe and chased the rod down, splashing through the water like a crazed hippo, and still caught that fish. It was as big as they get that size! Hilarious!

He got the fish. “It’s as big as they get, this size!”

One time he and I were fishing with a guide at Lake Calcasieu in Louisiana, where folks eat most anything. The guide managed to hook a comb jelly on a treble hook. Rodney said, “Say, let me see that.” The guide handed Rodney the lure, and Rodney sucked that jelly off the hook and swallowed it. The guide was big-eyed, flabbergasted. He finally managed to ask Rodney what it tasted like. “Saltwater jelly!” he said. “What else would it taste like?”

More recently, we were supposed to go to Eleuthera together. I had purchased the plane tickets. Less than a week to departure, he had his second stroke, which put the kabosh on our plan. When he recovered, he still wanted to go. I told him, “Rodney, I’m afraid to go with you. What if you have another stroke over there?”

I guess we’ll never have that adventure in this earthly plane. I’ll have to wait to see him in heaven.

Like all of us, Rodney had his flaws, but overwhelmingly, he was such a good person, the kind of man you meet only once or twice in a lifetime. Unique. Real. Honest. Awesome. It was a blessing counting Rodney as a friend.

And you know who one of them is.

And what a legacy it is to be remembered — and truly, dearly missed — by those who love you. To be remembered because of love. Rodney will be remembered for a long, long time by all of us who loved him.

Thank you for reading this eulogy for Rodney Smith.

– John Kumiski